Recent Updates

Tax-Exempt in the United States at Last!

Posted by kate on Mar, 4 2013

Background HOT has been incorporated as a non-profit in Washington D.C. since August, 2010. The paperwork was originally done with a simple need in mind, that we wanted to continue to assist with the collection of data and use of OpenStreetMap in Haiti. Since this initial incorporation we have expanded our field work to include 8 countries in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. We have also responded remotely to many kinds of disasters around the world. This week we reached another administrative milestone as a young non-profit incorporated in the United States.

Senegal : mapping in Saint-Louis is going well and OSM_SN project getting stronger

Posted by Augustin Doury on Feb, 22 2013

Version française After a one week training in Université de Ziguinchor, last blogpost subject, let's go back to Saint-Louis with Bassirou Thiam (aka Bass).

Senegal : le mapping de Saint-Louis avance et le projet OSM_SN s'établit.

Posted by Augustin Doury on Feb, 22 2013

English version Après la semaine de formation réalisée au sein de l’Université de Ziguinchor, sujet du dernier blogpost, retour le 28 janvier à Saint-Louis avec Bassirou Thiam (aka Bass).

Burundi: maybe a small country, but great opportunities for open data with Eurosha

Posted by sev_hotosm on Feb, 21 2013

One Eurosha country we did not talk about so far here (sorry for this) is Burundi, this small but crowded country between DRC, Rwanda and Tanzania. There, Adelina, Alexandra, Anna, Désiré, Gloria, Iolanda and Marion are hosted in Bujumbura, the Capital city, and are lucky to live and work in a big, quite comfortable house called “Le Château” (“the Castle” in French, what is though a bit exaggerated: not so cosy, and more pasta for dinner than game birds...), without actually being hosted by lazy chatelaines, but fierce defenders of the open source and open data causes. [inline:DSC_0231 800x600.jpg] In the country, there was no local mappers, but already some areas traced remotely by foreigners, essentially over Bujumbura, sometimes from old Yahoo imagery.

How to engage with non-spatial partners, feedback from the field in Kenya

Posted by stephane.henriod on Feb, 19 2013

When presenting OpenStreetMap to stakeholders who are already engaged in some kind of GIS and mapping activities, the biggest challenge to overcome is usually to convince them that open data is a win-win game, not a loss of resources. When presenting OpenStreetMap to stakeholders who are not engaged in GIS or mapping, the challenge is to demonstrate what it can concretely bring to their daily activities. While everyone agrees that a map is quite a nice and fancy tool for not getting lost in the bush while traveling to remote areas, very few organizations fully see the relevance of spatial data in their programmatic areas. The answer often lies in a thorough understanding of their activities and requires a translation of our spatial concepts and tools into non-technical demonstrations and examples.

Faces of HOT: Augustin Doury, Senegal OSM Community Maker

Posted by Katrina E. on Feb, 17 2013

Augustin Doury, a native Parisian, joined HOT at the end of last year. He has been working to head up the OSM community in Senegal. Gus studied his last two years in Nantes at Ecole Centrale de Nantes, which is a generalist engineer school. Before HOT he was working Marseille for six months at a start-up company that focused on solar energy technologies. Gus has been teaching workshops, hosting events and expanding the OSM mappers and maps in Senegal. [inline:fb profil.jpg] How did you get involved with HOT/OSM?

Eurosha in Kenya: making-up and perspectives for the second Hot support

Posted by sev_hotosm on Feb, 12 2013

In Kenya, 6 Eurosha volunteers have been deployed since Early October. Caroline, and Hannington from Kenya and Janja, Barbara Lenka, Marine from Europe are all are hosted in Molo by People in Peril Association, a Eurosha partner that works with a Kenyan NGO called NECOFA (Network for Ecofarming in Africa) they fund with the support of Slovak Aid. Necofa acts on various areas in Central Kenya, especially along the Molo River. Necofa’s office in Molo is where the Eurosha volunteers normally works where they do not travel for their outreaching or collecting activities, using then a “matatu", a local minibus, used the rest of time for safaris.

Naissance d'une communauté OSM à Kinshasa

Posted by claire on Feb, 11 2013

Durant les derniers mois, de nombreux contributeurs à travers le monde ont participé à la cartographie de la RDC suite à l'activation de HOT dans l'est du pays. Grâce à leur support et au Tasking Manager de HOT, des villes et infrastructures importantes dans des régions en crise ont pu être numérisées sur base de l'imagerie Bing malgré le nombre extrêmement réduit de contributeurs actifs à l'intérieur de la RDC.

Faces of HOT: Emir Hartato, one of HOT´s Indonesian team leaders

Posted by Katrina E. on Feb, 10 2013

Emir Hartato,22, has been working on the HOT Indonesian team since June 2011. During his senior year at the University of Indonesia, Emir (along with Vasanthi) joined HOT as an intern. Kate Chapman, Jeff Haack, Vasanthi Harygono and Emir were the initial four to teach OSM under HOT. He has traveled extensively throughout Indonesia teaching OpenStreetMap to government workers, NGOs and other humanitarian organizations. [inline:emr.jpg] Emir lives in the rainy city of Bogor (outside Jakarta) and enjoys taking elaborate photos. Here is what he has to say about his work with HOT so far: How did you get involved with HOT/OSM?

Mapping for Preparedness in Nepal

Posted by kate on Feb, 6 2013

Today I bring you a guest post about a great project in Nepal. It comes courtesy of Nama Budhathoki, who is working to help ensure there is better data for disaster planning using OSM in Nepal. Nepal is a beautiful country with eight out of ten highest mountains in the world including Mt Everest. Its capital city has eight UNESCO-listed heritage sites. Nepal is a popular destination for tourists. Recently, several reports have warned that this spectacular nation is at high risks from earthquakes. According to Nepal Risk Reduction Consortium Secretariat, a mega-earthquake—which could occur at any time—is estimated to kill more than 100,000 in the Kathmandu Valley alone, injuring another 300,000 and displacing up to 1 million.