2014 London HOT Congo Mapathon

New mappers and experienced mappers working together on OpenStreetMap Lubumbashi

The 2014 London HOT Congo Mapathon is a past event which took place Saturday 3rd May in London

hot.openstreetmap.org blog write-up

mapcongo - photos from the event

Thanks!

It was a pretty incredible day, with lots of mapping progress achieved in the target areas. It was a also a great event for inspiring and teaching. THANKS everyone for coming and helping making it a success.

Old event info

How do maps save lives? Indirectly! But in a very real way. At this event you'll have the opportunity to meet people from organisations like MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or "doctors without borders"). They are delivering emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or man-made disasters. They save lives very directly, but (as they will explain) they face logistical and organisational challenges for which maps can help. They also operate in regions where detailed maps are not available. MSF are active in the DR Congo delivering vaccination programmes, and have a very current need for detailed maps of the region. The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team are working to deliver maps to service the specific needs of MSF and other such aid organisations. But they are also promoting the use of OpenStreetMap as a mapping platform, to ensure that detailed maps of the developing world created by volunteers, remain usable, updatable, and free. At this event H.O.T. is inviting you to learn more, and to join their army of mapping volunteers.

Join us at the 2014 London HOT Congo Mapathon! The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team are working with MSF to create maps of Democratic Republic of Congo. At this event you can get involved in contributing to OpenStreetMap, creating maps which will help this aid organisation with their life-saving work in the region.

Date:	Saturday 3rd May
Time:	10:30 until 18:00
Location:	The Open Data Institute, London, UK. 3rd Floor. 65 Clifton Street. EC2A 4JE (map)
Sign up:	on eventbrite We are open for last minute sign-ups
Bring:	A laptop & mouse

mapcongo - photos from the event

Who should be there?

If you'd like to help people in Congo, using only your laptop, the internet, and a new skill, this event is for you. It's open to anyone. Just bring a laptop

If you're an experienced OpenStreetMapper, we need you! Come along to help teach people the skills.

If you're involved in humanitarian aid, come along to share your experiences and meet the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.

Sign-up to attend now!

Schedule

The event can be fairly free-form, with people diving in and getting started with mapping, with hopefully a good mix of new folks, and experienced OpenStreetMappers to teach them. Anyone interested in other activities such as software development for OpenStreetMap, is welcome to do that at the event too. But we will also do some presentations:

10:30 - Arrive

11:00 - Intro to OpenStreetMap

11:15 - Talk about MSF and Congo mapping work.

11:30 - Demonstration of basic mapping

11:45 - Everyone get mapping!

13:00 - Lunch (Pizza!) - Thanks to The Open Data Institute

14:30 - Demo of "field papers" data input

18:00 - Everyone to the pub!

Finding the venue

The Open Data Institute is located in Shoreditch half-way between Liverpool Street station and Old Street Tube. (map)

Address: 65 Clifton Street. EC2A 4JE The building is on the corner of Clifton Street and Worship Street. Red brick building looks like this

Enter the downstairs reception. Tell the security man you're going to the ODI, and proceed to the lift. 3rd Floor.

Thanks to the Open Data Institute for providing the lovely venue, and funding the pizzas!

See also

• http://learnosm.org - Guide to OpenStreetMap editing. We'll teach this on the day, or you can learn it beforehand and become a teacher!
• A week in Lubumbashi (DRC) - blog post about collection of data in the field (the Field Papers scans we'll be looking at)
• Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
• London#Events - More London OpenStreetMap events
• MSF Congo Mapping Party, Berlin - A precursor to this event at which the initial street mapping was done