Crisis Mapping and the Nepal Earthquake: The Impact of New Contributors

Abstract

Crisis mapping involves using open technologies and collaboration between those on the ground and volunteers around the world to identify critical areas and infrastructure for relief workers. After the April 25, 2015 Nepalese earthquake, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and Kathmandu Living Labs received widespread media attention and held outreach efforts (“mapathons”) to encourage new contributors to join. An overwhelming increase in new contributors led to a tension between the open, collaborative process in mapping and the need to ensure map accuracy and data quality in a crisis situation. This research looks at the impact of mapping efforts before and after the April 25 earthquake and the social process of collaborative mapping in OpenStreetMap. While new contributors added over one million new features, the number of their features determined inaccurate (as measured by the features that are subsequently modified or deleted) is lower than contributors that joined before April 25. To continue its impact and effort in relief work, the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team will need to balance the open nature of its contributor base and the need to develop standards and practices to ensure data quality.