State of the Map Asia (SotM-Asia) is the annual regional conference of OpenStreetMap (OSM) organized by OSM communities in Asia. First SotM-Asia was organized in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2015, and the second was organized in Manila, Philippines in 2016. This year’s conference, third in the series, was organized in Kathmandu, Nepal on September 23 – 24, 2017 at Park Village Resort, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, Nepal. We brought nearly 200 Open Mapping enthusiasts from Asia and beyond to this year’s SotM-Asia. The event provided an opportunity to share knowledge and experience among mappers; expand their network; and generate ideas to expand map coverage and effective use of OSM data in Asian continent. We chose ‘from creation to use of OSM data’ as the theme of this year’s conference, emphasizing on the effective use of OSM data. We also brought together a government panel from four different countries in this year’s SotM-Asia. We believe this event will deepen the bond and enhance collaboration among OSM communities across Asia. More information about the conference can be found on: http://stateofthemap.asia.

1. Participatory and Open Mapping –
Views from the U.S. Geographer
State of the Map - Asia
Kathmandu, Nepal
September 23-24, 2017
Lee Schwartz, The Geographer

2. CONTESTED AREAS

6. Armed Conflict, Political Violence, Inter-Communal Strife, Pirate Incidents, Targeted Attacks, Food Riots, Border Conflicts

7. Perejil (Spanish name)
Disputed
features
Leila (Moroccan name)
MOROCCO

22. Sketch
Mapping
Building & Correcting
Cartographic Shapefiles
Participatory
Research
Mapping (PRM)
GIS
Cognitive
Knowledge
GPS Use &
Coordinates
Empowerment
Field Research
Training
Technical
Skills
Community
&
Parcel
Questionnaires
American Geographical Society – Bowman Expeditions, 2005-Present

23. High resolution
satellite imagery
Collaborative
Process
BOTTOM UP vs. TOP DOWN
User defined; Platform and Software agnostic;
Partnerships, participatory, community-
based, local knowledge, ownership,
empowerment.
Imagery-to-the Crowd (IttC)

24. Imagery to the Crowd: A History
2010 2011 2012 2013
JAN: Haiti
Earthquake
APRIL: “OSM
Tasking Server”
discussions @
Camp Roberts
OCT: Initial
meeting between
HIU, NGA, and HOT
regarding NV
imagery
FEB: Consensus @
RELIEF meeting that
OSM community
could benefit from
NV imagery
SEPT: Launch of
OSM TM v1
AUG: Breakthrough
effort to agree on
IttC workflow @
RELIEF / Camp
Roberts
FEB: Prototype
IttC workflow
approved by
USG lawyers
MAY: 1st
official
test of IttC over
Horn of Africa
refugee camps
OCT:
Presentation of
IttC at
International
Conference on
Crisis Mapping
(ICCM)
2014
NOV: GWU
mapathon for
Kathmandu
(DoS, USAID,
GFDRR)
JULY:
Launch of
OSM TM v2
MARCH: HIU
launches
MapGive as
a formalized
extension of
IttC
2013: Continued
refinement of IttC
tech and
engagement with
OSM community
MARCH: Formal
OSM TM
requirements
documented
APRIL: Donor
consortium
for OSM TM
v2
JUNE: HOT
established
as official
NGO

25. http://hiu.state.gov/ittc

26. Supporting the OSM Community
Photo credit: USAID

27. Supporting the OSM Community
Numerous partners created this map

29. http://mapgive.state.gov
(Launched officially as a State Department Flagship Initiative in March, 2014)

30. MapGive Imagery Services
225 image services
https://mapgive.state.gov/ittc

31. #mapgive changesets since 2014

33. White House Mapathon

34. Secondary Cities Projects
Mapping human geography

35. Habitat III - The New Urban Agenda:
Geospatial data are required, at the appropriate scale, collected by
local stakeholders, to allow them to better understand, explain,
manage (and map) their own urban environments.
Secondary Cities: Pokhara, Nepal:
Planning for Emergency Preparedness
- Rapidly growing urban areas.
- Under-examined places.
- Lack of geospatial data for
mapping and planning.
- Regional node of economic
activity or development.
- Defined by function, not size.

36. Collaborative Approach: Pokhara
What is a Secondary Cities Project?
• Unique partner-provided and partner-created datasets.
• Complements imagery-based methodologies with participatory mapping .
• Government, University, NGO triad.
• Project duration 1-2 years, sustainable.

37. Pokhara, Nepal
Schools, Medical, & Government Buildings

39. Progress of humanitarian mapping in Nepal
In the three days following the April 15, 2015 earthquake in Nepal,
thousands of volunteer mappers launched into action to fill in gaps in the
map of Kathmandu. In addition to the 3960 previously mapped miles of
roads and 182,706 buildings, more than 2000 mappers recorded 13,199
new miles of roads and 110,681 new buildings in just three days,
primarily in the more rural areas surrounding Kathmandu.

40. IttC IttC
MapBox
MapBox

43. Hi guys,
We just published this letter of thanks and I wanted to give you a heads-up. I'll keep
this message short, but what HOT does would simply not be possible without your
personal effort and that of ITTC and MapGive.
http://hotosm.org/updates/2015-07-
14_nepal_earthquake_a_note_of_thanks_to_hot%E2%80%99s_aerial_imagery_provi
ders
Best
Tyler

44. Satellite Imagery – Support for Natural
Disaster Response
2010 Haiti Earthquake
640 volunteer mappers
1.4 million edits
2013 Typhoon Haiyan (Philippines)
1600 volunteer mappers
4.5 million edits
2015 Nepal Earthquake
7000+ volunteer mappers
10.6 million edits

45. How do we best get, and use, good open map data?
➢Ground up vs. Top Down. Use appropriate scale for the task.
➢Current /Accurate vs. “Authoritative” Data (Big vs. Good)
➢Data need to be “Useful, Useable, and Used.”
➢Partnerships are key for VGI, Participatory GIS and, Community-
based mapping.
➢Open Data “Projects” can work with triad of Local Government,
NGOs, and Universities. (Universities as “Islands of Stability”).
➢Innovation is increasingly from VTCs and private sector.
➢Need QA/QC plus tools to automate, verify, analyze.
➢Communication is important to build sustainability.
➢Need to incentivize volunteerism. (Role of champions. Imagery).
➢The next generation of Open Mappers is here.

46. Thank
You