Mapbox engagement in HOT Activations

The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) coordinates crisis mapping responses of the OpenStreetMap community to natural and humanitarian disasters. At Mapbox we routinely participate in these responses following HOT's official activations. This document governs our engagement in these efforts.

Mapbox point of contact (Mapbox POC)

The Mapbox POC leads the participation of the Mapbox team in a HOT activation and is the main point of contact for the HOT activation lead and the HOT community during an Activation. The POC is:

• @maning - usually on IST
• If @maning not available: @mikelmaron - usually on EST
• Or a person otherwise identified on the main activation issue in the Mapbox mapping repository.

Phase 1 - Mapbox activation

Mapbox activates when HOT activates.

The Mapbox Data team, will closely coordinate with HOT's Activation Working Group in all discussion related to determining an appropriate response to an event. Once an activation is declared by HOT, the Mapbox POC will inform the team that we officially participate in an activation by posting an activation issue for the activation in the Mapbox mapping repository linking to the official activation page on the OpenStreetMap wiki (example issue).

Phase 2 - Response

During an activation Mapbox will:

• The Mapbox POC will join the Activation coordination channel (skype, slack or mailinglist). At least one person usually from the Data team shall serve as the main point person for Mapbox. The point person will be assigned depending on the context of the activation. For example, if the event is within a Spanish-speaking country, a Spanish speaking team member can lead the activation in behalf of Mapbox. This is to ensure that all information can be easily understood and clearly communicated. A team member maybe designated from any of Mapbox offices worldwide as an alternate point person to ensure there is 24/7 coordination with the HOT's Activators.

• The Mapbox POC will coordinate with various Mapbox teams related to the activation, for example, to lead in:

• preparing communications,

• scoping for imagery updates,

• OpenStreetMap tracing and data Q/A.

• Depending on the scope and size of the activation, the Mapbox POC in communication the Mapbox team decide how much team resources will be allocated for the activation. For example, for small events, a couple of team members can work on tracing in OpenStreetMap. For major events, the whole team will contribute.

• Update the activation ticket for daily progress.

Phase 3 - Wrap-up

• Once HOT declares an Activation as concluded, the Mapbox POC will lead an internal evaluation of our response and document discussions in the ticket. A summary of these observations/recommendations will be shared to the Activators as input to HOT's After Action Review process.
• Close the activation ticket once team decides to wrap up the response with a summary. If needed, write a blog post about our response and add a link to our mapping wiki.

Background

Mapbox commits to continue supporting the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) in its efforts to "use open source and open geographic data for humanitarian response and economic development". In the past, we supported HOT's initiatives though crisis mapping coordination, access to imagery for tracing, and remote mapping.

Guiding principles

During a HOT Activation, Mapbox will, as resources allow:

• contribute to the Activation with guidance from HOT's Activation Protocol;
• maintain close coordination with HOT and its partners by providing regular updates to the Activation coordinators on Mapbox contributions;
• actively source and feedback information to HOT Activators but will follow decisions of the Activators on prioritizing areas for tracing, features to trace and, other mapping and communication activities.

During an activation

Depending on the scope of an event as outlined in the Activation Protocol, Mapbox will support an ongoing Activation through one or more of:

• Content in OpenStreetMap - Data team, will contribute to tracing and validating, data using HOT's Tasking Manager.
• Validate the data - review, monitor, and validate contributions to ensure the quality of edits.
• Coordinate imagery - share imagery availability and, updates through Mapbox Satellite.
• Promote call to action - using the company's various communication channels (blog, twitter, newsletter), promote the current Activation.
• Share tools and resources - assist the Activators in using Mapbox tools (such as Studio) as needed during the Activation.

During a crisis and no official activation

Mapbox will maintain proactive support to HOT, even when there is no activation. Mapbox will:

• Contribute to improving HOT tools through code contributions, documentation, bug reports and, feedback.
• Improve mapping guides that benefit disaster response mapping.
• Maintain quality contributions to OpenStreetMap through the work of our data and engineering teams.
• Coordination and open communication of all ongoing mapping efforts by the team.
• Continue to improve processes and training our team and other stakeholders related to the HOT Activation.

Examples

Examples of how Mapbox participates in crisis mapping and supports the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team.

• Help fund the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team
• Mapping for hurricane response in Mexico
• OpenStreetMap rallies for Nepal
• Post-earthquake imagery for tracing in Nepal

Feedback

Please post feedback as an issue in our mapping repository.