Inside the Eye of a HOT Activation

One year after our last presentation to State of the Map, the Red Cross continues to invest in GIS and OpenStreetMap. The Red Cross is leveraging OSM in many ways for long term programs and during disaster responses, most notably during Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. While the Red Cross has built relationships and participated in small scale activations before this is the first time we were actively engaged with HOT to identify, prioritize, and plan tracing activities during an activation. During the Typhoon response thousands of volunteer mappers contributed to updating OSM for the Philippines to support humanitarians such as the Red Cross on the ground. This session will look at the mechanics of how the Red Cross uses the great work of digital volunteers to empower its relief teams on the ground to navigate, plan, and make life changing decisions.