YouthMappers Humanitarian Mapping Society
The Humanitarian Mapping Society at GW
The Humanitarian Mapping Society is a student led YouthMappers Chapter, located at the George Washington University in Washington D.C. Our organization is a founding member of the YouthMappers Network. To learn about this global university consortium go to their OSM wiki linked here or visit their website at youthmappers.org.
Our Mission
The purpose of the George Washington University’s Humanitarian Mapping Society is to use open-source data and GIS technologies to map potential disaster areas, provide resources for emergency management, connect its members with open source and GIS organizations in the Washington, D.C. area, and serve any upcoming needs of our project partners and the open-source mapping community. In doing so, HMS will help its members advance their academic and personal goals of developing their open-source mapping and GIS skills.
History
The Humanitarian Mapping Society was originally founded in 2013. The idea was brought about by undergraduate students and through the help of peers & faculty in the GWU Geography Department, it was made into a reality. HMS at GW was one of the founding chapters of the YouthMappers organization in 2014, which is now a global network of student-run organizations focused on the intersection of GIS, global humanitarian operations, and map literacy. Throughout the years the organization has grown due to student interest, growth in the world of open-source data, and collaborations with both other student run organizations and the greater D.C. community. The goal of the Humanitarian Mapping Society continues to be educating and empowering GW students in the importance of maps and open-source data in all fields.
Currently there are 34 registered members of the Humanitarian Mapping Society and the organization has contributed over 100,000 edits to the OSM community since its creation.
Contact Information
The Humanitarian Mapping Society at GW can be contacted via email at hms.gwu@gmail.com
Additionally, the organization can be found at @HMS_GW on both Instagram and Twitter.
Activities
The Humanitarian Mapping society conducts events that focus on mapping for emergency management, in the hopes that our work will be used to provide aid and relief to communities that may have been affected by natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, climate crises, etc. A detailed our activities and activities we have helped to contribute to our located in the table below.
| Task | Purpose | Details | Tools | Date Started |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OSM Training | To educate our members on open source programs and how to properly utilize them for mapping tasks | Held at the beginning of every mapathon. Basic skills such as mapping buildings, roads, land use, squaring structures, and appropriately using tags. | ID Editor, JOSM | 2014 |
| Ongoing Mapathons | To assist with tasks created by other chapters or organizations. | Held Biweekly all academic year. Usually between one and two hours long. | ID Editor, JOSM | 2014 |