Humanitarian OSM Team/Open Mapping Hub - Latin America and The Caribbean/Activations/2024 Belize Wildfires Response
| Background | |||||||||||||||||
Context of the Activation Belize is grappling with unprecedented wildfires that have destroyed over 10,000 hectares of agricultural land, affected more than 200 families, and caused over eight million US dollars in damages. The fires, fueled by extreme drought and rising temperatures, have devastated wildlife habitats and threatened communities, particularly in the Cayo and Toledo Districts. The National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) reported severe impacts in villages like San Pedro Columbia and Crique Jute. In response, the Open Mapping Hub in Latin America and the Caribbean has launched efforts to support recovery, working with local partners to assess data needs and enhance future preparedness. | |||||||||||||||||
2024 Belize Wildfires Response
Contacts
- Arnelle Isaac - arnelle.isaac@hotosm.org
Hashtag
All contributions through HOT's Tasking Manager are tracked with a unique change set comment tag: #belizefires24
Timeline
- Start: June 4, 2024
- End: To be defined
Remote Mapping Coordination
- Source data for task location in populated places:
- List of active projects in the Tasking Manager: 2024 Belize Wildfire
- Leaderboard for tracking general editing statistics:
Dashboard to Track General Editing Statistics
Map and Data Services
Exporting OpenStreetMap data
See Downloading data for instructions on getting large scale map data, or see the focused exports below:
About This Disaster Activation
About HOT
To learn more about the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), explore more of our wiki-pages (root: HOT) or our website hotosm.org. HOT is a global community, mostly of volunteers, and it is a US registered nonprofit able to contract with organizations (email info at hotosm.org to contact our staff), we are also a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
History of this Activation
OSM Community Activation
June 4, 2024 - In 2024, Belize faced unprecedented wildfires that swept through vast areas, causing significant environmental and social impacts. The fires, fueled by extreme drought conditions and rising temperatures attributed to climate change, devastated wildlife habitats and threatened communities. Over 200 families have been affected, with more than 10,000 hectares of agricultural land destroyed, leading to the destruction of approximately 200 homes and estimated losses exceeding eight million US dollars. The full extent of the impact on agriculture remains unassessed due to continuous wildfires and prevailing dry weather conditions.
Severe wildfires have impacted the Cayo and Toledo Districts, exacerbated by human activity, lightning strikes, and extremely hot and dry weather conditions, resulting in low and dried-up rivers, creeks, ponds, wells, and swamps. Initial damage assessment by the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) has highlighted the destruction in the Toledo District, particularly in the villages of San Pedro Columbia, Crique Jute, and Na Luum Ca.
The Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing is monitoring and maintaining critical infrastructure, while four residential homes have been burnt, and water sources are critically low. Approximately 32,000 acres of primary and secondary forested areas in major watershed areas of the Mountain Pine Ridge and Colombia forest reserves have been destroyed, with fires continuing to burn out of control.
In response, the Open Mapping Hub in Latin America and the Caribbean has launched an activation to support response efforts, working with local partners to identify and prioritize data needs for recovery and future preparedness.
Coordination Lead(s)
- Arnelle Isaac (HOT Tasking Manager support)
Data Quality
Validation
Validation permissions for Tasking Manager projects are restricted to particular Tasking Manager Teams / users to ensure high quality validation:
- HOT Global Validators
- Validator Trainees
- MSF Validators
- Data Quality Interns
- Data Quality Interns 2022
OSMCha
A specific OSMCha filter can be used to detect data quality issues across a wider area.
Overpass Turbo
A specific Overpass Turbo query can be used to check the data quality regularly. Open it in JOSM and run validation (Shift+V).
For Mappers
How You Can Contribute
Learn to Map
- Most of our volunteer needs are for remote OSM contributors, visit LearnOSM.org and MapSwipe to get started.
Mapping Priority
- Please choose from highest priority first,
- Experienced mappers are also asked to participate in validating completed tasks. Information on validating can be found here:
| Tasking Manager Projects | ||||||
| Project | Priority | Name | What to map | Imagery Source | Task Mapping Status % | Task Validation Status % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #16929 | Urgent | BELIZE - CAYO AND TOLEDO DISTRICT (3) WILDFIRE2024 | Buildings | ESRI World Imagery | Complete (100%) | Complete (100%) |
| #16920 | Urgent | BELIZE - CAYO AND TOLEDO DISTRICT (2) WILDFIRE2024 | Buildings | ESRI World Imagery | Complete (100%) | Complete (100%) |
| #16914 | Urgent | BELIZE - CAYO AND TOLEDO DISTRICT (1) WILDFIRE2024 | Buildings | ESRI World Imagery | Complete (100%) | Complete (100%) |
| MapRoulette Projects | ||||
| Project | Priority | Name | Task Mapping Status % | Task Validation Status % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #48328 | Urgent | HOT 2024 Belize Wildfire - Farms identification in Belize | 1% (in process) | 0% (not completed) |
Community Mapathons
| Date | Time | Lead Community | Country | Location/ Meeting Link/ Registration Link | Type | Status | Notes | Social Media Post |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Available Imagery
Project-Specific Mapping Notes
- Imagery: ESRI Imagery.
- Some squares will already be partially or fully mapped, map more if necessary or correct existing mapping, or mark it as "Yes" in response to "Is this task completely mapped?" if it is already complete.
- Existing mapping doesn't match imagery - This happens in some areas, when different imagery sources are used. If this occurs, ensure you are using the recommended imagery.
- Alternative imagery is better - Sometimes, due to shadows, alignment, and other factors, it might be easier to trace features using other imagery. That's okay as long as you adjust any offset. When finished, leave a comment in the Tasking Manager when marking as done/finished mapping to say you used alternative imagery. Refer to LearnOSM for detailed instructions on handling imagery offset, or Aerial Imagery & Alignment for adjusting in the iD editor. With JOSM, it's relatively easy to add special imagery if the license is appropriate for tracing into OSM. For more details see JOSM Imagery Help.