Humanitarian OSM Team/Open Mapping Hub - Latin America and The Caribbean/Activations/2025 Floods Response in Mexico
| Background | |||||||||||||
Context of the ActivationIn October 2025, Mexico was severely affected by a combination of extreme weather events. Hurricane Priscilla, on the Pacific coast, and Tropical Storm Raymond, in the Gulf of Mexico, caused widespread flooding, landslides, and infrastructure damage across the country. The heaviest impacts were reported in the states of Veracruz, Tabasco, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Hidalgo, and Querétaro, where continuous rainfall led to river overflows, road blockages, and the loss of dozens of lives. Thousands of families were displaced, and several communities remain isolated due to damaged infrastructure. This activation focuses on mapping the affected areas to support ongoing response, recovery, and resilience efforts. | |||||||||||||
Contacts
- Latin America: Céline Jacquin - celine.jacquin@hotosm.org / Juan Melo - juan.melo@hotosm.org
Hashtag
- All contributions on Tasking Manager are tracked with a unique change set comment tag: #2025_HM_MX_FL
Timeline
- Start: October 14th, 2025
- End: To be determined
Remote Mapping Coordination
- Source data for task location in populated places: ESRI World Imagery.
- List of active projects in Tasking Manager: Check Campaign here.
Dashboard to Track General Editing Statistics
Map and Data Services
Using OSM data on mobile
Exporting OpenStreetMap data
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
- March 2025 - HOT joined this initiative following an invitation from the Bahia Blanca Municipal Government.
Data Quality
Validation: This project includes direct investment from HOT in full validation by experts.
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
Mapping Priority
- Please choose from highest priority first.
- We call for local mappers to prioritize local knowledge on the area.
- The call is for basic, intermediate and experienced mappers.
- Experienced mappers are also asked to participate in validating completed tasks. Information on validating can be found here:
Tasking Manager Projects
| Campaña | Tasking Manager Link | Hashtag |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Floods Response in Mexico | 2025 Floods Response in Mexico | #2025_HM_MX_FL |
MapRoulette Manager Projects
| Project | MapRoulette Link |
|---|---|
| Mapping of Shelters for Hurricane Priscilla and Tropical Storm Raymond Response – Veracruz, Mexico | Challenge 53386 |
Available Imagery
Project-Specific Mapping Notes
If you want to use JOSM, you must download the MapWithAI plugin. The plugin's Wiki page contains detailed usage instructions. You can also use the building_tools plugin, which will make the process of creating geometries easier. Once the building is digitized, use the "Q" key to adjust the geometry. Keep in mind that buildings should typically not intersect with each other or with other constructions.
Instructions for manually mapping buildings:
- Draw the entire building, even if it's partially covered by trees in the imagery.
- Existing buildings and roads should not overlap each other.
- Stand-alone buildings should not share nodes with their neighbors.
Mapping tall buildings in dense areas - video tutorial:
- Do not confuse the displacement with the building's shadow.
- In iD, if you hold down the "alt" key, you will prevent the nodes from "snapping" together.
- Map all buildings that are at least 50% within the bounding box.
- Do not delete or modify existing elements unless you are sure of what you are doing.
- Adjust roads only if they are incorrect and affect your ability to map buildings.
Imagery:
- Try to use ESRI imagery.
- Note: wait for the imagery to load before marking the task as unavailable.
- Align the imagery with existing features if necessary. To do this, consult the iD Editor's Imagery Alignment Guide.
Tags:
- When adding a building, iD will label it with building=yes by default. If you know what type of building it is (e.g., house, apartments, commercial), you can label it accordingly.
- Refer to the OSM wiki page on building features for more information on building types.
- If you know the building's name, number of floors, or address, you can add these tags.
Results
| Mappers | Buildings | Roads |
|---|---|---|
| 82 | 10,811 | 2 km |