Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

HOT will be presenting at #HNPW2026 in an interactive session of the GIMWG GIS Subgroup exploring the Humanitarian Reset through GIS, Earth Observation, and GeoAI.

Join the discussion on the future of geospatial coordination in humanitarian response.

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘁 #𝗛𝗡𝗣𝗪𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗮!

HOT will be presenting across in-person sessions on how open mapping and geospatial data support humanitarian response. Hear from Rebecca Firth and Jessie Pechmann.

📍 Visit the HOT booth and swipe to see where to find us.

Poster with the words: Interactive booth, Meet us at Giga Day 2026 in Barcelona! Friday 6th 12:40, Barcelona Technology Centre and the logo of the humanitarian openstreetmap team.

Text that says: At our interactive booth, Sam Colchester, HOT’s Global Disaster Response Advisor, will showcase how our team in Eastern and Southern Africa is working with UNICEF's Giga Initiative to map schools in Mozambique. Below is a headshot of Sam with glasses and a blue shirt and HOT's logo.

Anyone @ Mobile World Congress 2026? Catch up with us tomorrow during Giga Day, a side event showcasing a joint UNICEF-ITU initiative to connect every school to the Internet. We will be doing some live demonstrations during the Interactive Open House! Full schedule here: luma.com/5j8jqode

𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗛𝗢𝗧 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

The third HOT case studies collection, 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙈𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙍𝙞𝙨𝙠 𝙍𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 is now out.

Explore how community mapping and open geospatial data are strengthening disaster preparedness and response worldwide.

Download: bit.ly/4aQpUQc

Join us at #𝗛𝗡𝗣𝗪𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 for our virtual session 𝙉𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙈𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜: 𝙇𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙈𝙖𝙥 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙩.

Explore how communities & global mappers close critical geospatial data gaps in crisis settings to support humanitarian response.

🗓 5 March
🔗 Register: bit.ly/4tV54YL

HOT is heading to #HNPW2026 (2–12 March), joining the global humanitarian community online & in Geneva.

Rebecca Firth and Jessie Pechmann will represent HOT across sessions on open mapping, geospatial data, and humanitarian coordination.

𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻.

We’re proud to be a charity partner for GEO Business 2025, the UK’s largest geospatial event.

Join us in London this June to connect with the geospatial community and explore how open mapping technology and geospatial data are advancing humanitarian response.

Register: bit.ly/4kUKq6N

𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗼 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲: 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀

Ahead of #IWD2026, join a live panel on how open mapping and participatory data can keep women and communities visible in crisis response.

🗓 5 March 2026 | 16:00 UTC
Register: bit.ly/46sUC0z
Learn more: bit.ly/4bhfKIP

With 760K+ mappers & a strong ecosystem of open tech, community leadership & partners, we’ve mapped areas where 1B+ people live. Now we’re scaling locally-led mapping, enabling trained mappers to deliver quality geospatial data & improve livelihoods.

Read more: bit.ly/4kWeuz4

HOT is partnering with the Judith Neilson Foundation to scale the Open Drone Crew to seven West African cities.

Building on our Freetown project, we’ll expand local crews across Sierra Leone and Senegal to support disaster planning, urban development and climate resilience.

Read: bit.ly/4a6FPJL

HOT has received support from the Howden Foundation to advance community-driven heat resilience in Freetown.

Over two years, we’ll work with communities and partners to build the city’s first geospatial and thermal map to help target heat risk and strengthen climate resilience.

bit.ly/4rp70a9

In 2025, HOT data on HDX supported humanitarian mapping, analysis, and response efforts worldwide.

With over 153,000 dataset downloads and more than 111,000 users accessing HOT data, our partnership with HDX helps ensure geospatial data is available.

Explore HOT datasets on HDX: bit.ly/3MzYjL4

Great connecting with the global open-source community at #FOSDEM2026 in Brussels.

Petya Kangalova delivered a main track talk on building an open mapping ecosystem for all, while Sam Woodcock also represented HOT at the event.

Rewatch the talk: bit.ly/3ZFDPU5

Nominations are still open for the 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲. 𝙒𝙝𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮?

Tag a woman or team making an impact in OpenStreetMap or HOTOSM 👇

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝟮𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
Submit a nomination: bit.ly/3NJuFDn

Following Cyclone Gezani’s landfall in Madagascar, HOT and partners have activated mapping to support humanitarian response efforts.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗢𝗧 𝗧𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿: bit.ly/4alBm7A

Learn more about the wider response on Wiki: bit.ly/4bQ97PA

Who gets access to satellite data, and who is still left out?

New research from Common Space highlights growing demand for openly licensed, high-resolution imagery to inform humanitarian decision-making and build more equitable access.

Read the report: bit.ly/4axHyYX

Closing data gaps is critical to effective disaster response.

Featured in Zag Daily, learn how HOT and its partners supported mapping efforts in Jamaica following Hurricane Melissa.

Read more: bit.ly/3Mdjtyx

Following Cyclone Gezani’s landfall in Madagascar, HOT and partners have activated mapping to support humanitarian response efforts.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗽𝗲: bit.ly/460MEvg

You can also view the priority areas HOT is focusing on: bit.ly/3OlaQT0

On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we celebrate women across HOT advancing innovation, strengthening data ecosystems and shaping inclusive humanitarian mapping.

Meet eight women leading tech and mapping while building a more equitable future for open geospatial data.

Meet Sam Colchester, HOT’s Global Disaster Response Advisor. From community mapathons to disaster response, Sam’s journey shows how volunteer mapping fills critical geospatial data gaps when it matters most.

Read more: bit.ly/4khPdPn

𝗛𝗢𝗧 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 & 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 — 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
𝗧𝘂𝗲, 𝟭𝟬 𝗙𝗲𝗯 | 𝟭𝟬:𝟬𝟬 & 𝟭𝟴:𝟬𝟬 𝗨𝗧𝗖

Join our interactive Miro session to explore the End-to-End Mapping Workflow and share feedback on tool naming and categories. No prep needed — we guide you live!

𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: bit.ly/3MoZCfK

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

In this conversation, Nicole and Amar from the MapSwipe governance team look back on a year of backend upgrades, stronger community collaboration, and new project types and share what’s ahead in 2026.

🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲: bit.ly/3ZfNZuu

In late December, HOT hosted an in-person fAIr workshop in Kathmandu with Togglecorp, marking the start of our first collaboration and the 𝗰𝗼-𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗔𝗜𝗿𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗽𝗲.

🔗 fair.hotosm.org
🔗 mapswipe.org

Datos abiertos del Gobierno de España | datos.gob.es Plataforma de datos abiertos del Gobierno de España

HOT is featured in an article published on datos.gob.es/es/, the Open Data Initiative of the Government of Spain. The article highlights how open-source mapping tools and participatory approaches help close critical data gaps in humanitarian response.

🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: bit.ly/3ZF28l0

HOT is featured in an article published on datos.gob.es, the Open Data Initiative of the Government of Spain. The article highlights how open-source mapping tools and participatory approaches help close critical data gaps in humanitarian response.

🔗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲: bit.ly/3ZF28l0

DAI published an article written by Laura McLean exploring how humanitarian action must adapt to climate change. It highlights HOT as an example of how open mapping supports disaster preparedness and response.

🔗 bit.ly/3O27oMZ