Software Development

A beginner’s guide to mapping out natural disasters

Log in, pick a task, trace features on a blank map. This Azavea staffer wants to rally more hands around the Callowhill firm's #HOTLunch initiative.

At HOT Lunch, where Azavea workers got together to pitch in a global Puerto Rico relief effort. (Courtesy photo)

Azavea Community Ambassador Dan Ford dreams of making #HOTLunch a regular, worldwide thing.

The event, a lunch-hour session for crowd-editing maps of natural disaster sites like Puerto Rico, was born out of a similar Philly Tech Week 2017 event in May. To get more folks around the world to join the effort, Ford wrote a beginner’s guide to help entry-level technologists start mapping.

“Anyone with a passion for volunteering, philanthropy, or helping others can participate,” Ford writes.

Read the guide

The FAQ breaks down the process of logging in to the Humanitarian Open StreetMap Team platform, selecting a project and using a series of tools to provide updated information to NGOs and relief workers on the ground.

Ford is in talks with a few Philly tech companies to get them to join the #HOTLunch push, happening the last Wednesday of every month at 12 p.m. Eastern time.

Companies: Azavea

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