Missing Maps Mapathon at the Department of Geography

Missing Maps Mapathon at the Department of Geography

Come and support the work of Médecins Sans Frontières by helping to map places that are threatened by humanitarian crises in OpenStreetMap. And listen to the experiences of the missions directly from a member of Médecins Sans Frontières.

Members of Missing Maps Brno help out at various mapathons in the Czechia, Slovakia, and elsewhere in the world. It's time for the mapathon to take place again on their home turf - at Masaryk University.

When shall we meet?

April 29, 2024 from 6:00 p.m.

Where are we going to meet?

The mapathon will be held in a hybrid way. Those interested in mapping at the Department of Geography can meet in person in the Z7 computer room. Computers are also available here for those who do not have their own laptop. Classroom Z7 is on the ground floor of the building; building location: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/84965582. Those who wish to join online will receive a link via email.

Registration: https://buytickets.at/missingmapsczsk/1216249

What will happen at the mapathon?

At the mapathon, we will create a map in OpenStreetMap of one of the places where Médecins Sans Frontières operates based on satellite images. Eva Adamová, a member of Médecins Sans Frontières, will tell us about her experiences directly from missions in the field. Come ask her!

It doesn't matter if you don't have experience. You will learn everything on the spot and after a short training you will be able to map yourself. If you have experience, all the better. We will work in four groups, three of which we will learn:

• Beginners will have the opportunity to learn the iD editor - a basic editor in which even a beginner can quickly learn the basics of mapping. And next time he can move to another group.

• Beginners and more experienced people will have the opportunity to learn the JOSM editor - a freely available editor for OpenStreetMap that allows mapping quickly and at the same time with high quality. You can register for this group even if you have no experience with the iD editor yet. In our experience, even a beginner can handle this editor.

• If you already use the JOSM program, you can train as a validator. This is a checker who can also map, but rather checks the work of others and corrects errors so that the data produced is of high quality and useful. It's not difficult at all, but there are few validators, so they are valued. Come and try it!

• Experienced users who no longer need any training and just want to map or validate without training are invited.

If you are already among the experienced and would like to join the organizing team, we will be happy to discuss this at the mapathon.

What do you need?

No previous experience is required. All tools are free and open source.

Mappers without their own laptop will be able to use the computers in the computer lab. If you want to work on your own laptop, you need to bring a mouse and have the JOSM program pre-installed.

A stable wireless Internet connection will be provided.

Should I prepare something?

If you don't already have an OpenStreetMap account, create one here: https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/new.

If you are going to map in the JOSM program, you need to have it installed in advance. It is freely downloadable at https://josm.openstreetmap.de. The program requires the Java programming language to be installed.

If you want to be in the group of validators, at least basic knowledge of the JOSM editor is an advantage. It is, therefore, ideal to first complete the mapathon in the JOSM group and, at the next mapathon, go to the validators.

The Department of Geography of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University, the organizing team of the Brno mapathon Missing Maps Brno, the Geocommunity association, Médecins Sans Frontières, and volunteers of Missing Maps Slovakia are looking forward to seeing you.

More information: Radim Štampach (stampach@mail.muni.cz)