HOT's humanitarian program brings together different types of actions that leverage the OpenStreetMap database and its ecosystem of tools to provide local actors, including organizations and governments, with data required in the immediacy of crisis response to natural disasters and other humanitarian situations. Data creation aims to be timely through a rapid but accurate assessment with local sectors of their most pressing needs for immediate response, intermediate response and then recovery, a phase that can last more than a year after a disaster. It is a comprehensive process co-designed with local stakeholders and collaborative with all local, regional and global mapping communities interested in this humanitarian issue invited to participate. It includes a certain type of standardized phases, but revisited and prioritized according to needs with high care to people's vulnerability and to the privacy of certain information.
This talk will exemplify the support that HOT is giving in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and in particular in the city of Porto Alegre since July 2024.
In this area of the country, the city government in particular has been helped to have a faster recovery of its educational and health social services, an indirect but concrete way to improve the welfare of the population, with geographic data and open technologies.

HOT's LAC hub dedicates an important part of its activities to foster mapping and collaborative projects in the Amazon, with different academic and civil partners, and with the regional Openstreetmap community including its large student community, in continuity with OSM-Latam's Mapazonia initiative.
The Amazonia Program is a multifaceted initiative that addresses mapping gaps and promotes social impact mapping in the region. Partnerships with disaster risk management, civil protection and municipal development authorities aim to fill mapping gaps and improve the risk management and sustainable development, including preservation, of this critical region for the world. Early mapping identifies vulnerable areas to improve planning and response and make degradation processes visible. The community projects teach mapping and support environmental monitoring in several Amazonian cities and communities in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, fostering local engagement and open data ownership.
The set of projects develops technical competencies with the great diversity of actors that have a role in the management of their territory (governments, communities, ancestral governments, civil society, supported by universities), based on the use of free and collaborative geographic data (OSM) and “low tech” mapping and monitoring tools, also free, culturally relevant, and with low connectivity requirements.
In this talk we will explain the long term strategy to map the Amazon, will exemplify different projects, show the challenges for the region, and show the different mappings that the audience can join and invite their own communities.
This talk will serve as an introduction to a practical activity that will be proposed to contribute to the mapping of Belém.

In this talk, I will colloquially go through the path of my person through values that, between discoveries, projects, initiatives, themes, and very broad fields of applications, have led me to settle in the universe of OpenStreetMap for the collective good, particularly in the humanitarian field and sustainable development.
This talk aims to express to the general public, to the technical public, but in particular, to the young public, an itinerary that shows a broad panorama of the possibilities of contribution from all kinds of actions, specialties, and knowledge located from humility, and the immense benefits of this trend.

In this dialogue, we take a journey through Geochicas’ eight years of impactful work within both the OpenStreetMap (OSM) and OSGeo communities. From our early days to our growth as a network of diverse voices, Geochicas has forged connections, expanded reach, and set new standards for inclusivity in open mapping and geographic information systems. Along the way, we’ve collaborated with other collectives, amplifying our impact across continents and platforms, and launched projects that bring a fresh perspective to digital mapping through the lens of equity and representation. This conversation uncovers the milestones we've reached, the partnerships we’ve cultivated, and the strategies we’re developing to build even more inclusive and supportive geospatial communities. Join us as we share stories, insights, and our vision for the future, exploring how we can continue inspiring positive change in the communities we care deeply about.