Collaborative mapping response to disasters through OpenStreetMap: the case of the 2016 Italian earthquake

Abstract

Digital humanitarians represent the current generation of volunteers providing timely contributions in the form of digital map data in the aftermath of natural disasters. Starting from the tragic 2010 earthquake in Haiti and thanks to the success of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project, the presence and coordination of these volunteers have grown incredibly over the past years. This work investigates the dynamics of the mapping process and the nature of the OSM volunteers who contributed map data after the 2016 earthquake in Central Italy. The analyses show that the existing OSM users were the majority of those contributing to the mapping activity, with less edits performed by new users. The collaborative mapping process was efficiently coordinated through a dedicated platform and the area hit by the earthquake was significantly edited in OSM after the disaster