The "Wikipedia of maps" does not represent millions of people and this can distort COVID-19 data

It is known as the Wikipedia of maps and through it anyone can provide data on information related to roads, restaurants or train stations, for example. OpenStreetMap is a collaborative mapping project that, in practice, can encompass the whole world, but the truth is that there are about two billion people who are not represented on this map.

The guarantee given by Ivan Gayton of the humanitarian project OpenStreetMap BBC. "It is shameful that we, as cartographers of the world, do not have enough interest to know where these people are", he considers, showing himself very dissatisfied with this reality. "People are living and dying without appearing in any database."

In addition to having website data, anyone can add information on the platform. To do this, you must create an account that must be authorized by members of the OpenStreetMap team. However, the reality that the end result, at least now, is a work with inequalities: "a more updated map in some places".

Ivan Gayton Source: BBC

For Ivan Gayton, the project is the most complete and accurate map for many regions of the world, especially in rural areas of Africa, where the lack of investment translates into blank pages where millions live. The chart gives the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo: "Not like people didn't live there, but they just aren't recorded".

Mapping and public health are more important than treatment in cases of epidemics

The project member considers that this reality can be a matter of life or death. "If we think about a disease outbreak like the coronavirus, contact tracking is a way to stop epidemics." "Not the treatment, the public health and the map data that make this possible", he guarantees.