[Diversity-talk] Who Maps The World

[Heather Leson]

Thanks for sharing Alyssa.

Rachel and allies, this is a great piece. It would be great to share on the
main list. I would be happy to do so and share in the discussion.

I'll share here.
https://www.facebook.com/OpenStreetMap/?ref=br_rs



Thanks for all your leadership. Step by step

Heather

Heather Leson
heatherleson at gmail.com
Twitter/skype: HeatherLeson
Blog: textontechs.com

On Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 2:47 AM, alyssa wright <alyssapwright at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> City Lab article below on gender disparity in OSM. I actually think things
> have evolved and are more nuanced then ever before. Wondering if I am being
> naive.
>
> https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/03/who-maps-the-world/555272/
>
>
> A map only reveals as much as the mapmaker knows about the world, or at
> least, cares to show. When most mapmakers are men, there’s bound to be gaps.
>
> For example, on Open Street Map, the free and open-source Google Maps
> competitor edited by volunteers around the world, “childcare centers,
> health clinics, abortion clinics, and specialty clinics that deal with
> women’s health are vastly underrepresented,” reports Sarah Holder at
> CityLab
> <http://links.e.theatlantic.com/ctt?kn=30&ms=MTkxOTI3MjgS1&r=MzQ3NzMwMjc1NTg1S0&b=0&j=MTIyMDg0NzEwOQS2&mt=1&rt=0>.
> It’s estimated that just 2 to 5 percent of OSMers are women. The vast
> majority are older, retired men.
>
> That gender imbalance provokes serious debate among mapmakers—one of the
> more contentious battles in OSM history was in 2011, when editors rejected
> an appeal to tag “childcare” at all. (It’s since been added.) But more
> importantly, a map that fails to represent the needs of more than half the
> population is not a very a useful map. The stakes are highest in places
> where there is no Google, Apple, or any other company working as a back-up.
> Sometimes, a volunteer-made map is the only cartographic resource citizens
> and humanitarian organizations in developing countries have to go on.
> A childcare center in Scottsdale, Arizona. (OSM)
>
> That’s why a team of OpenStreetMap users—with lots of women involved—is
> intentionally creating maps that reflect space more inclusively. On
> International Women’s Day, Holder reported on a “feminist map-a-thon” in
> Washington, D.C., hosted by Missing Maps, a humanitarian mapping
> organization. There, volunteers worked to build a map for an NGO in
> Tanzania that shelters girls facing the threat of genital mutilation. Their
> digital lines and labels (such as: “women’s toilet”) could become
> real-world escape routes.
>
> Inclusive geography is about more than mapping bridges and tunnels that
> everybody uses. “It’s shaped by asking things like: Where on the map do you
> feel safe?” Holder writes. “How would you walk from A to B in the city
> without having to look over your shoulder? It’s hard to map these
> intangibles—but not impossible.”
>
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