BYU Mapathon service project strives to map the unmapped

On March 31, students participated in a service project to help create maps for underdeveloped countries in order to aid humanitarian efforts.

The mapathon was hosted in collaboration with the BYU Ballard Center for Social Impact, BYU Office of Sustainability, Geospatial Services and Training and the BYU Department of Geography as part of Green Week.

The idea was inspired by a mapathon that Grayson Morgan, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University, attended as a graduate student, and with help from other organizers, the event began to be held each semester.

The first mapathon was held in April 2024. This is the sixth mapathon held on the BYU campus.

The mapathon was first held in the Harold B. Lee Library, but due to growing popularity, the event was held at the Wilkinson Student Center this year.

Approximately 100 students filled the room, coming and going for the three hour time period during which the mapathon was hosted. The room included booths, games and food with resources about sustainability and humanitarian efforts.

Each student was seated at a table, laptops open to the mapping site and faculty in yellow shirts available to help.

A mapathon is an event that we coordinate with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap, which is like the Wikipedia of maps. So Humanitarian OpenStreetMap is an arm that works with the Red Cross to try to map places that are under-mapped or places that perhaps theres recently been a natural disaster, Morgan said.

Students received a 10-minute training before the activity. The mapping efforts are key in mapping roads and buildings post-disaster in order to improve emergency response time and humanitarian efforts.

Teresa Gomez, the geospatial lab manager, leads a team of seven students who help faculty and students with research on geospatial technology. She was a key coordinator of this event.

People can be found. In my eyes, is that were helping people be seen. Like people cant be helped, and they cant be found. So theyre on the map, they can be helped, Gomez said.

The process is completely online and is accessible anywhere with access to an internet connection and a laptop.

Morgan Baird, a junior and geography major emphasizing in geospatial science technology, is a current employee of the geospatial lab. She has had the opportunity to participate in two mapathons one as a participant, and one as a member of the event staff.

I think its super fun. I think the best way to put it is that it kind of feels like indexing, but for mapping. Anyone can do it, you can do it anywhere, its something that you could do very easily, Baird said.

The mapathon has allowed students to serve communities across the world. This semesters mapathon focused mainly on mapping South Africa and Myanmar.

The goal was to map 15,000 features. 13,673 features were mapped at the event.

In total, nearly 50,000 features have been mapped in 43 countries. The number of students who participate in the mapathon continues to grow.

All are invited to participate, be involved and serve.

I believe maps have the power to help the world be a better place we are helping people be seen by adding them to the map, Gomez said.