Missing Maps: How AI can save lives

Without a doubt one of the applications of AI that can revolutionize our lives the most is the one that precisely saves them. One of the uses of this technology that can save lives is help in emergencies, since it can provide crucial support, such as mapping the terrain in a simple way so that emergency teams can access it. One of the most interesting projects that deals with this issue precisely is the one developed by Intel with its Missing Maps program together with the Red Cross.

Missing Maps was born as a collaborative and open project in which you yourself can help create maps of the areas where humanitarian organizations act to facilitate access to affected areas. Since, every year thousands of people are affected by natural disasters. These disasters often happen in places that are not mapped.

Missing Maps Objectives

The basic objectives on which Missing Maps is based are:

1. Map areas where people live at risk of crises or disasters, so that OpenStreetMap (OSM) is accessible to people, communities or organizations to organize a better response.
2. Support OpenStretMap, specifically the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), in the development of technologies, skills, workflows and communities.

Since the project began, the number of those mapped has not stopped increasing. The total contributions to the mapping of these areas amounts to 52,783 and the total number of editors to 73,679,627, 64,297,882 editions have been made on buildings and a total of 1,346,699 (km) of roads have been mapped.

How Missing Maps work

Missing Maps would work as follows:

• Volunteers remotely track satellite images on OpenStreetMap.
• Community volunteers add local details to these images such as the names of streets, neighborhoods and evacuation centers.
• Humanitarian organizations use data to plan risk and disaster minimization to save lives.

We can all help

Missing Maps is a project of great social impact that has helped emergency services perform better, surely saving many lives. Here we see an example of a great idea, which together with the help of AI is being carried out satisfactorily.

Therefore, we encourage you not only to participate in the Missing Maps and see how easy it is to participate and collaborate in the mapping of these areas at risk, but also for you to create your own social impact project with AI. So do not hesitate to visit the website of Saturdays.ai and thus start your own social impact projects.

Written by

Elena del Castillo Gil