MapSwipe GPS Navigation and Maps app for Android description
Humanitarian organizations face challenges in reaching vulnerable populations when they are difficult to locate. MapSwipe, a mobile app developed in collaboration with the Missing Maps project, addresses this issue by enabling users to search satellite imagery and help put the world’s most vulnerable people on the map.
Users can choose a crisis-prone region, such as spotting villages at risk from a cholera outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and swipe through satellite images of the area. They can tap the screen to identify features like settlements, roads, and rivers. This information is then fed back to mappers, who use it to create detailed and useful maps.
Currently, mappers spend days scrolling through thousands of images of uninhabited forest or scrubland, searching for communities that need mapping. MapSwipe allows members of the public to directly contribute to MSF’s medical activities by locating people in need more quickly. This enables mappers and, ultimately, medical professionals on the ground to get straight to work.
