How you can help out in Ebola relief with Open Street Mapping

I attended the Ebola Open Data Jam last week and was able to help out the Ebola stricken areas in their relief efforts by drawing in buildings, roads, and infrastructure on the Open Street Map where it is missing.  

Open Street Map is a citizen run community of mappers from all over the world populating and open source map with data. It is actively being used by the American Red Cross and others on the ground in West Africa.

I'm pretty sure anyone with just a modicum of technical know-how can contribute, not just professionals. and I strongly encourage folks to check this out.

Below I'll list the steps to take to get started: 

1. Create an Open Street Map account 

2. Join the Humanitarian OpenStreetmap Team (HOTOSM)

3. Pick a task that you'd like to contribute to, eg. #711 Ebola Outbreak, Kayes, Mali - Pre-emptive building mapping 

4. Make sure you follow your tasks instructions closely.

5. Map away!