Mapazonia (Mapping the Amazon)
From the about page:
Mapazonia has the aim of improve the OSM data in the Amazon region, using satellite images to map roads and rivers geometry.
A detailed cartography will help many organizations that are working in the Amazon to accomplish their objectives. Together we can collaborate to look after the Amazon and its inhabitants.
The project was born as an initiative of the Latinamerican OpenStreetMap Community with the objective of go ahead with collaborative mapping of common areas and problems in the continent.
We use the Tasking Manager of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team to define the areas where we are going to work. Furthermore we will organize mapathons to teach the persons how to use the tools of collaborative mapping.
Normally I am a big supporter of mapping and especially crowd-sourced mapping projects.
However, a goal of an improved mapping of the Amazon makes me wonder who benefits from such a map?
The local inhabitants have known their portions of the Amazon for centuries well enough for their purposes. So I don’t think they are going to benefit from such a map for their day to day activities.
Hmmm, hmmm, who else might benefit from such a map? I haven’t seen any discussion of that topic in the mailing list archives. There seems to be a great deal of enthusiasm for the project, which is a good thing, but little awareness of potential future uses.
Who uses maps of as of yet not well mapped places? Oil, logging, and mining companies, just to name of few of the more pernicious users of maps that come to mind.
To say that the depredations of such users will be checked by government regulations is a jest too cruel for laughter.
There is a valid reason why maps were historically considered as military secrets. One’s opponent could use them to better plan their attacks.
An accurate map of the Amazon will be putting the Amazon directly in the cross-hairs of multiple attackers, with no effective defenders in sight. The Amazon may become as polluted as some American waterways but being unmapped will delay that unhappy day.
I first saw this in a tweet by Alex Barth.