What The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team does

The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) is a US-based non-profit founded in 2010 in direct response to the Haiti earthquake, dedicated to creating and maintaining free, open geospatial data for humanitarian action in regions where base map data is scarce. The organization builds on OpenStreetMap — the world's largest open editable map — and extends it with a purpose-built suite of open-source tools: the Tasking Manager for coordinating crowdsourced remote mapping, Field Mapping Tasking Manager (FMTM) for mobile field surveys via OpenDataKit Collect integration, Drone Tasking Manager for aerial data collection, Open Aerial Map for imagery access, HOT Export Tool for data export, uMap for custom map creation, ChatMap for geolocating crowdsourced messages from WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal, and fAIr for AI-assisted building detection from satellite imagery. Since 2010, HOT and its community have mapped over 1 billion features across 94 countries, supporting a specialized Humanitarian Mapping Brigade of 31 skilled mappers from 12 countries.

HOT operates a community-led go-to-market model with no commercial pricing; all tools are freely available and the organization is funded through grants, donations, and partnerships with humanitarian organizations, governments, and IGOs. Programs are organized around five impact areas — disaster response, climate resilience and sustainability, public health, displacement and safe migration, and gender equality — and delivered through four regional Open Mapping Hubs spanning Asia-Pacific, Eastern & Southern Africa, West & Northern Africa, and Latin America & the Caribbean. Customer segments span government agencies (Jamaica ODPEM, Belize NEMO, CDEMA's 19 Caribbean participating states), local NGOs (Sonje Ayiti in Haiti, Dominica Red Cross, GIS Society of Trinidad and Tobago, Youth Emergency Action Committees), academic institutions (Caribbean School of Data at UWI Mona), and informal community networks, with international humanitarian institutions (GFDRR, Taiwan ICDF, The Asia Foundation) among the funding partners. The organization has achieved Candid Platinum Transparency certification and holds 15 years of operating history.

Recent strategic moves include joining the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' as a Value Adding organization in 2024, signing an MOU with CDEMA in 2023 covering 19 Caribbean states, presenting fAIr at the AI Action Summit in Paris in February 2025, launching FMTM in public beta in March 2024, and deploying ChatMap during Hurricane Melissa in October 2025 with over 2,000 contributing individuals feeding crowdsourced ground intelligence into Jamaican government systems.

Name

The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

Legal name

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team

Website

https://hotosm.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

HOT is a US-based non-profit founded in 2010 that creates free, collaborative geospatial data for humanitarian action across 94 countries. It serves governments, NGOs, and disaster response agencies through open-source mapping tools built on OpenStreetMap and delivered via four regional Open Mapping Hubs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Open-source humanitarian mapping software

NAICS

Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (541370), Space Research and Technology (92711)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Humanitarian Coordination, Information Management & Needs Assessment (BPAGAAAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Humanitarian Coordination, Information Management & Needs Assessment (BPADADAL), Disaster Response & Search and Rescue (SAR) (BPADADAA), Satellite Imagery & Remote Sensing Geospatial Platforms (BPAMANAM), Environmental Data, Monitoring, Remote Sensing & Early Warning (BPADALAN), Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus & Resilience Programming (BPADAEAK)

Keywords

• Open-source mapping tools
• Humanitarian geospatial data
• Disaster response mapping
• Volunteered geographic information
• Crowdsourced cartography

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: HOT operates as a non-profit humanitarian organization funded primarily through donations and grants from the public and institutional donors. The organization's website features a prominent 'Donate' CTA, indicating public donation as a revenue channel.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) develops and operates a suite of free, open-source geospatial software tools built on the OpenStreetMap platform. These include the HOT Tasking Manager for coordinating crowdsourced mapping, ChatMap for geolocating messaging-app communications, fAIr for AI-assisted satellite imagery mapping, the Field Mapping Tasking Manager (FMTM) for mobile field data collection, Drone Tasking Manager for drone-based aerial mapping, and supporting tools like the HOT Export Tool, Open Aerial Map, and uMap. HOT organizes a global volunteer community to create and maintain detailed open geospatial data used by governments, NGOs, and disaster response agencies across 94 countries.

Product overview

HOT offers a suite of open-source mapping tools built on OpenStreetMap, with the Tasking Manager serving as the flagship coordination platform for organizing crowdsourced mapping projects. The tech product suite includes ChatMap (for crowdsourced messaging-to-maps), fAIr (AI-assisted mapping using satellite imagery), the HOT Export Tool (for data export), Open Aerial Map (for aerial imagery access), Field Mapping Tasking Manager (for mobile field data collection using OpenDataKit), Drone Tasking Manager (for drone imagery coordination), and uMap (for custom map creation). Programs include the Disaster Response Program and Humanitarian Mapping Brigade. HOT works through four regional Open Mapping Hubs (Asia-Pacific, Eastern & Southern Africa, West & Northern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean) supporting local communities in 94 countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Tasking Manager: Flagship tool that allows digital volunteers to collect extensive amounts of geospatial information in an efficient and effective way, particularly during disasters and humanitarian responses.
• ChatMap
• fAIr
• HOT Export Tool
• Open Aerial Map
• Field Tasking Manager
• Drone Tasking Manager
• uMap
• Humanitarian Mapping Brigade
• Caribbean School of Data

Products and services

• HOT Tasking Manager Flagship coordination platform that organizes crowdsourced OpenStreetMap mapping projects. Digital volunteers select small, manageable geographic areas, contribute geospatial data, and submit work for quality validation before integration into OpenStreetMap. Used during disasters and humanitarian responses to coordinate remote mapping at scale.
• ChatMap Tool that geolocates text messages, photos, and videos from communication apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal) and converts crowdsourced communications into real-time emergency maps. Designed for disaster response when conventional mapping infrastructure is unavailable.
• fAIr AI-Assisted Mapping Service AI-assisted mapping service that uses computer vision to analyze satellite imagery for automated building and infrastructure detection. Incorporates human-in-the-loop validation workflows where local users can train and refine models with their own knowledge to improve geodata quality at scale.
• Field Mapping Tasking Manager (FMTM) Mobile and web application that facilitates large team field mapping campaigns to cover urban areas. Integrates with OpenDataKit Collect (ODK) for geospatial data collection on Android devices, enabling project managers to assign areas and features to field mappers and track contributions.
• Drone Tasking Manager Platform designed to make drone-based aerial data collection more accessible to governments and local groups, enabling communities to collect high-quality geospatial data with drones for planning and response efforts.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1 billion+ features mapped across 94 countries since 2010
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration13 records

AI capability5 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

16 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• The International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters'flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024HOT joined The International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' as a Value Adding organization in 2024. This enables direct sharing of OpenStreetMap datasets including building footprints and road networks with disaster management authorities during activations, as demonstrated in Nigeria's Mokwa Floods and Hurricane Melissa in Cuba.
• Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023MOU signed in 2023 between HOT and CDEMA (coordinating disaster management across 19 Caribbean participating states) to strengthen disaster resilience through open data. Jointly implemented Emergency Resources Mapping Project in the Caribbean.
• Belize National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023NEMO Belize signed an MoU with HOT and participated in the Emergency Resources Mapping pilot project, identifying Belize City, Belmopan City, San Ignacio, Santa Elena, and Corozal as key locations for mapping emergency resources.
• Jamaica Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoordinated real-time damage assessments using ChatMap during Hurricane Melissa. ODPEM received crowdsourced maps from over 2,000 individuals, integrated into official response systems.
• MapActioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with HOT during Hurricane Melissa response in the Caribbean to coordinate mapping efforts and provide humanitarian mapping support.
• Jamaica Flying LabscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal partner in Jamaica contributing to Hurricane Melissa response and drone mapping training programs in the Caribbean (led Drone Tasking Manager Training in Dominica and St. Lucia).
• Caribbean School of Data (UWI Mona)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with HOT in Hurricane Melissa response and co-hosted the Caribbean Data Commons regional workshop in Kingston, Jamaica (August 12-14, 2025) with over 30 participants from across the Caribbean.
• NAXA (Nepal)coreTechnology or IntegrationPartner in Nepal that collaborated with HOT's Tech team to develop the Field Mapping Tasking Manager (FMTM). NAXA implemented the Janakpur digital metric addressing system project using FMTM with The Asia Foundation funding.
• Youth Emergency Action Committees (YEAC) - Grenada, Dominica, Saint LuciacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHOT trained youth members of YEAC in Grenada, Dominica, and Saint Lucia in open-source data collection, analysis, and mapping tools through the Youth Champions in Emergency Mapping (YCEM) project.
• Dominica Red CrosscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerParticipated in Youth Champions in Emergency Mapping project, training volunteers in open-source data collection as first responders in their communities.
• GIS Society of Trinidad and Tobago (GISSTT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with HOT's Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) to deliver a five-module drone training program and produce foundational geospatial dataset of a coastal zone prone to storm surges and erosion.
• Sonje AyiticoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal non-profit in northern Haiti with 18 years of roots partnered with HOT for community-driven mapping at the heart of disaster preparedness in Limonade.
• Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (Taiwan ICDF)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupported the Emergency Resources Mapping project in Belize, emphasizing the critical role of data in disaster prevention and early warning systems expansion.
• YouthMapperscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSeven members of YouthMappers participated in the pilot phase of the Humanitarian Mapping Brigade through the First Risk Management Mapathon 2023 in Ecuador.
• ESRIcoreTechnology or IntegrationHOT coordinated with ESRI during Hurricane Melissa response to ensure crowdsourced mapping data flows directly into Jamaican government systems.
• GeoAI Hack participants (GeoTechAI team)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHOT staff (Omowonuola Akintola, Kshitij Raj Sharma) and OSM community members (Ayomide Oraegbu, Emmanuel Jolaiya) formed the GeoTechAI team and won 2nd place at the GeoAI Hack hackathon in February 2025, building LocustFinder for desert locust monitoring.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• MapAction: UK-based humanitarian mapping charity deploying volunteer GIS specialists to disaster zones. Closest direct peer to HOT in mission, volunteer-led model, and operational partnership with disaster management authorities (HOT and MapAction explicitly partnered on Hurricane Melissa response).
• CartONG: French non-profit specializing in geographic information management for humanitarian and development actors. Directly comparable to HOT in mission, NGO structure, and provision of mapping/GIS services to humanitarian organizations.
• Standby Task Force: Network of trained digital humanitarian volunteers providing remote mapping and OSINT support during crises. Closely aligned to HOT's community-led OSM contribution model, particularly for Tasking Manager activations.
• Development Seed: Geospatial technology consultancy building open-source mapping and Earth observation tools for humanitarian and development use cases. Comparable to HOT in combining open-source tooling, satellite imagery integration, and humanitarian/development end users.

Broad incumbents

• Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF): Large international humanitarian NGO operating across disaster response, conflict, and public health. Comparable as a humanitarian peer organization with which HOT coordinates on geospatial needs, but significantly larger in scope and budget than HOT.
• UN OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs): UN body coordinating humanitarian response globally, including information management needs assessments. Comparable as a large-scale institutional actor in humanitarian coordination that HOT's mapping outputs support.

Regional players

• ReliefWeb: UN OCHA-operated humanitarian information portal providing maps and datasets for global disaster response. Comparable as a humanitarian information management platform, but operated by a UN agency rather than a community-led NGO.

Others

• Esri: Dominant commercial GIS and mapping platform provider with a humanitarian program. Comparable as a technology partner/integrator that HOT data flows into during disasters, and an adjacent ecosystem player rather than a direct volunteer-led mapping competitor.
• Maxar Technologies: Commercial provider of high-resolution satellite imagery widely used in disaster response. Comparable as a satellite imagery data source that powers HOT's remote mapping activations, though positioned as a vendor rather than peer mapper.
• Planet Labs: Earth observation satellite operator providing daily global imagery used for humanitarian and environmental monitoring. Comparable as an imagery provider enabling HOT's mapping work, and an emerging ecosystem partner for AI-based detection pipelines like fAIr.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/hotosm
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/hotosm
• Facebookfacebook.com/hotosm
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/4873165
• Instagraminstagram.com/_hotosm
• Xx.com/hotosm

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team