Resilience Starts at Home 🏡 | HOT Tech Updates
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Hi everyone,
“There’s no place like home.”
Home is where we expect to feel safe. It’s where we sleep, go about our daily routines, and find shelter from the world outside. But what happens when the place meant to protect us becomes vulnerable to the very hazards we need shelter from?
In our July newsletter, I reflected on flooding in my home city of Lagos. Now, months later, reports of a potentially very strong El Niño and warnings about extreme heat across Nigeria have me thinking about another kind of hazard. From floods to rising temperatures, one question remains: how prepared are our communities?
This year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, brought that question into focus with its theme, “Resilience Starts at Home.” Everyone deserves a home that is safe, affordable and able to withstand the hazards around it.
But making that possible takes more than a sturdy roof. It takes reliable information, accessible data and maps that help communities prepare before disaster strikes.
This month, we explore how open geospatial data, community-led mapping and GeoAI are helping make that possible.
Let’s get into it!
With enthusiasm,
Ibrahim Fatai
Central Communications Assistant
When an Early Warning Needs a Map
An extreme-weather forecast can tell us what may be coming. But helping communities prepare also means understanding who and what could be affected.
In this article, we explore why early warning systems need more than hazard forecasts. By combining information about buildings, essential services, vulnerable communities and evacuation routes, layered maps can help turn warnings into information people can act on.
HOT’s open mapping workflow helps build this missing layer of information. Through the HOT Tasking Manager, our AI-assisted mapping tool fAIr, and a global network of trained local mappers, HOT transforms satellite and drone imagery into detailed, layered maps that support disaster preparedness and response.
Making Open Imagery Easier to Find and Use
Maps depend on imagery, but collecting it is only part of the challenge. People also need to be able to find, access and use that imagery in their mapping workflows.
In the latest article in HOT's OpenAerialMap series, we explore how the new OAM browser, uploader and catalogue infrastructure are helping make openly licensed imagery easier to discover and contribute.
Already using OpenAerialMap? The new version is live. Existing imagery data remains available, and direct uploads to the new platform are possible. User information from the previous system still needs to be migrated.
Building Open GeoAI for Humanitarian Mapping
GeoAI can help mapping communities identify buildings and other important features in satellite and aerial imagery. But for these models to be useful in humanitarian contexts, they need to be accessible, adaptable and responsive to the places where they are used.
Petya Kangalova and Kshitij Sharma discuss how GeoAI, human validation and community-generated mapping data can support humanitarian response. They also explore the fAIr platform and its standardized workflows
Listen to the podcast and watch the fAIr demo on YouTube!
Contribute: Open Call for Earth Observation GeoAI Models
HOT is inviting researchers, universities, organizations and independent developers to contribute open-source GeoAI models that can support humanitarian mapping. Accepted contributions are eligible for USD 3,000 per model, subject to the call's requirements and collaboration process.
Models may support mapping residential areas, essential infrastructure, transport networks and other features from high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery. The application closes December 31, 2026.
Building with AI Means Thinking About Responsibility
AI tools are opening new possibilities for software development, including in the humanitarian and nonprofit sectors. But adopting these tools also raises questions about ethics, risk and responsible practice.
The Responsible AI Guide offers a living framework for NGOs, civil society organizations and mission-driven teams navigating the use of large language models in software development. An updated second draft is expected in November, so keep an eye out for the next iteration.
From Mapping Tools to Community Preparedness
Technology is most valuable when people can use it to address the challenges they face in their own communities.
In Karangasem, Bali, HOT worked with local disaster management agencies and communities to improve preparedness around Mount Agung, an active volcano. Through the End-to-End Mapping Solution (E2E) Bali project, local teams learned to collect and visualize geospatial data, map evacuation routes and identify safe points and essential facilities.
The resulting maps were incorporated into the official Agung Volcano Contingency Plan, helping disaster management teams plan for emergencies affecting communities around the volcano.
The project also demonstrates how local knowledge and accessible tools can strengthen long-term preparedness, with communities continuing to build on the mapping skills developed through the initiative.
From the Community
Petya Kangalova recently joined the local FOSS4G UK community to discuss how HOT's End-to-End Mapping Solution can support disaster preparedness and community-led mapping.
With the next Global FOSS4G set to take place in Bristol, the event was also an opportunity to connect with the wider open-source geospatial community.
How you can contribute
Visit our HOT Tech Product Suite for more details.
Contribute to our open-source projects by looking for good-first issues and current volunteer projects on GitHub
Support us on our GitHub Sponsorspage.
Every contribution counts!
If you want to know more or have questions about any of the tools, reach out to [email protected] and join the rest of our tech community at our Slack channel: #geospatial-tech-and-innovation on our Slack channel.
This newsletter was curated Petya Kangalova, written by
Ibrahim Fatai and edited by Ibrahim Fatai and Raiza Pilatwosky Gruner.
