Charlotte Liebel
I am a cultural geographer with an enthusiasm for OpenStreetMap and the broader possibilities of open mapping. My work is driven by a deep curiosity about how technology and society co-evolve and shape one another over time. As a researcher, I focus particularly on the convergence of geospatial data, digital technologies, and social processes. I am especially interested in how these developments influence and transform societal structures, practices, and the ways in which we know the world.
Session
This paper revisits humanitarian mapping in OpenStreetMap from a critical socio-technical perspective. Since the 2010s, initiatives like the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) have mobilized global volunteers for crisis mapping, while raising concerns about epistemic inequalities and the marginalization of local knowledge. Focusing on the HOT Tasking Manager, the study examines how participation is structured through platform design, enabling collaboration but also embedding standardization and governance logics. Drawing on data ethnography and infrastructure studies, it reassesses earlier critiques and their metabolization. The paper argues that humanitarian mapping today oscillates between empowerment and technocratic rationality amid ongoing data inequalities.