[FOSS4G 2026 Hiroshima] MAPME Initiative: Open Geospatial Resources for Development Impact

Jin Igarashi, Alison Lenaerts
Last updated on Sun, 13 Sep, 2026
Slides MAPME Initiative

Event: FOSS4G 2026 Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan

This lightning talk, co-presented with Alison Lenaerts, introduced the MAPME Initiative (Monitoring, Assessment, and Planning for Measurable Effectiveness), a community-driven initiative promoting access to open GIS resources for planning, monitoring and evaluation in international development.

The initiative is built on four pillars:

  • Community: a collaborative community sharing knowledge on geospatial methods for development
  • Open tools: open analytical tools for monitoring and impact evaluation, such as the mapme.biodiversity package
  • Projects: real-world collaborative projects applying geospatial methods
  • Geo4Impact: an event promoting innovation around open GIS for sustainable development

The talk showcased the open-source tools, demonstrated how geospatial data drives development impact, and explained how participants can contribute.

the abstract is available this page

FOSS4G