The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), in coordination with UN Volunteers, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP LAC), and GEO Colombia, and with the support of 56 government agencies, organizations, and universities across the region, launches the 2026 Latin America Regional Anticipatory Macro-Mapathon (MARE): a citizen science initiative aimed at closing cartographic gaps in vulnerable areas of Latin America.

From June 23 to July 31, MARE 2026 will bring together OpenStreetMap communities, volunteers, universities, and institutions across eight countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru.

Millions of people live in unnamed settlements, alongside unregistered watersheds and critical infrastructure absent from any database. That data scarcity delays humanitarian assistance, excludes communities from basic services, and limits the capacity to anticipate and respond to crises. When disaster strikes, that gap costs lives.

With the spirit of the World Cup as its backdrop, MARE 2026 brings together the largest team in the region: volunteers from eight countries, and from around the world, united by a single goal. Each participant maps for their national team or joins the Rest of the World team, in a healthy competition where the real scoreboard is the quality and volume of open data we leave on the map.

Participants will learn participatory cartography, update OpenStreetMap for disaster risk prevention, and can complete weekly challenges to earn an official certificate co-signed by UN Volunteers and HOT, as well as a certificate signed by government authorities. The highest quality mapping is rewarded with gift cards.

MARE 2026 scales four years of Annual Anticipatory National Mapathons (MANA): 1,450 participants, 547,400 buildings, and 2,100 km of roads mapped in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru. This edition adds Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Paraguay for the first time.

The map of Latin America is being updated by all of us together. Every building traced, every road confirmed, contributes to governments driving the public digital infrastructure that the region needs for disaster anticipation and risk managemen

— Céline Jacquin, Latin America Senior Manager, HOT

Co-organizers

Regional / International Partners

Colombia

Ecuador

Guatemala

Honduras

México

Paraguay

Peru

Incentive Sponsors