ANALYSIS OF LOCAL AND REMOTE MAPPERS’ OPEN GEOGRAPHIC DATA CONTRIBUTION TO OIL SPILL DISASTER RESPONSE IN NIGER DELTA REGION, NIGERIA

Abstract. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the contributions of Local Volunteer Mappers (LVM, resident in Nigeria) and Remote Volunteer Mappers (RVM, not resident in Nigeria) in an organized crowd-sourced disaster response mapping using OpenStreetMap. The study sampled two Local Government Areas in Ogoni land - a major oil spill disaster vulnerable area of the Niger Delta Region. The study engaged mappers using the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap (HOT) tasking manager for Tai (Project task 6358, with 596 grids –RVM) and Gokana LGA (Project task 6359, with 706 grids –LVM), respectively in a Mapathon battle challenge. The result shows that project task 6358 was completely mapped and validated in six months, while project task 6359 took 28 months. Each of the 56 RVM spent an average of 20.77 minutes/grid, generating a total of 16,416 edits of 13,552 building footprints and 858km of roads. The 173 LVM spent an average of 41.1 minutes/grid to generate 18,367 edits of 14,983 building foot prints and 521km of roads. The study also showed that a total of 103 RVM joined but only 56 completely mapped the task within six months whereas 173 LVM joined and completely mapped the task within 28 months. Demographic characteristics of both categories of mappers showed that 52% of the RVM were advanced mappers whereas 72% of the LVM were beginner mappers on the HOT Tasking Manager. Conclusively, the lacuna or differential response of RVM and LVM requires investigation in terms of geographic context, digital citizenry, economic disposition and demographic characteristics of online volunteer mappers.