MapAction believes that applying geospatial expertise to humanitarian situations can greatly improve outcomes for the people affected.

Global humanitarian needs outstrip resources. Expert geospatial and data analysis can help stretch those resources for maximum impact. Many professionals want to donate their energy and skills to help. MapAction is the bridge which enables them to do so effectively. 

We are a non-profit organisation that collaborates with partners around the world to help anticipate, prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies. We strive to ensure governments, regional and local disaster management agencies and humanitarian responders have access to the information and analysis that they need to make key decisions, at the right times, to save lives and alleviate suffering. 

We are a team of around 100 people, 75% of them expert volunteers, plus a small roster of standby consultants. Combining the passion of volunteerism with the rigour and reliability of professional standards, the ‘MapAction spirit’ is something we work hard to maintain and the willingness of our team to go the extra mile is often fed back to us. 

With more than 20 years of experience and learning gleaned from attending over 125 different humanitarian emergency situations and supporting countless more remotely, we have developed a unique and continually requested range of capacities.

We freely share the knowledge we have acquired by teaching and training humanitarian coordinators to use maps and other geospatial products to help them make better decisions. We also help put in place the systems, resources and data required to build resilience to disasters and protect vulnerable communities. 

Always seeking improvement, we’re developing new technologies and approaches to ensure the data, maps and tools that are essential in humanitarian crises are made available as quickly as possible, or even prepared ahead of time.

And when major emergencies happen, we can still provide surge support to our partners at just 24 hours notice, enabling them to make sense of chaotic, dangerous and rapidly evolving situations and coordinate the most effective response.

Our combination of wide-ranging expertise in geospatial information and data analysis, allied with extensive knowledge and experience from the heart of humanitarian emergencies uniquely positions MapAction to continue improving the impact and effectiveness of humanitarian aid now and into the future. 

“The best information we could get in the chaos of the Idai response was YOUR map of health facilities with GPS and full name in a concise map. Thank you for that and all your fantastic work! Your presence in any disaster is really important and it is amazing what you are doing, knowing that you’re are making your incredible contribution as volunteers.”

Axel Schmidt, Emergency Response Coordinator, ASB (German international NGO) and Sphere Focal Point, Germany. Cyclone Idai response, Mozambique, April 2019