Discover how OpenStreetMap powers urban planning and city development—building better communities through maps made by people like you.
As urban populations surge and cities struggle to keep pace—managing housing, infrastructure, and public services under mounting pressure—planners and policymakers need accurate, ground-level geographic data to make decisions that shape lives for generations. OpenStreetMap, with its open data and global community, fills critical urban mapping gaps in fast-growing and underrepresented cities across the world. Powered by volunteers and supported by civic organizations, OSM enables urban planners, local governments, and communities to design, develop, and advocate for cities that work for everyone.
Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) documents how Mexican communities use OSM to map streetlights and urban features. By integrating mapped roads, amenities, and green spaces into GIS, planners support local development, simulate urban growth, and identify priority areas for infrastructure and public-service improvements.
Birmingham City Council collaborated with the OpenStreetMap community to open up traffic sensor and road data. By publishing real-time sensor locations and mapping them in OSM, the council enabled open-source traffic modelling and predictive tools.
The Map Kibera project trained young residents of Kibera (Nairobi’s largest informal settlement) to create the first detailed map of their community on OpenStreetMap. They mapped roads, homes, clinics, water points, and even “black spots” where crimes occurred. This citizen map made Kibera visible to authorities and NGOs, one direct result was a new police post.
Ramani Huria (“Open Map” in Swahili) was a World Bank-funded community mapping project (2015–2020) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Local university students and residents mapped thousands of buildings, roads, and drains in flood-prone wards using OSM. These open maps have strengthened the city’s flood planning.
The World Bank launched the Open Cities Project in November 2012 which used OpenStreetMap to create to create open data ecosystems that will facilitate innovative, data-driven urban planning and disaster., Open Cities has brought together stakeholders from government, donor agencies, the private sector, universities, and civil society groups to create usable information through community mapping techniques.
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