The Ministry of the Public Service, Information and Broadcasting will soon host its first ever Mapathon.

The Mapathon will engage members of the public in the mapping of notable buildings and sites using the OpenStreetMap platform.

The OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project, launched in 2004 in the United Kingdom, to create a free editable map of the world.

According to Minister for the Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology, Sen. Hon. Dr. James Fletcher, the project is part of government’s open data initiative.

Open Data makes government information more widely available to the public.

“You will be astounded at just how much information there is, how relevant that information is, and how useful that information can be to members of the private sector. But unfortunately it is unavailable to the private sector, to people who can use that information to make decisions, to improve their businesses, and to create new business opportunities; so this open data initiative is extremely important as it will allow us to capture that data, and more importantly, make that data available to everyone. The open map project is even more important because we have a country that is rich in the resources that it has at its disposal but there is very little documented information on where those assets are.”

Schools, libraries, public safety service points and hurricane shelters are among the various sites to be mapped for the initiative.

Dr. Fletcher said the project is an opportunity to allow government, public officers and members of the public to collaboratively map the country.

“We are basically crowdsourcing the mapping of Saint Lucia and giving everyone an opportunity to map every nook and cranny where they live, where they associate, where they play, where they go to church, where they go to school, so that they can have in the shortest possible space of time, a comprehensive map of Saint Lucia, its public assets, the private assets, and those resources that should really be of benefit to the entire country.”

The Mapathon is slated for Sunday, Feb. 28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the National ICT Centre in Castries.