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Share Results On A Map (uMap)

Most HOT tools let you download data. Share it with communities or partners on a uMap: a shareable web map. No GIS skills needed.

A typical map has three parts:

Layer Where it comes from Format
Your data ChatMap, Field-TM, or any other GeoJSON / CSV GeoJSON
Context (OSM) Export Tool: roads, buildings, health sites… GeoJSON
Background OpenAerialMap imagery, or a standard OSM map Tile URL (XYZ)

1. Get your data out

  • ChatMap: open the exported chat in ChatMap, remove any points you don't want to share, then click Download to get a GeoJSON file.
  • Field-TM: download the project submissions from the project page.
  • OSM data for context: in the Export Tool, draw your area, pick only the feature types you need (e.g. health facilities, main roads) and choose GeoJSON. Keep layers small: uMap gets slow with tens of thousands of features.

2. Create the map and import the data

  1. Log in to umap.hotosm.org and create a map.
  2. Click Import data and import each GeoJSON file into its own layer so viewers can switch layers on and off.
  3. Set each layer's name, colour and icon in its properties.
  4. Set what appears in the popup when someone clicks a point (e.g. the ChatMap message and photo).

3. Add imagery as the background (optional)

Recent drone or satellite imagery from OpenAerialMap makes a map much easier for a community to recognise.

  1. Find the image in the OAM catalogue and copy its item ID.

  2. Build the tile URL (see Using imagery):

    https://api.imagery.hotosm.org/raster/collections/openaerialmap/items/{item_id}/tiles/WebMercatorQuad/{z}/{x}/{y}?assets=visual

  3. In uMap's map settings, open Custom background, paste the URL into the URL template and add the image credit in the attribution field.

4. Share it

Save the map, check its permissions (who can view and edit), then share the link or embed it in a website.

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