Facebook speeds up mapping data validation with machine learning tools Map With AI and RapiD

Millions of roads around the world have yet to be mapped, and that's a real problem, particularly in the developing world. Missing map data can harm disaster response, community planning, and local economies. And while government-run and tax-funded projects like the U.K.'s Ordnance Survey have produced enormous corpora, they've largely failed to freely and widely distribute them. That's motivated crowdsourcing efforts like OpenStreetMap, which recruit thousands of volunteers to catalog roads, buildings, and bridges every day. It's an arduous process, but one buoyed by Facebook, which has worked with communities and partners to fine-tune a tool -- Map With AI -- that automates several of the most time-consuming steps.