The past two weeks we have been sharing seven creative photo mapping innovations from our community and seven places off the beaten track. This week it is time to highlight some of the many inspiring photo mapping projects that have taken place during 2016.

Supplement aerial or satellite imagery with views from the ground

#mapLesotho is a project to create a basemap of Lesotho, driven by strong collaboration between Fingal County Council, Ireland, and Assistant Physical Planners from the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftanship in Lesotho. Street-level photos help provide information beyond what’s visible from satellite imagery. The planners have been able to identify potholes, road surface, street lights, abandoned houses and more for adding to OpenStreetMap.

Make roads safer for cyclists and commuters

The City of Espoo together with GISPO organized an event for local cyclists to capture Mapillary photos. The goal was to test Mapillary for a broader street survey project to create a comprehensive database for maintaining bike lanes. Cyclists were asked to make note of safety hazards or poor road conditions so the City could find the exact location of the problem.

Promote better infrastructure for pedestrians

#Mapeaton is a collaborative initiative that promotes and protects the rights of cyclists and pedestrians in Mexican cities and public spaces. Mapeaton is using Mapillary to visually document the day-to-day infrastructure struggles of people walking and biking. In 2016 Liga Peatonal, one of the Mapeaton initiatives, documented the street views of people with disabilities.

Create better maps for delivering aid and developing infrastructure

Ramani Huria is a community-led project in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where students, government officials and local residents have been working together to map and photo map flood-affected areas. Understanding flood-prone areas through photos helps municipal authorities make informed decisions about infrastructure to mitigate localized flooding.

Create virtual tours off the beaten path

The tourist board of the Faroe Islands were looking to create Street View across the island as a promotional campaign. Mapillary photo mapped the island with simple equipment and a small crew, creating fresh and beautiful street-level imagery within a week.

Create better maps with recent imagery from all over the world

HERE has partnered with Mapillary to tap into the power of community mapping. Users of HERE's MapCreator product contribute images they capture with mobile phones, action cameras and dashcams to Mapillary. They then use Mapillary's street-level imagery to update obsolete data and fill in the gaps in HERE's global coverage.

Improve maps with virtual views of unmapped locations

Equipped with smartphones, action cameras and a 360 camera, Cuban mapmakers have created the first virtual views of the streets of Havana. The imagery will be used to update maps that haven’t been updated to the public since the 1950s, but also to visually document Havana. The mappers are leaving a trace of what the streets look like today for anyone to explore in the future.

I hope these seven projects have inspired you to enhance your Mapillary photo mapping in 2017. I’d love to hear if you have a favorite in this list or a favorite project you would want to add.

/Sandra and the Mapillary team