The Mapillary Camera Grant Program has had many iterations since it first began in 2016. The goal of the program has always remained the same. We make cameras and equipment available to people to help them capture more imagery at a higher quality than would be possible with a smartphone alone. In doing so we aim to increase imagery coverage which is a useful source of information for map building.

In the latest iteration of the program we partnered with OSM US and OSM Belgium to distribute a total of 40 cameras, with 20 for each region. OSM US selected recipients, marketed the program, and distributed cameras in the US. OSM Belgium did the same, but for Europe. In this blog we highlight some of the imagery that resulted from the cameras. If you would like more information about the program and equipment that was sent, read our launch post for the US and for Europe.

After about one year of operating the program, 4.2 million images were contributed by the 40 cameras. The median number of photos per camera is 22,551. The average is slightly higher at 29,961. We hope that this number grows significantly as more people get a chance to use their camera.

US highlights

Morgantown, West Virginia

Drew Gatlin (jdgat), the Chief Structural Engineer for the City of Morgantown, captured almost all of the roads in the city.

Youngstown, Ohio

gtaylor captured much of Youngstown, Ohio, a city with many parks and outdoor recreational areas, including the Mill Creek MetroParks.

Justin Meyers: from Arkansas to Wisconsin

Justin Meyers (justinmeyers) collected imagery in a number of small US towns near waterways including Cotter and Mountain Home in Arkansas, Macon in Missouri, and Iron River in Wisconsin.

European highlights

Stara Pazova and Nova Pazova, Serbia

borovac is one of a few key people in the very active Serbian OSM community. He has been adding new coverage around Belgrade under the organization EU Camera Grant 11.

Budapest, Hungary

Budapest is a large city, but vst is making significant progress with EU Camera Grant 16.

Braga, Portugal

waldyrious has been taking his 360º camera around Portugal, but it’s worth checking out his contributions in Braga on behalf of OSM Braga. He captured imagery on foot which will help OSM map the city’s pedestrian infrastructure.

The results so far

The table below summarizes the GoPro Max 360º images each username that received a camera grant has uploaded to Mapillary. The total number is high in many cases because some cameras are getting shared around and being used by a username different to the one that applied for the program.

Lessons learned

1. Past behavior is a great indicator of future behavior. People who have contributed a lot to Mapillary before using their phone are the most likely to utilize a 360º camera.
2. Communication. People are busy and life gets in the way. Checking in every now and then and reminding people about the camera can help motivate them to map.
3. Make it easy. Cameras have come a fair way since we first started sending GoPro Action Cameras. We are now able to send a 360º camera with embedded GPS and an on-device stitching. The images and videos the camera creates can be dropped into the Mapillary Desktop Uploader for easy uploading.
4. On-boarding: Collectively the Mapillary community is putting together a lot of useful information in the forum and other places about how to use the GoPro Max in different circumstances. We can consolidate some of this information and make more detailed onboarding guides for people receiving the cameras.
5. Organization: It can be very hard to track how each camera is used without an organization. OSM Belgium’s model of creating a Mapillary organization for each camera makes it much easier to see which usernames are using a camera and thus the true impact of each camera.

Future of the program

The longevity of camera grant programs depend largely on how much the cameras get used. We’ve been happy to see millions of images uploaded, but we also want to make sure each camera is useful. There are always more people wanting a camera than we can send out so the selection process is critical.

We’re thinking about the next stage of the program and would love to hear from you on what you’d like to see. You can also submit your expression of interest to receive a camera, which will be helpful to gauge how many people are interested and in which parts of the world.

Thank you OSM US & OSM Belgium

This program was made possible thanks to the tireless efforts of OSM Belgium and OSM US. Special thanks goes to Joost Schoope, Jess Bauer, and Maggie Cawley. Thank you also to the recipients for helping to map the world and bringing Mapillary along on your adventures.

/Ed