Barriers to integrating crowdsourced crisis mapping into disaster management: lessons from Türkiye

Abstract

This article investigates the potential barriers that would be encountered in integrating a crowdsourced crisis data mapping project into Türkiye's disaster management system, exploring how existing institutional structures, communication practices and stakeholder relationships would shape such an initiative. An exploratory, embedded single-case study design is employed, drawing on in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions with 48 participants, including disaster management officials, civil society organizations, open mapping communities, a municipal planning unit and earthquake survivors, complemented by nonparticipatory online observation of a digital volunteer mapping community and field observation in affected districts. The analysis identifies several interconnected barriers: the absence of open data policies, institutional concerns over data security, inadequate volunteer coordination, one-way communication practices and political polarization as a cross-cutting factor undermining collaboration. All fieldwork predates the February 6, 2023 earthquakes; later material comes from secondary sources. As no institutionally integrated initiative yet exists in Türkiye, the barriers identified are anticipated rather than observed. The article offers concrete, data-grounded recommendations: drawing on the existing volunteer systems of established institutions, using central coordination to agree common data standards during pre-disaster preparedness, addressing open data literacy through targeted institutional training and countering mistrust through transparency. This is one of the first comprehensive qualitative studies examining institutional readiness for crowdsourced crisis mapping in Türkiye, incorporating perspectives from all key stakeholder groups.