HOT Tasking Manager is the world’s most widely used tool for coordinating collaborative mapping on OpenStreetMap. It enables organisations and individuals to define an area of interest, divide it into a grid of smaller tasks, and assign those tasks to volunteers — ensuring that every part of a region gets mapped without duplication or gaps. Originally built by and for the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), the platform is today used by humanitarian agencies, national mapping communities, academic institutions, and local groups worldwide.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/hotosm/tasking-manager/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
HOT Tasking Manager is free and open-source software released under the BSD 2-Clause License. You are welcome to use the source code, deploy your own instance, and contribute to its development on GitHub. It is a verified Digital Public Good.
Who Uses Tasking Manager?
The platform serves a broad spectrum of mapping communities:- Humanitarian organisations coordinating disaster response — from earthquake recovery to flood mapping — through the HOT production instance at tasks.hotosm.org.
- National and regional OSM communities running their own instances, such as OpenStreetMap Indonesia and OpenStreetMap US.
- Educational institutions like TeachOSM, which uses Tasking Manager to introduce students to collaborative mapping.
- Local mapping groups who need a structured, scalable workflow for community mapping campaigns.
Key Features
Task Grid Splitting
Project managers define an Area of Interest (AoI) and the platform automatically divides it into a grid of manageable task squares. Mappers claim individual tasks, preventing duplication and allowing progress to be tracked in real time.Real-Time Task Locking
When a mapper starts working on a task it is locked to their account for up to 2 hours (configurable viaTM_TASK_AUTOUNLOCK_AFTER). This prevents conflicts and gives the entire team a live view of who is working where.
Editor Integration
Tasking Manager seamlessly launches mappers directly into their chosen editor pre-zoomed to the task area:- iD Editor — the browser-based beginner-friendly editor
- Rapid Editor — Meta’s AI-assisted mapping editor (regularly updated within TM)
- JOSM — the advanced desktop editor favoured by experienced mappers
ohsome Now Stats Integration
Real-time mapping statistics are powered by the ohsome Now Stats API, giving project managers live visibility into buildings mapped, roads added, and other contribution metrics.Multilingual Support
The interface is available in 26+ languages, including Arabic, Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish, Ukrainian, and more. The set of displayed languages is configurable per instance.Teams & Organisations
Projects can be associated with organisations and teams. Role-based access control allows organisation managers to govern who can create projects, who can validate mapping work, and who has administrative privileges.Sandbox Mode
A dedicated sandbox mode (introduced in v5.5) lets users practise OSM editing within the Tasking Manager workflow without affecting production map data — ideal for training new mappers.OSM OAuth2 Authentication
All user authentication is handled through OpenStreetMap’s OAuth 2.0 system. No separate account is needed; mappers sign in with their existing OSM credentials.Architecture Overview
Tasking Manager is composed of two independently developed parts that communicate over a REST API:| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend API | Python, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy (async), Alembic migrations |
| Frontend | React (Create React App), MapLibre GL JS |
| Database | PostgreSQL with the PostGIS spatial extension |
| Container orchestration | Docker Compose (Traefik reverse proxy) |
/api/v2/. Interactive API documentation (Swagger UI) is served at /api/docs. The React frontend communicates with the backend API and can be pointed at any Tasking Manager API instance, including the HOT staging API during frontend-only development.
Known Instances
Several public Tasking Manager instances are running today:| Instance | URL |
|---|---|
| HOT Tasking Manager (production) | tasks.hotosm.org |
| HOT Tasking Manager (staging) | tasks-stage.hotosm.org |
| TeachOSM | tasks.teachosm.org |
| OpenStreetMap US | tasks.openstreetmap.us |
| OpenStreetMap Indonesia | tasks-indonesia.hotosm.org |
| OpenHistoricalMap | tasks.openhistoricalmap.org |
| Oceania Tasking Manager | tasks.smartcitiestransport.com |
| Map My Kerala | mapmykerala.in |
Where to Go Next
Quickstart
Stand up a local instance with Docker Compose and make your first API call in under 10 minutes.
Development Setup
Configure the React frontend and FastAPI backend for local development, with or without Docker.
API Overview
Explore the versioned REST API, authentication model, and available endpoints.
Projects & Tasks Concepts
Understand how projects, task grids, mapping states, and validation workflows fit together.