Organization Mission

Giga is a joint initiative by UNICEF and ITU to connect every school in the world to the internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice. Giga aims to improve open location data by developing open-source tools and standards that enable governments, organizations, and the broader open data community to accurately map, analyze, and invest in connectivity infrastructure.

Context

Giga, a global initiative led by UNICEF and ITU, aims to connect every school to the internet by mapping school locations and assessing connectivity needs. A core element of Giga’s work involves the creation and maintenance of an open, standardized, and accurate global school location dataset. This dataset supports infrastructure planning, investment decisions, and transparency. Integrating Giga’s data with OpenStreetMap (OSM) can help to enrich the open data ecosystem and ensure that local and global actors have access to up-to-date, accurate, and detailed school location information. This assignment supports Giga’s efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina by aligning Giga”s school data with OSM to improve coverage, accuracy, and usefulness.

Key Responsibilities

We are looking for an Online Volunteer who will collaborate with Giga to support our efforts to integrate open school location and attribute data into OpenStreetMap (OSM). The volunteer will support the Giga team by aligning Giga’s school location dataset with existing school data in OSM for Bosnia and Herzegovina. This includes comparing school locations, names, and attributes to identify potential additions to OSM or opportunities to improve existing entries. The work involves verifying matches based on name similarity, including translating school names from Cyrillic to Latin when needed. The volunteer will also use GIS tools to assist in the validation geographic accuracy, flag inconsistencies, and ensure data completeness. Additional support may include translating relevant communications or data fields into the local language and preparing the final dataset for integration into other platforms or databases.

Required Skills and Experience

Familiarity with OpenStreetMap editing and conventions

Experience with GIS tools (e.g., QGIS) for spatial analysis and data validation

Ability to read and translate between Cyrillic and Latin alphabets

Attention to detail when comparing datasets and verifying attributes

Proficiency in Bosnian, Serbian, or Croatian

Ability to work independently and communicate findings clearly to the Giga team