Overall, we had 175 sign-ups representing 42 states and 1 US Territory. We had 171 that finished the MapRaid! on August 24, 2019. All six ranks comprised the raid and the top three regions represented were PLN, NOR, and SAT with 14.9% of raiders each. New editors (R1 & R2) made up 21% of all participants.
We broke our two states into 12 groups. The groups were loosely formed based on Rural and Urban/Military qualities. Based on these qualities, each group had its own raid goals including basemap, connectivity, PURs, and place harmonization. One measurable goal was PURs across both states. Kansas had 1127 on August 8 and 15 on August 24 while Missouri had 875 and 49 in the same time period. Overall, 463,165 segments were edited while 224,822 were created (including cuts and merges).
We conducted an exit survey of the 171 editors who finished the raid. Of those, 79 participants responded. As seems the case with most raids, 65.8% indicated the raid length was just right, while 34% indicated the raid was too short. Given the sheer amount of basemap available, we were not surprised by this result. Overall, respondents gave an 89% approval rating for the raid, 92% responsiveness rating, 88.4% rating on the raid goals, 91.1% rating on the raid wiki, 93.4% rating for Discord, and 88.9% approval rating of their group leaders. Where we received particularly low marks was group size with a 56.8% approval rating.
Group size was a big debate for us as planners. We considered larger but fewer groups, smaller but more groups, and ultimately landed on the 12 groups which included 4 smaller, but more dense urban groups. Group size was also impacted by active raider numbers. A number of respondents indicated they either forgot about the raid or got busy with other activities to contribute. Our own intra-raid checking indicated about 8% of the raiders who signed up did not make any edits at least through the first week of the raid.
While not the first raid to use Discord as the principal communication tool, we were one of the first to host the raid locally on the regional Discord server instead of using the Waze Global & MR Discord server. This allowed for better management and changes on the fly. We received mixed reviews on everyone having access to all 12 groups versus only access to their own group. This was a debated and conscious decision on the part of the planners in order to better facilitate the redistribution of people between groups after a group’s goals had been met (which ultimately did not occur).
Overall, we are pleased with the outcome of the raid. The feedback we received indicated that it was a great raid for the participants as well. For example, “I was unsure whether or not to sign up for this one. I almost didn’t but now I’m glad I did.”, “I felt the most comfortable in this raid than any other raid that I have participated in.”, “This was my first raid but I was incredibly impressed by the organization. Docs provided, and attention of my team leaders. Thanks so much for a great experience!” Finally, we had 12 raiders who requested and received AM in one or both states because they wanted to continue post-raid!
Thanks to all who participated!
