DOCUMENTATION · HELPMAP

Volunteer manual

How HelpMap works under the hood, how far your access goes, and what each tab of the panel does. If it's your first day, read sections 1 to 4: that's everything you need to work without breaking anything. The rest is per-tab reference.

1. Getting into the panel

Sign in at helpmapvzla.net/login with the email we approved you with.
Once in the map, tap the gear icon in the top bar — that's your panel.
The red dot on the gear counts what's awaiting review (public contributions and reports).
The "?" button in the panel header reopens the volunteer tour any time.

2. How HelpMap works under the hood

HelpMap isn't a single database everyone writes to. Data comes in through several routes, gets cleaned up, and the public reads a filtered copy. Understanding that path avoids 90% of mistakes.

Where the data comes from:

Field lists: the photos volunteers upload are transcribed by an automated process and go through a working sheet where they're normalized and de-duplicated. Only the cleaned-up result reaches the map.
Public "Collaborate → Contribute data" form: it never writes to the map directly. It lands in that same cleanup queue and someone reviews it before it exists as a record.
Your panel: it's the only route that writes straight to the database and shows up instantly. That's why it's the fastest — and the one that demands the most care.
Public contributions to a record that already exists (a photo, a new detail): they go to a moderation queue that you resolve, inside that person's card.
Missing-person reports: they're leads for you to search the database with, not public records. They never appear on the map.
Shelters and donation centres: they sync daily with AcopioVE. If you edit a place's needs, your version wins; the sync only replaces it if they update that same place after you did.

What the public sees isn't what you see: The public doesn't read the database: it reads a filtered copy of it. Home origin and medical service never appear there, minors never carry an ID or a photo, and a photo only shows if the record is verified and an adult. This isn't a screen-level rule you can bypass: it's enforced in the database itself. Even if you enter that data, it won't be published.

The database re-syncs on its own: Every few minutes the database re-reads the data team's source sheet. Your panel edit is timestamped so that sync won't overwrite it. If you still see a value «revert», tell the team: it means the source sheet says something different and it has to be fixed there, not re-edited over and over.

Everything is logged: Every change automatically records who made it, what changed and when. That log is written by the database, not the app: it can't be edited or deleted, not even from the panel. You see it in the Activity tab. It isn't there to watch you, but to reconstruct what happened when data goes wrong.

3. Your access level

There are three levels: the public, the volunteer (you) and the administrator. Yours lets you create and correct almost anything, but not destroy anything or hand out access.

You can:

Create and edit people: details, centre and status (Admitted, Discharged, Deceased).
Turn "Verified" on and off — it is what publishes the photo and shows the green check.
Create and edit centres of any type (hospital, shelter, morgue, donation centre, civic initiative), including their needs and contacts.
Upload photographed lists into the digitization process.
Create and edit rescued people, and "Transfer" them when you confirm which centre they reached.
Approve or reject the contributions the public sends about a record.
Review and close missing-person reports, with the contact details of whoever reported.
Add and edit the organizations listed in the donations section.
See the platform's full activity log.

You can't — admin only:

Delete anything: people, centres, rescued records or organizations. You can correct all of them, but not remove them.
Create, approve or revoke volunteers.
Turn on the maintenance notice the whole site sees.
Change the privacy rules or touch the database outside the app.

Why deleting isn't yours: Deleting a centre drags along everyone registered there, and a record deleted by mistake is someone a family stops finding. If something is wrong, correct it or change its status and tell the team: that's always better than removing it. This limit isn't a technical barrier you can bypass from the panel — it lives on the server, not in the button.

Your access is revocable: We can remove your access at any time, and that isn't distrust: it's exactly what lets us give you instant publishing with no review queue. If you lose your phone or think someone got into your account, tell us right away — it's cut off in a minute and nothing else happens.

4. What you publish goes live immediately

There is no queue reviewing your changes: you are a trusted person and what you save appears on the public map instantly. That's why the care goes before saving, not after. Everything is logged under your name in the audit log, and access is revocable at any time.

5. Activity

The first tab shows what has moved on the platform and what is still pending review. It refreshes on its own every minute. The pending pills take you straight to where each one is resolved.

6. People

Add or edit a person: surnames, names, ID, age, sex, centre and status (Admitted, Discharged, Deceased).
The "Verified" switch is what makes the photo public and confirms the record with the green check. Only turn it on if you confirmed the data in the field.
If a row shows an amber "N ⬆" badge, someone from the public contributed a photo or info to that record: open it with the pencil and approve or reject inside the card.
Before approving a photo, corroborate it with a person. Never publish a face you can't stand behind.

7. Centres

Add hospitals, shelters, morgues and donation centres. Typing the address auto-fills state, municipality and coordinates.
Check the pin on the map before saving: a misplaced pin sends a frightened family to the wrong place.
Shelters and donation centres show the "Needs" block: what the place receives and what it needs right now. That is what people see in order to help.
Deleting a centre is admin-only, because it drags along the people registered there.

8. Donations

Organizations collecting money or supplies are listed here: name, what they do, their social account, the donate link and the details to receive donations (Pago Móvil, bank account, Zelle). You can add and edit them. Check that the link and the banking details match what the organization itself publishes: a mistake here sends money to the wrong place.

9. Upload lists

This is the fastest route in the field: photograph the handwritten or printed list and we digitize it. You can select several photos at once (one per page) and they all go to the same centre. Set the date the data corresponds to if it isn't today. You'll see progress and a message that stays on screen saying how many were sent; if one fails, retry just that one.

10. Rescued

For people pulled out alive whose transfer destination we don't know yet. Publishing them lets their family know they're alive while the rest is confirmed. When you find out which centre they reached and in what condition, use "Transfer": the record becomes a person on the map and leaves the rescued list.

11. Reports

This is where families searching for someone arrive. They are not public records: they're leads for you to search the database with. Mark them reviewed or close them so the team knows which ones were handled.

12. Rules that are never broken

Minors: never a photo, never an ID. The system enforces it, but don't try it.
Home origin and medical service are never shown publicly. Name + photo + address is a targeting vector.
A deceased record is only published once verified, and is treated with respect: no alarmism, no figures made for screenshots.
When in doubt, choose the more restrictive option and ask the team. No one will fault you for asking.

13. If you're offline

The app keeps the last data it loaded, so you can keep consulting offline; you'll see a notice that the data may be out of date. Saving changes does need a connection: if something doesn't save, wait for signal and try again before assuming it went through.

Questions

Write to info@helpmapvzla.net. If you find wrong data published, tell us even if you didn't upload it: fixing it fast matters more than finding out who got it wrong.

Need something or want to collaborate? info@helpmapvzla.net

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