Now that I’ve taken a day off after the 14-hour bus trip from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam, I can finally sit and share my thoughts on State of the Map – the first time the global conference was held in Africa!!

Before starting my academic career last year, most of my 8+ years of work experience has been in the OSM and open mapping ecosystem. Check out my diary on OSM’s 19th birthday, where I shared more about my journey in this amazing community. To quote myself from that diary (I’m becoming a real academic now, haha): “OSM is a project that needs communicators, developers, managers, strategists, etc., working together to unlock its true value within the community.”

I was thrilled to see this in action in Nairobi! I met so many people working on diverse projects ranging from environment, health, climate, disaster, urban planning, etc. Most importantly, meeting people like myself (non-tech folks) focused on community organizing, communications, project management, etc, all under the OSM umbrella. This is why gatherings like these are crucial – they remind us that OSM is not just a map.

The conference experience was mixed for me because I was part of the organizing committee this time, so I got to see both sides (organizing and attending). If I had to choose, I’d probably prefer attending. But hey, if we all choose that, there would be nothing to attend, right!?

There were so many great talks! My favourite was probably On the Ground. The duo presentation was both fun and thought-provoking, making me think about how I’ve been mapping and what I could improve. Another highlight was the lightning talks - seeing young students and recent graduates so excited to share their OSM work and dreams was inspiring. It shows how OSM is shaping the next generation—boosting their confidence, networks, and more!

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~~~This blog is also posted on my Medium account here ~~~

We often talk about how OpenStreetMap contributes to various initiatives like disaster responses, urban planning, land use analysis, and research. However, I believe we’re not doing justice to OSM by not sharing how it has profoundly impacted our personal lives. As OSM celebrates its 19th birthday, I’d like to offer my story as a birthday gift — a glimpse into how OSM has transformed me. I hope you find my journey an enjoyable read!

I became a part of OSM in 2015, just a few days after completing my final university examination. To be honest, I joined because I found myself with time on my hands, waiting to secure a job opportunity. Little did I know that this decision would mark the beginning of a transformative journey.

I got introduced to OSM by Geoffrey Kateregga, when the Ramani Huria, (Swahili for Open Map) a HOT-led project was kicking off in Tanzania. The project involved over 150 students & fresh graduates from the University of Dar es Salaam and Ardhi University to map flood-prone areas of Dar es Salaam, and this is where OSM started transforming me!

I made my first map edit at the campus ground, and it sounds trivial but I was super excited after Geoffrey mentioned that, anyone in the entire world can be able to see what I mapped, validate and actually use that! Honestly, it’s that thrill that keeps me engaged with OSM even today — yes, it’s that powerful! haha.

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My motivation for attending the conferences was to share the local perspective of open mapping communities and learn from other communities on how they uphold diversity, sustainability, and impact in solving challenges in their communities. I’m grateful to unSummit scholarships for covering all of my travel expenses so that I could participate in this global gathering! - It was worth it.

I was impressed to see and meet the diverse groups represented at the conference, as well as to see that the majority of grantees (both from Unsummit and FOSS4G grants) come from underrepresented communities, which made the conference more interesting - I met and connected with people from different corners of the world… Peru, Fiji, Brazil, Cape Verde, Jamaica, Guinea, Vietnam, and others who have different ideas about open mapping and how they use geodata to solve local community challenges.

SotM was incredible…there are so many applications for OSM data, and they vary greatly from north to south. SotM was also full of community talks and how OSM communities are leveraging data to solve problems in their communities: all of the talks that I attended were excellent, but my favorite was Florian’s talk titled “How to Kill OSM.” (https://2022.stateofthemap.org/sessions/A8JLUY/) - in my opinion, he had great ideas about OSM’s sustainability thinking.

FOSS4G - a more diverse participation, i.e. academia, developers, users, community, business people, and so on: sometimes I would reconsider approaching someone, worried that they would open their computers and run scripts to explain what they do - haha (you should know by now that I am not a technical person, I enjoy working with them though) - but I still enjoyed every minute of the conference with amazing workshops and talks.

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