Hello fellow mappers, I’m Ezekiel Kiariro, a passionate GIS and remote sensing expert based in Tanzania, and I’m truly honored to be nominated as a 2025 Voting Member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). I’ve been mapping since 2020, and what began as curiosity quickly turned into a calling. Today, I serve as the GIS & Open Mapping Manager at GeoTE Tanzania, where I lead and support various community-based mapping initiatives across the country. I’m excited to share a bit more about myself, what HOT means to me, and how I hope to contribute as a voting member.

What Does HOT Mean to Me?

To me, HOT is a movement that embodies equity, collaboration, and action. It’s about creating open, accessible geospatial data to solve real-life problems, especially in vulnerable and underserved areas. HOT represents a community where people from different backgrounds use open mapping as a tool for change, resilience, and empowerment.

How I Got Involved in HOT and Mapping

My journey started through Youth Mappers and university training sessions in Tanzania. Inspired by the potential of OpenStreetMap to support humanitarian response and planning, I became an active mapper, trainer, and later a national organizer. Since then, I’ve:

• Organized local and national mapathons and Open Data Day events
• Supported field data collection using OSM-based tools
• Co-led the GeoTE-Tanzania Field Training Program, a five-week initiative to integrate OSM into university curricula
• Mentored young mappers and helped local communities map their own spaces, such as informal settlements and health risks From mapping roads and buildings in disaster-prone areas to leading sessions on NDVI and land cover classification using OSM-integrated datasets, I’ve seen how open mapping directly contributes to decision-making, planning, and community resilience.

Why I Want to Be a Voting Member

Being a voting member gives me the chance to:

• Represent and advocate for African grassroots mappers
• Help shape HOT’s priorities and ensure community needs to guide strategic decisions
• Contribute to making HOT more inclusive, decentralized, and sustainable I believe we need to localize decision-making, support youth-led mapping initiatives, and bridge the gap between data production and real-world impact.

How I Plan to Contribute as a Voting Member

If selected, I would love to actively participate in working groups focused on:

• Community Engagement
• Open Mapping Programs
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion I plan to continue mentoring, facilitating knowledge exchange, and strengthening the visibility of African mapping communities. I also see a need for more support for local chapters, better integration of OSM in academia, and efforts to improve training materials and outreach in local languages.

HOT’s Greatest Challenge – and My Ideas

In my view, HOT’s greatest challenge is ensuring sustainability and equity in local capacity building. Many local mappers are engaged in short-term projects without long-term support structures. I believe HOT can do more to nurture communities beyond one-time engagement. By building long-term mentorship programs, regional mapping hubs, and stronger feedback loops between communities and the global HOT ecosystem, we can make open mapping more impactful and enduring.

Thank you for reading my introduction and for being part of this incredible open-mapping journey. Whether you’re a fellow nominee, long-time contributor, or new to HOT, I’d love to connect, share experiences, and work together toward our shared goals. Feel free to reach out via OSM, email, or social media! Check HERE

Stay mapping. Stay connected. Stay open.