It might sound like a no big deal or a win to some people, but to me, it’s a big one. I became an advanced mapper on OpenStreetMap in 2022.

I joined the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap as a volunteer mapper in the year 2019. Unfortunately, I was not active until 2020, during the pandemic. I was introduced to HOTOSM after I joined the Youth Mappers FUTA Club (an affiliate of HOTOSM) as an undergraduate.

In December 2021, I saw a tweet about volunteers that mapped for over 100 days in 2021 on OpenStreetMap, and I was compelled to take up the challenge. I improved my participation and moved from a beginner mapper to an intermediate mapper. I could not map for 100 days but I had over 50 days, which made me eligible for the OSM Foundation member.

Though it is a volunteer task, I must say that I enjoyed every bit of it. Creating solutions that tend to the needs of humanity and also a blueprint that stands the test of time. Feels like a Super Hero (winks).

And yeah in 2022, I added to my new year resolution, to become an advanced mapper on OpenStreetMap. To achieve this, I started strong by contributing daily to OpenStreetMap. I focused more on disaster responses except when I joined mapathons organized for a different need.

It’s a pleasure to have me mark this as a success in my resolution list, and I won’t stop contributing to humanity using the OpenStreetMap tool.