Before I start my story of how I got to know of OSM and how the UniqueMappesTeam (UMT) got started, let me first of all say what OSM is and a little about what it does…….sit tight. OSM is an acronym for OpenStreetMap; it’s an online map of the world that’s created and contributed to by people like you and me (both young & old, male & female). Interestingly, it’s an open sourced which operates under an open license. Meaning it’s accessible to all Free-Of-Charge and anyone can contribute to it. ##What it does…. Since it’s a collaborative project to create free editable map of the world, it means that it allows anyone with a PC and internet access to trace both roads, buildings and rivers (where available) of anywhere in the world. And this data is made available to the Red Cross, local and international disaster response agencies and every other end-users of Geo-spatial data.

Now back to my story

I first heard of the term OSM sometime early last year from the team coordinator of UniqueMappersTeam (UMT); Mr Victor Sunday. He told me about it briefly, but I didn’t quite understand it the way I ought to. So he advised me to google about it. Painfully, I lost my smartphone before then, so I couldn’t do that. Not until the day I went to see him in his office and logged on to the OSM website.
Lo and behold, the sight was awesome. That was the first time I saw a satellite image I have been hearing of…….you can imagine the excitement! He went on to explain the tools using his PC, this time, practically I could understand everything he was explaining. After the days meeting, he gave me an assignment to prepare a Power-Point presentation on the use of OSM (sign-up & editing) and the HOT tasking manager. I did that and forwarded to his e-mail address for preview and I later did a presentation on that. ##UniqueMappersTeam……got started! Our humble beginning as a chapter of YouthMappers network in Nigeria, it all started early last year (2017) in Mr. Victor Sunday’s office (the cartography/GIS laboratory). The team started with just 7 members and later grew to about fifteen in less than a week….progressively, it grew more. Our first Mapathon was organized and held successfully with over 100 participants (beyond our expectation). The mapathon training saw participation from both Geography students and those from other disciplines. Aside the first Mapathon Training that held at the ICTC building of the University of Port Harcourt last year, the team has been engaged in several activities such as the Catchaton, the mudslide event, OSM Geo-week (November, 2017) as well as the creation of other YouthMappers chapters in Nigeria under the mentorship of UniqueMappersTeam, University of Port Harcourt. The team has gone beyond where and how it started, with everyone wanting to identify with this Unique team. With many awards to the teams’ name. Grace and Hard-work at play!