#IHEUrgentAction Mapathon participants map rural Tanzania
Hunched over laptop screens in the IHE Delft cafeteria, participants in the IHE Delft Urgent Action Mapathon carefully outlined buildings, roads and curvy footpaths on satellite images, thereby contributing to work to map a rural area in Tanzania so that disaster management and urban planning can be more effective.
The around 100 participants at IHE Delft were joined by as many mappers online, all volunteering their time to help create a digital map of the area. Many rural areas in Africa, Asia and Latin America are not digitally mapped, as commercial digital mapping focuses on areas where the maps can reap profits.
Accurate digital maps are crucial in disaster situations as they help first responders and aid organizations determine where they need to go to help victims. They are also key tools in the planning for water, sanitation and other services.
During the 22 September mapathon, participants zoomed in on satellite images and clicked to outline any infrastructure they could distinguish. Their mapping entries will be validated by other mappers and eventually added to the OpenStreetMap of the area.
Ethiopian mapathon participant Gyob Goshu, who is taking part in an IHE Delft short course on QGIS for hydrological applications, intensively scrutinized a satellite image where thick tree canopies made it hard to distinguish all features. As he outlined an L-shaped building, he shared why he and several course mates chose to volunteer: “We want to contribute our efforts to affected areas, and we want to improve our skills in mapping.”
Moreen Katusiime, a student from Uganda in the MSc Limnology and Wetlands programme, which is offered jointly by IHE Delft, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Austria, and Egerton University in Kenya, had similar motivations. An environmentalist and ecologist, she plans to use her mapping skills in her work.
“The mapathon is a good opportunity for me to get experience. The work we do has an impact, and besides, it is an interesting thing,” she said. “At the end, you feel proud because you have contributed something.”
Together, participants in the #IHEUrgentAction mapathon mapped more than 4,300 buildings and almost 150 kilometres of roads in a 57 km2 area. The mapping task was selected and introduced by three Tanzanian youth mapping groups: OpenMap Development Tanzania, SUZA YouthMappers and Sokoine University of Agriculture’s SMCoSE YouthMappers.