News — 20 October, 2020
Five OpenStreetMap Communities Receive Facebook Community Impact Microgrants
Five OSM communities, spread across the Philippines, Turkey, Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia, have received Facebook Community Impact Microgrants to support community engagement and training.
Congratulations to the five OpenStreetMap (OSM) Communities who have been awarded Facebook Community Impact Microgrants. The grants, which support community engagement and training activities, have been awarded to communities in the Philippines, Turkey, Uganda, Kenya, and Zambia. For the next three months, the following projects will be completed:
MapBeks
MapBeks is an online community of volunteers advocating for LGBTQ inclusion and representation through various mapping platforms like OpenStreetMap. They are also engaged in mapping LGBTQ-safe spaces and experiences, HIV/AIDS facilities, and COVID facilities, as well as supporting emerging mapping communities.
The MapBeks Community, led by 14 core volunteers from the Philippines, will be completing basemaps for the 24 most unmapped towns in the Philippines, which are home to more than 500,000 people. They will be training and engaging with LGBTQ organizations, individuals and allies to map out buildings and roads in the selected areas.
Funding from HOT will enable the mapping of three selected municipalities, including San Andres and Ferrol in Romblon and Sultan Sa Barongis in Maguindanao. This will kick-off a year-long project and prepare volunteers to accomplish the 24-town target.
Resilience Mappers
Resilience Mappers will be collecting data on the status of services in informal settlements in Kampala, Uganda. The data has been requested by the Kampala Capital City Authority GIS Department, and will be used to enable the equitable distribution of resources for upgrading informal settlements across Uganda’s capital. During the project, volunteers will be trained in remote mapping techniques including JOSM, ID-Editor, and Mapillary to contribute to OpenStreetMap.
Image: aerial image of Katanga informal settlement
Yer Cizenler Mapping for Everyone Association
The Yer Çizenler Mapping for Everyone Association is a member of the Turkish OSM Community. During the Community Impact Microgrant project, Yer Çizenler will create resources, translate data tools and software into Turkish, and facilitate training events for the community to teach them how to edit and update open digital tools. The aim of the project is to create a sustainable volunteer base. If you speak Turkish and want to contribute, or if you can further support this cause, please don’t hesitate to contact the project coordinator, Oğuzhan Er.
OSM Zambia
OSM Zambia is working with the Lusaka City Council (LCC) in Lusaka, Zambia, to map solid waste management infrastructure and services. During the project, the community will map the boundaries of solid waste zones in seven peri-urban areas, the major road networks in the areas, the coordinates of areas where citizens dispose of solid waste, and the size of those areas. The team will facilitate four days of training for university students and LCC staff for using GIS tools.
OSM Kenya and YouthMappers Kenya
OSM Kenya and YouthMappers Kenya will be mapping health facilities in Nairobi and the surrounding counties. The community will be using data sources published in a survey completed by GlaxoSmithKline in 2019. Services that support female health, such as gynecology and maternal health, will be added to open source platforms. The project will be led by Youth Mappers Kenya and OSM Kenya, and Map Kibera will support the administration of the project and help to host and coordinate its activities.