It has been a while since I wrote a diary entry. However, I think now is a good time to inform the community about the progress that has been made in Epworth.

Context

Epworth is a settlement 12 km outside Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. It has an official population of around 150 k but it is thought that the actual population could be three or four times greater.

Epworth is being mapped at building-level resolution for various humanitarian projects with Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) being undertaken in the settlement. These include assessing access to water and sanitation facilities. The mapping was performed through Missing Maps.

We have created a wiki page for this project called Epworth Mapping Project.

Addressing system

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As I mentioned in my first post, I’m coordinating the inputting of survey data into OSM for Epworth, in Zimbabwe. It’s an interesting project but the current system is very difficult to use and it can take 90-120 minutes for some users to get up to speed and add their first node. This isn’t great when the sessions last a maximum of three hours!

How field papers work

Volunteers in the place being mapped print off parts of the OSM map (roads and buildings only I think). Each piece of map has a QR code on the page, which has the details of the project and the precise location of the map shown. The volunteers then walk around the map identifying buildings and POIs, noting them down on the map with an ID and then noting the details on a separate sheet, using the same ID.

This way, systematic, geolocated data can be recorded by hand. These sheets are then delivered (physically or electronically) to volunteers with internet access and OSM skills who can interpret the information and convert it to OSM nodes, ways, tags etc.

The field papers can be uploaded to a website called www.fieldpapers.org which use the QR code to turn the image into a geolocated layer for JOSM, facilitating easier interpretation…when the website works. It’s a great website, but it does seem to break down quite often.

If you have Field Papers working and a print-out (or original) survey sheet with all the information on, inputting data can be quite quick. If you have to use the work-around of Field Papers and you only have electronic copies and one computer screen, it takes a lot longer.

Ideas to improve the experience

I’ve been writing instructions based on the workflow and experience with the volunteers. I’ve had to greatly expand the instructions, but I think they’re now quite comprehensive. I’ll be trying them out at the next mapathon. If you’re interested in taking a look, they’re here. The info about how to access the field maps and surveys is in there, too.

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Hi, I’m Tom. I thought I’d do a quick post to explain who I am and why I’m part of the OSM, Missing Maps and HOT communities.

I’ve always loved maps and geography, but I decided to go into engineering and I’m currently finishing off a PhD at Imperial College on reducing CO2 emissions from the cement industry. Not really anything to do with mapping…

During my undergrad, also at Imperial, I was involved in Engineers without Borders. I went to Tanzania in 2009 on a project with them to build rainwater harvesting systems. That project has now become its own charity (http://www.raincatcher.org.uk/). I was based in Kahama, Shinyanga province, and when I got there I asked if there was a map I could borrow while I was there, so I could find my way round. There were puzzled looks - why should there be a map of Kahama? I didn’t even start to explain the benefits…

Anyway, although I enjoyed my experience in Tanzania I came to the conclusion that perhaps I wasn’t the best-placed person to be out on the ground in Tanzania building such projects (I’m a chemical engineer, for a start). But when I found out about Missing Maps last year, I was very interested to find out more. So I went along to the next mapathon and really enjoyed myself (thanks in no small part to @RAytoun). I downloaded JOSM and looked at Kahama on OSM - there was nothing there! I started mapping Kahama using satellite imagery and most of the centre of the town is now mapped (apart from buildings).

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