Hello! I am Ian, a mapper from Germany.

I have been contributing to OpenStreetMap for several years, with a particular focus on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). My interest in the country originates from my studies in African Development Studies and Geography, as well as fieldwork in Kwilu Province in 2018, where I participated in local mapping and development-related projects. Currently, I am studying Sustainable Urban Mobility Transitions at Master’s level. Beyond OpenStreetMap, I am particularly interested in geography, historical infrastructure, aviation, and cycling – my edits in Europe usually stem from extensive cycling tours.

Mapping in the DRC

One of the great challenges about mapping in the DRC is the unique situation posed by geographic information itself. In many parts of the world, geographic data can be taken for granted. Villages, roads, rivers and other features are usually documented in multiple sources and can often be verified with relative ease. In large parts of rural DRC, however, this is often not the case.

The challenge therefore goes far beyond the mapping of physical features. Equally important is the documentation of geographic names. Many villages, rivers, streams and other features either have no publicly available names, or they appear under names that have been imported through extremely inaccurate and outdated databases.

During fieldwork in Kwilu Province in 2018, I experienced firsthand how much local knowledge is required to collect reliable geographic information. While satellite imagery can reveal where a settlement or a path exists, it cannot tell us what the place is actually referred to as. This makes mapping not only about increased accuracy, but first and foremost about the documentation and preservation of geographic knowledge.

The Ganaketi Mapping Project

Together with a local colleague from Ganaketi Sector, I am currently exploring a collaborative approach to mapping rural areas where little reliable geographic information is publicly available.

The project is built around two complementary roles. My colleague has deep local knowledge and access to communication networks in the region, while I handle the technical side of interpreting satellite imagery, structuring the information and integrating it into OpenStreetMap.

In practice, the process is highly iterative. Sometimes local information reaches us first: a village name, a stream name, a path, or another geographic feature. At other times, I identify an important settlement or junction on satellite imagery and send its coordinates back to my colleague, asking whether the place can be identified locally.

This is not always straightforward. Many people involved in the process know the area very well on the ground, but are not necessarily used to interpreting satellite imagery. A village that is obvious in daily life can be surprisingly difficult to recognize from above. As a result, names and locations sometimes need to be corrected, discussed and verified through several rounds of feedback. Over time, the map gradually improves through this back-and-forth process.

The project is still exploratory and depends heavily on this particular local network of trust and knowledge. Still, the results so far have exceeded expectations: within only a few months, roughly two-thirds of Ganaketi Sector have been mapped in considerable detail, including many previously undocumented settlements, streams, paths and place names. The resulting map is among the most detailed rural mapping efforts I am aware of in the region.

What makes us especially happy is that the work has also been noticed locally. Residents have expressed pride in seeing their villages represented on digital maps, often for the first time. In some cases, the improved visibility has even helped local services and businesses establish a digital presence linked to an identifiable place on the map.

Other Projects

In addition to OpenStreetMap, I maintain a long-term documentation project on aviation in the DRC. This is yet another instance of a challenging but interesting disconnect between names, data and geographic locations. There are even airfields which officially have an ICAO-Code, yet cannot be found on the map. My goal is to locate those airfields – or their former location – and document their history: Who built it and when? Is it still in use? If not, when and why did activity stop?

I am also interested in historical geography more generally, particularly the evolution of settlements, transport networks and infrastructure over time.

Contact

I am always happy to exchange information about the DRC, local geography, aviation, historical infrastructure or mapping projects. If you have questions, corrections, local knowledge, historical information, or simply want to connect, feel free to get in touch.