In 2015, as I was winding up my undergraduate program in Quantity Surveying with a focus on the introduction of drone technology in construction, my supervisors at the time Mr. Ondongkara and Mr. John Richard Otukie asked me to attend a presentation from an organization (HOT) that was carrying out mapping and drone imagery capture in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.I was intrigued and very much zealous to attend the presentation as my information on drone technology at the time was very limited to the few books and videos I had read online.

Long story short I attended the presentation, joined the Mapping financial inclusion training and mapping exercise Eastern Uganda. At the end of the project, I was offered an opportunity to work with the HOT as a volunteer, then the GIS internship followed suit. Over time I transitioned into a mapping supervisor then operations manager for Uganda and now as a project manager in Uganda.

During my time with HOT, I have been involved in various projects that include mapping for financial inclusion, setting up youth mapper chapters, mapping to eliminate malaria across 5 countries in Southern Africa, mapping refugee settlements in Uganda to assist UNHCR and OPM in planning for the response. I and a couple of colleagues also started OpenStreetMap Uganda better known as MapUganda a local OSM mapping community that has now grown into a national registered entity NGO promoting the collection and use of open data and mapping with OpenStreetMap at its core.

Getting involved in HOT has not only provided me with more knowledge and skills in mapping but also in managing, organizing, and relating to persons from other parts of the country and the world. HOT has also provided me with an opportunity to critically understand the landscape of my country Uganda through the various data collection and mapping activities.

I would like to join the HOT voting members community so that I can share the knowledge gained with other members and also assist the HOT community to attain its goals.

As a voting member spreading the importance and impact of HOTOSM’s global work and assisting in managing and supporting all working groups to attain their targets are the responsibilities I would ensure to undertake.

I plan to get more involved in the community working group to ensure more communities join and work together with HOT in promoting the use and collection of open data.

One of the main challenges I have noticed is getting more consistent and regular mapper contributing to OSM outside mapping projects. Through MapUganda we shall continue to enlist more OSM contributors through major education institutions like univerisities.