Zeze Village

Putting Zeze on the map – a post by our friends MBONI YA VIJANA youth community in Zeze – paints a picture of the Zeze village, as well as documents the very beginnings of the Crowd2Map Tanzania, and how we hope to literally put it on the map. Why is that so important? Well, see for yourself:

This is how Zeze Village looks on Google Map at the moment: (marked point is the village market, -4.89913606, 30.0578204)

Zeze Google Map

This is how it looked liked 6 months ago on Open Street Map:

Map of Zeze

Sad, isn’t it.

Thank’s to a fantastic Missing Maps initiative in the Kigoma region in Tanzania, Zeze on Open Street Map now looks like this: (A little better? But still…)

Zeze OSM

(Note, that neither find “Zeze” if you search for it by name.)

This is how it actually looks via satellite:

Zeze Google Satellite

A little more than a blank space, eh..?

And we have nearly 20 points so far, marking its schools, shops and offices, to name a few:

Village Office in Zeze
Zeze Village Office
Zeze School Library
Zeze School Library (-4.91136445, 30.0474693)
Mtus Restaurant
Mtus Restaurant (-4.89908231, 30.05751572)
Kulu's Bicycle Shop (-4.89918704, 30.05762403)
Kulu’s Bicycle Shop (-4.89918704, 30.05762403)

… and there are many more.


Zeze is not as blank as the map might suggest, after all..?

Will you help us put Zeze on the map? Drop us a line below or reach out via email!

Triple Mapping Party – 7th May: Dar est Salaam, London, Vilnius

We are proud to announce the inaugural OSM Mapping Party of Crowd2Map Tanzania, which will take place on the 7th May 2016 in three different cities simultaneously: Dar es Salaam, London & Vilnius

Three Countries, Three Time Zones, Three Tech Hubs – One Crowd 2 Map Tanzania

LondonUCL, 9AM BST

Dar es SalaamBuni Hub, 11AM EAT

VilniusTechnarium, 11AM EEST

Register at Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/1YlUT9D, Facebook: http://bit.ly/1RLnlRW or Meetup (Vilnius): http://bit.ly/1Wkyhb4

Download and print our poster: http://bit.ly/1S9GSgJ

This will be a fun female-friendly competition-hackathon between the three “camps” of mappers – we will have a “live” link bridging mappers in the three cities via video conference and chat throughout the event. This will be coupled with a “challenge” in Tanzania, where locals will compete to add the most resources prior to the event (read more on the Mapping Competition for locals here).

Everyone is welcome – no mapping knowledge is required, simply a laptop and enthusiasm to contribute! Whether you are an OS mapper, hacker, humanitarian activist, or just someone looking to have a fun Saturday in an inspiring company – we’ll find a place for you!

Learn why your mapping is helping to prevent FGM and put communities on the map.

Why Dar es Salaam? We want to empower everyone in Tanzania and beyond to contribute to establishing better maps of the country hands-on! The event’s co-host Janet from Tanzanian Development Trust will be present on the day to lead the Dar’s team!

Why London? The project is being carried out in partnership with British Tanzania Society, who will be leading the events in London and Dar! We’re expecting quite a crowd of London OSM mappers to show up!

Why Vilnius? The project’s co-creator and co-host of the event Egle, researcher and practitioner of citizen science, will be leading the team of hackers here. Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, a country ~14.5 times smaller than Tanzania, but has at least 30-50 times better mapped in OSM. Allow us to make a difference!

You can find more details and register for free here, or  join the event on Facebook

We are looking for SPONSORS,

who could support us in providing pizza and beverages to our helpful mappers on the day, and/or provide financial aid or donate smartphones to kick-off data collection in Tanzania.

If you have questions or suggestions about the event, or would like to become a sponsor, please contact us via emailTwitterFacebook or the form below.

For media inquiries please contact Egle or Janet directly.