State of the Map Tanzania (SoTM) is an event that gathers together people from NGOs, academia, businesses, public organisations and the general public with enthusiasm in open geospatial data and its possibilities in providing solutions to manyfold challenges in the society. In 2023 the event was co-organised by multiple NGOs in Tanzania, with the lead being in the hands of Open Map Development Tanzania (OMDTZ) and Crowd2Map Tanzania.
Resilience Academy and GeoICT4e projects held a one-hour session during the event. Resilience Academy and GeoICT4e staff Dr. Mercy Mbise, Dr. Zakaria Ngereja, Msilikale Msilanga and Venla Aaltonen showcased how the projects contribute to the Tanzanian open data community: via collecting critically needed geospatial data together with university students and the local community, and sharing it openly available via Climate Risk Database, but most importantly via building relevant capacities and skills of the university students – the next generation of professionals – in the fields of geography, geoinformatics, urban planning, agriculture, forestry, and more.
We also had a slot for keynote speak, which was given by Edward Anderson with a theme of creatively utilising open-access Earth Observation data for building resilience. All in all, the event was all about meeting friends and new acquaintances. We initiated discussions with people from other organisations interested in conducting joint activities and projects all over Tanzania.
