A Map of Memories: My Journey with YouthMappersFUTA
- Ezekiel Ogungbemi
- 5 minutes ago
- 6 min read
A concise but captivating story of my transformative journey at YouthMappersFUTA. Brace up, it’s a long read.
Introduction
My name is Ezekiel Ogungbemi, a final-year student from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, with a major in Remote Sensing and Geoscience Information Systems.
About YouthMappersFUTA Chapter
YouthMappers FUTA Chapter is one among the 425 campus chapters across 81 countries in the globe. A vibrant local community filled with resilient minds dedicated to humanitarian action and community development through open mapping activities. The chapter was pioneered by Temidayo Oniosun, a Leadership Fellow (2017–2019), and Dennis Irore, who served as the pioneer president in 2019. Currently, the chapter has grown to over 30 active members and over 20 erstwhile leaders in the past six years.
The Journey
Three years ago, if you told me I’d be sitting calmly to write this inspiring blog, reflecting on my journey so far in the open-source community with YouthMappersFUTA being the bedrock of this impactful story, I’d have smiled. Like most great minds, I had a burning desire within me to do something great or to be part of something great but didn’t know where or how to start. Then I met Mercy Akintola, the serving president at YouthMappersFUTA at the time, at an SDG summit — and that was the point of ignition for me.
Having met and connected with Mercy at the summit, which was held on the university campus, he introduced me to the community and invited me to a mapathon. With no prior experience in mapping or the community, but armed only with my laptop, I gladly made my way to the venue. That was when I got my spark. After the meetup, I was always eager to make a contribution every time I opened my laptop.
In the next administration, I served as the General Secretary of the chapter under the leadership of Ambassador Ademoyero Victor, who was the serving president at the time. Taking up this role provided me with valuable exposure to what it takes to be a leader, teaming up with co-executives, and understanding accountability and responsibility as a leader.
This role wasn’t too challenging because I had been groomed with administrative duties even before entering the university. As the chapter’s secretary, I was tasked with taking minutes during general and executive meetings to keep track of the administration’s goals and deliver updates on tasks completed and pending. I also drafted agendas for meetups and training/workshops, sending them ahead of time to the executive group for awareness. Writing proposals and sponsorship letters was also part of my duties. I ensured that the executives held regular meetings to evaluate the chapter’s progress and monitor unfinished tasks.
Next up, I served as the Project Manager of the chapter under the administration of Adeyemo Oluwafemi. During this administration, I learned how to properly analyze the needs of a project, its feasibility, and the resources needed for execution. I also learned to create implementation plans and evaluate progress during and after project completion.
As the project manager, I usually checked for tasks on the Tasking Manager that needed urgent attention and updated the community group with the task ID number. This helped members contribute to relevant and timely projects. During OSMGeoWeek 2023, I submitted my first project request for the Akure South Region. This project aimed to update the datasets (buildings and roads) in the OSM database to celebrate and recognize the OpenStreetMap community as a remarkable platform for making spatial data available and accessible under an open license.
Finally, I was privileged to hold the leadership torch for the 2024 administration. It was a bit scary because I was fully aware of the responsibilities and sacrifices needed to successfully lead the chapter. But with God’s grace, it’s a wrap already.
As president, I oversaw all chapter activities and ensured a smooth community experience for all members. I started my tenure by defining a goal of upholding the pillars and dignity of the chapter. Together with my co-executives, we drafted a calendar of activities for the year and followed it while remaining flexible to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. In a nutshell, I ensured my feet were on the ground to get things done when necessary for the chapter.
We started with an online meetup in collaboration with our sister chapter from OAU in response to a call for mapping efforts in Kenya. Next, we had our community outreach during the freshmen’s orientation program at the school’s main auditorium. With a defined plan, we hosted the Open Data Day event, filled with seminars and workshops on the power of open data and open-source tools. The list goes on.
The Transformation
Three tenures in a row are quite something for me. These experiences really brought out a lot of potential I didn’t know I had. I gained valuable professional skills such as time management, effective communication, teamwork, project management, and persistence. Additionally, my leadership roles at YouthMappersFUTA provided me with a platform to hone my leadership skills. My problem-solving skills improved drastically, allowing me to find solutions to the needs of others. During these tenures, chapter attendance improved, and more students began showing interest in joining the community. However, it was a collective effort with other executives.
Experiences
A few outstanding experiences I’ve had in the community include:
Participating in the remote data collection for the WastePy Project (2021)
Assisting in coordinating the Street Light Mapping Project for the campus
Participating in the Heat and Health Workshop (2023)
Making it to the top 30 contributors for the El Niño Mapping Campaign (2023)
Open Data Day (2024)
Participating in the Eco Smart Cities Project (2024) organized by WNAH
2024 Mapping Metric Award
Leading the chapter to the SOTM Nigeria Conference 2024
Just to keep this blog concise, I could go on and on with more amazing and incredible experiences.
Challenges
It definitely wasn’t a smooth ride all along. I had limited access to power supply to operate my computer for mapping activities. So, I imitated my forerunners by doing what they did during their build-up seasons. I attended “night classes” (staying in one of the school’s lecture theatres overnight) to use the school’s power supply. On one occasion, I went to a hotel reception to use their power because my system had a weak backup of about 20–30 minutes.
Encouraging Moments
There’s no feeling quite as joyous as receiving a validation email notification from the HOT Tasking Manager automated response — especially when the validator leaves an encouraging note about your good work. It usually fuels the fire within me, indicating that I’m on the right path.
It took a long time before I was eligible for remunerations and paid projects. I remember participating in a particular mapathon and using the wrong hashtag when submitting my changesets. It was heartbreaking because the organizers couldn’t trace my edits. Those edits were enough to rank me among the top 10 mappers, but I didn’t let that stop me.
“Were you a member of other communities on campus?” Yes. I held other leadership roles during my three years in the university, but being an integral member of the YouthMappers community has been my best experience so far. Knowing that I can make a global impact by identifying spatial features, tracing them, and uploading them into an online database to address humanitarian needs all within a few minutes keeps me going.
Looking ahead, I see myself doing even greater work. Thanks to the HOT X DataCamp Scholarship Program launched in early 2024, I’m on the path to becoming a data scientist with the fundamental skill sets of analyzing, manipulating, and visualizing data, as well as developing statistical models that generate insights to facilitate informed decisions. I also look forward to exploring real-world applications of spatial data contributed to the OSM database within the humanitarian sector.
What would you do if you were to start all over?
Encourage myself to maintain consistent daily contributions
Explore the community via social media platforms beyond chapter activities
Build a strong and healthy visibility within the community
Conclusion
The YouthMappers global community is home for everyone. All you need to do is find a local chapter close to you and register as a member to start your impactful journey. Cheers to more impactful stories yet to be birthed!
A quick shoutout to my forerunners in the chapter who have been a source of inspiration one way or another: Mercy Akintola, Victor Ademoyero, Oke Matthew, Okikiri Favour, Olarenwaju Michael, Afolabi Victor, Olufemi Damilola, and Adeyemo Oluwafemi.
We don’t just build maps; we build mappers.
About the Author
Ezekiel Ogungbemi - A Geospatial Analyst, Data Science Enthusiast and Former President at Youthmappersfuta. An advanced mapper on OSM with over 3 years of experience and counting, in contributing, and supporting humanitarian development projects created by several organizations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via participatory mapping. A geospatial expert with over 3 years experience in field data collection, data imputation, data manipulation, data engineering, data analysis and data visualization.
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