User:Minhaz Mahmud
Hello, this is Minhaz Mahmud from Dhaka, Bangladesh. I am a long-term OSM mapper (legendary as per HDYC :P) and volunteer. In my professional life, I am the Creative Services Lead and GIS Focal in Save the Children International in Bangladesh.
Journey with OSM
“Map Your Community” workshop
My journey with OSM began in September 2015 with a workshop named "Map Your Community". It was arranged by Save the Children International in Bangladesh for their Kolorob project. The Kolorob project wanted to provide necessary information (where the service is, what service, what facilities, and when are they available) to the slum dwellers, however they found that existing maps did not show slum area details. OSM came to the rescue and a workshop was arranged to train 100 youths on how to edit OSM. I found the application call on Facebook and applied. Later on I received an email that I was selected for a two-day training.
The two-day training started on 6 September 2015. It was divided into two parts. Remote mapping and field mapping. It was a rigorous workshop which covered both theoretical and practical sides. We learned about iD editor, JOSM, and Field Papers and how these can be used to complete a mapping cycle.
This training was a pivotal moment in my life and it simultaneously started two journeys: OSM and Save the Children. Somehow, OSM clicked with me, and I was able to understand the concept from the very beginning. My background in graphic designing and my obsession with keeping things neat and tidy helped me grab the concepts really fast and before I knew it, I was mapping like an addict.
The Kolorob project wanted to hire 12 volunteers who performed the best among the 100 they trained. These 12 volunteers would do the remote and field mapping in the project sites. I was selected among those 12 and due to my good performance, I was also asked to assist in the next batch of training, which I gladly accepted. I took a small session in the next batch, unbeknownst to me at that time that it will be the first among many.
As a volunteer, I did remote mapping to map out the pilot project sites. After remote mapping was done, we went to collect relevant data from the field. At that time, it was paper based data collection. After field data was collected, we would come back to the office, clean the data, prepare them for uploading to the software, and make necessary changes to OSM to reflect reality. This was a fantastic experience for me as it gave me the necessary understanding required to marry remote mapping with field based mapping to enrich OSM.
YWCA, BDRCS, American Red Cross, WSP - World Bank
Through the workshop, I joined OSMBD, the active group that is working with OSM in Bangladesh. I was interested in expanding my experience with OSM and I was invited to assist in OSM training in different organizations, most notably Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and (Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS).
The American Red Cross was partnering with BDRCS for their Data4Action project. I assisted on the OSM training and led the team in field mapping. The project did an earthquake vulnerability assessment of its project sites. In this project, I got to know about Open Mapping Kit (OMK) which was a really handy mobile-based data collection tool for OSM. I also used Garmin GPS for recording GPS tracks to map the entire road network of the project sites.
Moreover, I participated in mapping water points in Mohakhali’s Sattala slum. This was arranged by Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB) in partnership with the Water and Sanitation Program - World Bank and Preneur Lab.
Mapillary, OsmAnd, OSM Tracker
Besides OSM, I became a volunteer for Mapillary. Some members from the OSMBD group wanted to expand our mapping skills and experience, explore scopes, and in general contribute more. We arranged tours by ourselves and wherever we went, we collected GPS tracks (using Garmin device and OSM Tracker), recorded images for Mapillary, and used OsmAnd to collect and upload data from the field.
OSMBD Logo
In 2015, OSMBD was striving to organize itself and through different initiatives, data for Bangladesh was increasing. More mappers were joining and interest was growing. However, OSMBD did not have a logo to represent itself and I was asked to design one. I took inspiration from the other OSM logos around the globe and designed the logo for OSMBD. This logo depicts the Bangladeshi Flag inside OSM logo’s magnifying glass and also shows the map of Bangladesh.
Journey with Save the Children
After a successful pilot, the Kolorob project wanted to expand its service to a larger area (15 wards of Dhaka city). To ensure a quality and timely base map, they needed a dedicated mapper. I joined Save the Children in May 2016, and thus began another exciting journey.
I mapped the 15 wards using Bing map as the base and comparing the data with Digital Globe and ESRI imagery. Simultaneously I planned data collection to those areas. At this stage, data collection was done by Open Data Kit (ODK) and I designed the forms via XLSForm and kept track of the data collection via ODK Aggregate. The data collectors visited the area by foot and collected data for the project. I asked them to keep their GPS turned on, which resulted in a wealth of GPS tracks from the field that helped me create a verified road network for the project sites on OSM. I created a small video for the evolution of the OSM of the project site and a map to visualize the data footprint.
As the project evolved, the scale got bigger, and eventually the project encompassed the entire Dhaka city and I had the task of planning data collection for the entire 129 wards. We employed 30 data collectors. At this point, Kolorob has moved away from ODK and the points of interest (POI) were added and data was collected through the Kolorob app itself.
I used teachosm’s tasking manager for organizing Dhaka mapping. I utilized QGIS to create the ward map for Dhaka. Afterwards, I segmented the map manually and divided it into smaller areas and named them according to a naming convention for planning and convenience. Then I created field papers for the areas, named them, edited them in Illustrator to remove unnecessary elements, printed them out, and handed them to data collectors. Data collectors collected data with their GPS on and at the end of the day, they sent back the GPS tracks for remote mapping. This process resulted in the addition of 34,000 POI and their detailed information into the Kolorob app, and enriched the OSM in the process.
Workshops
To ensure quality data collection and quality mapping, I held and conducted numerous workshops on how to edit OSM and how to collect data via ODK and the Kolorob app. In most of the cases I kept a two-day slot for training and kept a section for practical field mapping. After the training, a test run was done in the project sites and feedback was given to the data collectors to improve mapping and data collection.
Moreover, the Kolorob project engaged many volunteers and I trained them on OSM. Most of the cases, I taught JOSM because of its diverse toolset and broader scope for validation and editing.
Besides conducting workshops for Save the Children, I voluntarily trained mappers in workshops for OSMBD. Most notable one would be the Pathao Mega Mapathon held on 29 April 2017. This Mapathon was preceding a team selection for dedicated data collectors for Pathao as it was crucial for their business to have accurate geoinformation. I trained the participants in this Mapathon and trained the subsequent session for the selected candidates.
UN Online Volunteering - Tanzania Development Trust
While trying to be engaged with more opportunities, I stumbled upon the mapping project by Tanzania Development Trust via the UN Online Volunteering platform. I applied to become a part of the project and was accepted. TDT was developing map of rural Tanzania to prevent Female Genital Mutilation. Besides mapping, I supported mappers with technical issues, created maps, and created step by step guides for new mappers. I am still a volunteer for the project and continuing my contribution whenever possible.
HOT, OSMF
I am a regular mapper and validator for HOT. In March 2018, I became a HOT voting member. Since October 2020, I have been a contributing member of OSMF.
In 2022, I had some free time on my hands. Since I am a UXUI designer, I volunteered to design the first prototype for Field Mapping Tasking Manager.
Personal Goals with OSM
Mapping has been a part of my daily life since that fateful day in September 2015. To make things fun and interesting, I set personal goals for myself.
#1 in MissingMaps
As a MissingMaps volunteer, achieving the #1 position was a target. I was able to reach the number 1 position on 3 March 2017.
Mapping all countries of the world
On HDYC, it shows edit counts for each country of the world. I wanted to include all the countries in the list. However, that is easy. You just edit a point in each country and it is done. So, to make the challenge challenging, I wanted to make at least 1,000 meaningful changes (meaning not editing for the sake of it, but actually contributing) to each country. I was able to reach that goal on 28 April 2017. You can read the OSM diary for the occasion here.
Later on, I got to know that OSM has a total of 261 separate entities that show up on HDYC. To make the entire list, I expanded my editing and was able to include all 261.
Mapping Each Day
HDYC fills up a box for each day of a mapper’s mapping. This is a streak system. I wanted to fill up the boxes for all days in a year. I attempted this multiple times, however, due to travel, network unavailability, and other causes, I missed. Finally, I was able to achieve my goal on 21 March 2020. Once achieved, this became easy and to date my longest streak is 2 years and 362 days.
Solo Mapping
After 2019, due to increasing work pressure and other engagements, I had to step back from direct involvement with OSM, but I kept mapping on my own projects. I enjoy mapping unmapped areas and it is a joy for me to fully map an entire area from scratch. In the beginning of 2021, I started mapping Kikwit city of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). I mapped the entire city for one and a half years which resulted in 80,000+ buildings and 3,600+ highways. You can see the map here.
Tutorial Series
I developed a small tutorial series on the basic concepts of OSM. You can see the series here.
Academic Background
I completed BBA and MBA from Jahangirnagar University. Involvement with OSM made me interested in Geographic Information System (GIS) and I completed a Master in GIS for Environment and Development from Jahangirnagar University in 2020.
Links
Useful links to my profiles:
- How Did You Contribute
- HOTOSM Activities (logging in required and you have to wait a bit for the dashboard to fully populate).
- OSM Profile
- Mapillary Profile