#MapLesotho - the end game comes into sight

02 July 2019 | by DeBigC

The #MapLesotho project is at an end. Well… sort of, … this needs some explanation.

My First FOSS4G Experience

08 September 2018 | by tshedy

I was delighted to be selected for a traveling grants for the HOTSUMMIT / FOSS4G to Dar es Salaam from the27th August to 2nd September. The Free and Open Source Software 4 Geospatial (FOSS4G)conference is the largest community gathering focused on open source geospatial software. The event brings...

Tshedy wins "OSM Greatness in mapping award"

30 July 2018 | by RustyB

A Mosotho woman who works as an assistant physical planner in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship has been declared the best mapper in the world today (30 July) in Milan, Italy.

#MapLesotho Phase 4 (part 2)

19 February 2018 | by DeBigC

This is a follow up blogpost to the account of the first week of the beardies in Lesotho as seen here, and covers the second and final week, and significantly, the wrap up of the current MOU through which Fingal County Council provides mapping support to the main body of mappers in Lesotho.

#MapLesotho phase 4 (part 1)

11 February 2018 | by DeBigC

As everyone who knows mapping in Lesotho knows the Beardies are back in town. We have had a great first week, and there is one more week to go.

Part 1: A guide on how to digitize using QGIS and OSM data

29 October 2017 | by fifiqn

Welcome to the first part in my short series on how to digitize using both QGIS and data from OSM. This guide is aimed at spatial planners based in Lesotho, don’t be afraid though no matter your background you’ll be able to follow along.

The Open Source Movement of Spatial Planning:#MapLesotho Initiative

08 September 2017 | by fifiqn

Portmarnock School are World Champions for #MapLesotho

14 August 2017 | by DeBigC

All #MapLesotho and OpenStreetMap enthusiasts will be aware that Portmarnock Community School are enthusiastic mappers of Lesotho and have entered their activities into the SAGE World Cup for Social Innovators under a project titled “Global Citizens Mapping the Future”. This year the competition...

#MapLesotho: My Biggest Inspiration

08 July 2017 | by fifiqn

#MapLesotho: My Biggest Inspiration

#MapLesotho spreads to other Ministries

21 June 2017 | by DeBigC

Yesterday there was a seminar run in conjunction with the CEDAMA group of GIS users in several Ministries in Lesotho. Included in the participants were the Ministry of Works (Roads Directorate) and and also the Ministry of Environment, as well as the Land Surveying Division of the Ministry of Loc...

With > 750,000 of them, where all the buildings at?

18 June 2017 | by RustyB

So in this post the first in a series of little real world use cases of MapLesotho data, we’re going to be mapping building density in Lesotho.

Keeping an eye on your #MapLesotho stats

06 June 2017 | by DeBigC

There are loads of ways to check your stats on OSM. We are currently re-designing the dashboards to assist all of our mappers in seeing how they contributed. We have always been aware how important measurement is. Peter Drucker, a world famous organisational motivational analyst and writer says: ...

End of #MapLesotho Phase 2

03 June 2017 | by tshedy

The mapping is over after a year of hard work and dedicationby a number of us. We were  used toseeing the progress chart, and mappers watching how their districts are doing.Each day came with change, more tiles getting done, changing from white toorange to green when validation started.

From 0 to 179k in just a few short weeks

28 May 2017 | by Matsele

For whatever reason I thought #MapLesotho was for selected few. This all changed when I was called to a workshop in February to provide information and logistical support for a localised planning effort in Motsekuoa. Along with some others, I was asked to go out on the ground and mark some field ...

The Aftermath of another 24 Hour Mapathon

14 May 2017 | by DeBigC

Often, these 24 hour mapping sprints can be draining, to the point that we blog about them the following week after they are done. We blogged about this mapathon previously, just for the build up. But until the sleep patterns returned few of us had the clarity to undertake this.

24 hour mapathon

04 May 2017 | by DeBigC

24 Hour MapLesotho Mapathon

How to apply QGIS in Lesotho planning(urban design)

16 March 2017 | by fifiQn

We will always give a very special thanks to the Fingal County Council and Fingal Team for the most appreciated skills and training they have equipped us Assistant Physical Planners with so far. Right now we are able to make any kind of maps depending on the requirement out of open street map dat...

#MapLesotho 2017 Week 1 - Review

20 February 2017 | by DaCor

The #MapLesotho project has, over the last 3 years, produced 15 million points of geo data (creating a map) for Lesotho, in OpenStreetMap. Each February a team of trainers from Ireland provided as part of an agreement between Fingal County Council and the Lesotho Ministry for Local Government vis...

#MapLesotho 2017 and POSM Power

17 February 2017 | by RustyB

Week one of the 2017 #MapLesotho training is almost over. This year it would seem we’ve pretty much banished our initial technology deamons with our new Portable OSM (POSM) server.

24 hour mapathon - a huge day!

27 November 2016 | by RustyB & DeBigC

Friday the 18th of November 2016 was another huge day for #MapLesotho. At 8am that morning the starter’s gun was fired for 24 hours of mapping in Portmarnock Community School.

Mapillary Spring Challenge

12 October 2016 | by RustyB (english) & Nuts2001 (sesotho)

E boetse ke nako ea tlholisano koano ha #MapLesotho, khetlong lena tlholisano e batla e fapane, ke tlolisano ea lits’oants’o e hlophisitsoeng ke Mapillary!

50 Year Celebration for Lesotho

09 October 2016 | by DeBigC

On Wednesday the 5th of October the Kingdom of Lesotho celebrated the 50 year anniversary of achieveing its independence from the United Kingdom. In celebrating this day in Ireland the Ambassador, His Excellency Paramente Phamotse and Niall FitzGerald, Chairman of Action Ireland Trust joined toge...

My first visit at Portmarnock Community School

09 October 2016 | by Tshedy

It was on the 4th October 2016, which was the day Lesotho was celebrating it’s 50th independence anniversary. We got a warm welcome by Teachers and students. Everyone was wishing us Happy Independence Day with smiles.

#Maplesotho. Qacha’s Nek’s yet another success

07 September 2016 | by FIFIQN

#Maplesotho QN’ s success

07 September 2016 | by FIFIQN

#Maplesotho’s Analysts

07 September 2016 | by FIFIQN

I know I am becoming one and so can you be. I feel lucky to have been chosen this year to come to Advanced OSM Training. I did not know exactly what to expect, but I knew what I wanted. I wanted to learn and gain knowledge on everything that has to do with #maplesotho. As a land use and settlemen...

Winners of Analysis month - QN Analysis Kombat

02 September 2016 | by rustyb

It is with great pleasure I can announce today that QN Analysis Kombat team conmprising Fifi, Montshy and Stanley are the well deserving winners of the #MapLesotho Analysis competition.

Portmarnock Community School scoop awards in Manilla for #MapLesotho

15 August 2016 | by debigc

As explained here four students from Portmarnock Community School were representing Ireland with their project Global Citizens Mapping the future. The project was the best in Ireland having won the Young Social Innovators prize this year and as national champion was automatically selected by Sage...

Mappy Birthday #OpenStreetMap as #MapLesotho hits the #Lesotho Embassy Dublin

13 August 2016 | by debigc

OpenStreetMap is now 12 years old, and the birthday is being celebrated at the Lesotho Embassy, Dublin. Of course, as usual everyone is mapping and OSM Ireland are participating. The opportunity to use the embassy as a mapping venue should be credited to his Excellency Paramente Phamotse, who is ...

Portmarnock's #MapLesotho Champions prepare to take Manilla by storm

10 August 2016 | by debigc

Those Portmarnock kids are at it again, #MapLesotho is the rocket fuel to bring them to The Philippines in Asia.

New Stats Dashboard for #MapLesotho - a review

27 July 2016 | by tshedy

There is a new site created byColin Broderick from the Fingal training team. This shows a number of features that measure progress, or help us to map. To summarise this portal site has a  number of features showing stats and progress maps for #MapLesotho.

The Deserted Village

23 July 2016 | by debigc

While mapping near Mohale Dam today I came across a village with perhaps 100 huts, and 20 or more large animal kraals. Surrounding the village are disused fields we are currently tracing and tagging as “landuse=farmland”. The huts themselves are in ruins.

#MapLesotho Month by the Numbers

06 July 2016 | by debigc

This is a glance back at the month of June, where a special extra effort was made to take on the second wave of #MapLesotho mapping task.

A surprise visitor at the End of #MapLesotho Month

01 July 2016 | by debigc

The Basotho OpenStreetMap community composed of Planners, Surveyors and students gathered on the last day of June to finish off #MapLesotho month. The idea of mapping using a travelling high speed modem, ending in a party atmosphere in the capital city belongs to Quthing mapper Mahipi.

QN Mapaholics at #MapLesotho

29 June 2016 | by fifiqn

Mapping, ….food for the soul. The 27th and the 28th days of June 2016, were the two dates set for mapping task #1942 #MapLesotho - Qacha’s Nek Detailed District Mapping. So we Qacha’s Nek mappers hit open street map and showed much dedication towards mapping our task. There are 600+ tiles and we ...

June mapping days 15 and 16: Land Survey team doing it for #MapLesotho

24 June 2016 | by mavikn

“Ten Districts and one City”…. so we being the Land Survey and Physical Planning Division (LSPP) of the Ministry we chose Maseru City, which is this task:

Day 13-14 of #MapLesotho Leribe

24 June 2016 | by tankituoane

Leribe held its second mapathon after the first one in August 2015, which is a long time ago now. The mapathon was held at Hlotse Urban council on the 20th and 21st of June 2016. Day one was basically understanding the instructions of the task and helping each other to re-set their passwords and ...

Historic moment for #MapLesotho

22 June 2016 | by debigc

Yesterday (21st June) at County Hall Swords in Ireland a new Memorandum of Understanding was signed extending the partnership of Fingal County Council and The Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho. This memorandum will allow a training team organised by Fingal County Council to go to Lesotho on tw...

My First#MapLesotho - mapping month hits day 11 and 12 in Buthe Buthe

18 June 2016 | by morobej

My name is Malimaene Bonolo Jeanett Morobe and I am a voluntary Assistant Physical Planner in Butha-Buthe Urban Council. I was first introduced to #MapLesotho in National University of Lesotho whilst a student, but that was a brief visit. Last Thursday was my first proper #MapLesotho mapping day,...

#MapLesotho reaches the mountains of Thaba Tseka

14 June 2016 | by kaymapzie

#MapLesotho Month: Days 6 and 7 in Berea District

11 June 2016 | by mithokoane

For the last two days it is the turn of Berea to have the modem. After a few of us made quick arrangements Nelson who goes from Maseru to TY each day took the modem from Mme Lineo and delivered to us on Thursday. We were initially nervous but Nelson saved the day as the picture shows ;>.

#MapLesotho Month: Day 5, Maseru

08 June 2016 | by pick7828

The modem made it to Maseru on the evening of the 6th of June. It was brought by Tlalane, who was also mapping in Mafeteng on the previous mapping day.

#MapLesotho Month: Day 4, Mafeteng

06 June 2016 | by debigc

The project modem reached Mafeteng on Friday evening after its busy day in Mohale’s Hoek. This time it was transported 43 kilometres north to Mafeteng by Rethabile, the Community Council Secretary. She handed over to Lehasa and Ithatz, who tested it on Sunday and updated their machines in readine...

#MapLesotho month day 3 in Mohale's Hoek

03 June 2016 | by tshedy

Day three of the #MapLesotho month was a one-day  mapathon in Mohale’s Hoek.

#MapLesotho Month starts with #MapQuthing mapathon

03 June 2016 | by tshedy

We had two wonderful mapping days at Quthing on the Quthing Task with my colleagues, Motsieleli Mafatlane,  Katleho Makotsane, Tankiso Damane and Itumeleng Nthunya.

#MapLesotho phase 2 begins

30 May 2016 | by debigc

It’s all too exciting!

#MapLesotho Basemap Complete

22 May 2016 | by tshedy

I am really glad to tell you that overnight our fellow mapper Ben Discoe clicked the last green tile. In the last few weeks there was a great effort, almost nostalgic for people to map the simple base-map tasks as they could sense they were running out.

#MapLesotho and Mapillary victory for Portmarnock kids

15 May 2016 | by debigc

Last year Portmarnock Community College students went to the Young Social Innovators conference and spoke about their mapping, and won a category prize.

Will the Lesotho National Census 2016 give Planning and #MapLesotho a new mission?

01 May 2016 | by debigc

In Lesotho on the 10th of April this year the National Census collection process started. The process is that the Census form is filled out not by the subjects, but by one of the 7000 enumerators arriving on the doorstep. The collection process was scheduled to last for approximately two weeks, w...

#MapLesotho Training at Quthing

29 April 2016 | by tshedy

This week has been a great one for Quthing Assistant Physical Planners and the district surveyor. Seven of them were introduced to OpenStreetMap and were trained by 2 training team members Lineo Mothae, Motsieleli Mafatlane and 1 analysis team member Mats’eliso Thobei. The new mappers were introd...

#MapLesotho can help plan waste management

16 April 2016 | by nkrmot

Solid waste Management refers to the collection, transportation, treatment, final disposal and recycling of solid waste created by domestic and commercial activity. Proper solid waste management is a feature of a planned urban environment, and therefore a big element of settlement planning.

#MapLesotho outbreaks reported in Portmarnock and Ha Hlalele

13 April 2016 | by debigc

A little more history was made today as for the first time ever there were simultaneous #Mapathons in Ireland and Lesotho shared by the schools. At the time of writing these mapathons are still underway. Darragh Bolger and his classmates stormed their computer lab, while at the same time their Ba...

My first #MapLesotho Post

12 April 2016 | by mithokoane

I am a mapper since February 2015 when I was selected to represent Berea District Council Physical Planning Department. That was my first OpenStreetMap experience. I fell in love with it! Since then, I have been mapping and enjoying every second of it. I have moved from a casual mapper, now  a he...

Where are we with #MapLesotho

04 April 2016 | by tshedy

We are now left with two rural tasks in #MapLesotho, which are both 99% done, and above 70% validated. The task that is being pushed hard recently is Rural Task 1 with most APPs working on the districts in which they are based. This task was on 56% validated about 3-4 weeks ago, and now we are on...

Funky sounds of #MapLesotho

25 March 2016 | by debigc

Readers of the blog who have never encountered #MapLesotho and it’s humans up close may not realise that it has a sound, a series of sounds perhaps… and has had these sounds for several years.

Progress review on St. Patrick's Day

20 March 2016 | by pick7828

St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th. That day our Irish colleagues party and celebrate their national day. The day they finished training they asked us to review how well we had done within a month. So we did that by gathering in Berea, some of us wearing Green!

First #MapLesotho Mapathon in Mokhotlong

19 March 2016 | by refiloe1984

On Wednesday the 16th of March  we called a #MapLesotho mapathon for Mokhotlong camptown, at the District Council offices. The day started with DeBigC, our beardy friend from Ireland wishing us good luck on twitter.

OSM training with Lesotho surveyors

15 March 2016 | by kaymapzie

The mission is not yet accomplished- to have a complete base-map of Lesotho. Right now there are two tasks, both are “mapped”, but the larger one (#599) is just at 56% validation, wheras the second rural task (#894) is at 71%. Putting them side by side in one image gives a good idea of what remai...

Tooling up the next wave of #MapLesotho mappers

14 March 2016 | by debigc

I was in Portmarnock Community School on Thursday the 10th March. I was invited by the Religion and Maths teachers Niall FitzGerald and Colette Cronin to meet 22 of the present transition years, who were in Lesotho recently. Similarly, all of this class are experienced openstreetmap users. The pu...

Buildings in Road Reserve

03 March 2016 | by tshedy

A road reserve is a legally described area within which facilities such as utility lines, roads, footpaths, and associated features may be constructed for public travel. There’s a problem in towns of road reserve encroachment which has become a challenge to deal with as there is resistance from t...

Land management and effective Physical Planning in Lesotho

26 February 2016 | by pick7828

Friday the 19th February was a big day for #MapLesotho. It marked the final day of the MOU with Fingal County Council trainers.  The Minister of Local Government and Chieftainship - the Honourable Dr. Pontšo Sekatle, called a press conference at the Avani Sun Hotel in Maseru. She wanted to see wh...

3-D mapping for Lesotho

20 February 2016 | by seitebatso

_Approximately 98.2% of Basotho females and 87.4 males can are literate. 92.8% of Basotho are able to express themselves in both Sesotho and English__. _

Analysing OSM data for planning purposes - not so easy

18 February 2016 | by rusty1052

It’s just so easy to add new features and edit those existing on openstreetmap with it’s impressive number of tools including iD and JOSM. Little know though is the vast array of little tools which have been created for extracting and working with that wonderful open geo data.

Mapillary Sessions

17 February 2016 | by oscarlorentzon

The end of the first #MapLesotho training week was dedicated to Mapillary sessions. With presentations, discussions, a mapping event and hands on data harvesting, the planners got deep knowledge about the potential of using Mapillary as one of their mapping tools.

ENCROACHMENT OF BUILDINGS INTO QACHA'S NEK PRIMARY ROAD

17 February 2016 | by mahipi13

[gallery ids=”1649,1650” type=”rectangular”]

Planning in Rural Areas Trundles On

16 February 2016 | by moliph

Traditionally, land in Lesotho was owned by the King and managed by the Chiefs who therefore played a role in land allocation from the sovereign, to the general populace. The land was allocated in parcels, mainly for agriculture and the size of a site or field was measured by counting the number ...

#MapLesotho half way training

14 February 2016 | by kaymapzie

Since the training started on the 8th February, a lot has been achieved. Three groups have been formed and each of these have their own tasks- training and engagement team, analysis team and the technical team. To this far the Training and engagement team has successfully trained two groups on OS...

MapLesotho Impressions

11 February 2016 | by oscarlorentzon

Three days after arriving in Lesotho there are a lot of impressions to gather. Meeting the Lesotho planners and the trainers from Fingal County Council has been amazing. Getting a first hand view of the progress and challenges of the #MapLesotho project is very eye opening.

Day 2 of #MapLesotho training

09 February 2016 | by refiloe1984

Wow, what a day!

#MapLesotho: the final visit begins

07 February 2016 | by debigc

Colin, Dave and me have travelled to Maseru. At the time of writing we are still in our first 24 hours in the country. The flight was uneventful, Dublin to Frankfurt, to Johannesburg and on to Lesotho.

How to check the data

03 February 2016 | by geofrizz

This is an important step for establishing if all the editing and tagging is orthodox, and also if these data are standard, or variations are occurring with tagging in particular.

Result of the #MapLesotho Validation Challenge

31 January 2016 | by debigc

On Friday 29th January at midnight another ‪#‎MapLesotho‬ validation challenge ended. Rules for the competition were published by Colin Broderick. This time we had six winners, with three of the prizes sponsored by our good friends in Mapillary.

Lesotho's first OpenStreetMap APP

10 January 2016 | by debigc

It all started with a conversation last year, followed by a tweet from Botswana based mobile phone APP developer “BuggyIdle” reminding us of that conversation.

'Khotla' a discovery by #MapLesotho

03 January 2016 | by pick7828

‘Khotla’ is a Sesotho word denoting a traditional ‘court’ of the Basotho, indicating both a place and a social function of dispute arbitration.

OSM and understanding drought

31 December 2015 | by tshedy

There is a serious drought affecting a number of districts in Lesotho, which has made the Government declare a national emergency. It mainly affects subsistence farmers who depend solely on agriculture, but in the short-term people in towns other than Maseru are inconvenienced. A drop in producti...

90 young mappers and one flabbergasted older one

07 December 2015 | by mackerski

My name is Dermot, and I’m a Mapaholic. I started adding bits of Ireland to OpenStreetMap early in 2007 and I haven’t stopped yet. When I started, there were pockets of coverage and a few interurban roads mapped. But basic things like a coastline were still missing. I was immediately bitten by th...

Post Mapathon round-up

06 December 2015 | by debigc

The 24 Hour Mapathon organised by Portmarnock Community School was a great success. Not just for the fact that 40 people stayed up 24 hours to map, or that 106 kids gave part of their day to mapping. Not just for the support and well-wishers from all over saying how great the kids did, and that i...

Eight and a half hours to go for #MapLesotho

04 December 2015 | by joejgrace

Hi, I’m Joe. And this is my first blog ever. I hope you like it.

A Mapping Marathon 4th December

29 November 2015 | by debigc

The students in Portmarnock Community School, principally those travelling to Lesotho in 2016 have come up with a novel idea to raise funds for the trip. This idea is to spend an entire 24 hours mapping, gathering sponsors for the endeavour.

"Still I rise" - #MapLesotho

08 November 2015 | by debigc

The words of the African American Maya Angelou in the aforementioned poem are appropriate in many ways for #MapLesotho.

Use of apps in Mapillary phones make #MapLesotho enjoyable.

21 October 2015 | by tshedy

Yesterday I travelled from Quthing to Mphaki via Mt. Moorosi and then back to Quthing. The purpose of my visit there was to inspect the two community council office sites being constructed at Mt. Moorosi and Mphaki.

#MapLesotho Mapillary Challenge winners pick up their prizes

10 October 2015 | by debigc

Eight women, two men… six districts out of ten in Lesotho… five JOSM users and five ID editor users… travelled to Maseru on Wednesday as the top ten openstreetmap users of the Mountain Kingdom.

#MapLesotho - where is it going?

12 September 2015 | by debigc

#MapLesotho has rocketed forwards in the last ten weeks. Thanks to the @Mapillary challenge the number of nodes  in the map has double in that time from 3.6 million to 7 million. Now there are regularly between 6-12 mappers engaging in mapping the mountain kingdom every day.  Lesotho, if not the ...

Outcome of the #MapLesotho Mapillary Challenge

01 September 2015 | by debigc

The challenge was discussed here has been going for 7 weeks. On the 31st August 2015 it ended at midnight. Mappers all went to bed, early for once…. wondering if their score was high enough to rise a place or two. Of course the prize for 10 lucky mappers is a gorgeous smartphone, pre-loaded with ...

The #MapLesotho Mapillary Mapping challenge

16 August 2015 | by debigc

Today we find that the number of Openstreetmap nodes has risen from 3.6 to 4.7 MILLION nodes in just one month! This was found by Soren as he did the weekly extract and announced on Twitter today.

Take a spin around Lesotho with Mapillary

07 August 2015 | by drake354

Mapillary is a mobile and tablet application which enables picture capture and sharing, as well as geo-tagging. It allows pictures to be assembled to form street views and panoramas. However, unlike the universally known google street view the picture data is crowdsourced, and so is free of copyr...

Experience of the first Mapathon in Leribe and its Impact on the future of OSM in Leribe

04 August 2015 | by tshololeo

The first mapathon in Leribe was very great and got very interesting when we met our colleagues from Maseru District Council. On the first day all was set and ready to mapLesotho from 8 a.m and all the participants were very dedicated to mapping, that was very impressive from my Leribe.

Queen of #MapLesotho

02 August 2015 | by tshedy

The first time I heard about openstreetmap (OSM) was in February 2015 when I attended workshop held at Maseru Sun. The workshop was organised by Ministry of Local Government and Chieftainship, with the training provided by Fingal County Council under a memorandum agreement to help exchange techni...

Two 48 hour Mapathons in July

28 July 2015 | by debigc

The 29th and 30th of July are earmarked for two Mapathons to take place in Lesotho.

The Anatomy of a Crowdsource #MapLesotho

25 July 2015 | by debigc

How old is #MapLesotho? It’s hard to say,… though as a big crowdsource effort it began in July 2014, making it about a year old now. Of course the effort goes back further to February 2014 when Basotho Planners and the Fingal County Council trainers started mapping in Ha Foso, just to the north e...

From the Archives: Derick Rethans videos 24 hours of mapping on Teyateyaneng 25th July 2014

09 July 2015 | by debigc

It is almost a year ago since the first global #MapLesotho Mapathon. On that occasion Dave Corley made contact with Derick Rethans to track the edits and extract them in the form of a speeded up video.

MapLesotho Top10 users

25 June 2015 | by rusty1052

It’s time to finally reveal the top 10 #MapLesotho users.

All guns blazing as Basotho mappers meet Action Ireland Trust in June

21 June 2015 | by debigc

By prior arrangement between the Basotho Planners and Action Ireland Trust a meet-up in the Maseru Sun took place on the 19th of June to further #MapLesotho and concentrate on the rural task. Everyone was happy with the opportunity to get down to some serious mapping. Because of the limitations o...

Guerilla Mapping Exercise at the Pioneer Mall

19 June 2015 | by debigc

On Thursday the 18th June Lineo Mothae led a small group of #openstreetmap users including Ts’epo and Seitebatso to the Pioneer Mall in Maseru.

Portmarnock Community School sweep another award

13 May 2015 | by debigc

Our friends in Portmarnock Community School took their #MapLesotho participation to a new level by winning their section of the Young Social Innovators #YSI contest last week. The category that they entered was called “Making Our World One World” among very strong competition from three other sch...

Mapathon in Mohale's Hoek District

18 April 2015 | by debigc

We are now joined by Mpaleng Oliphant who is an Assistant Physical Planner in Mohale’s Hoek to talk about her experience of the latest Mapathon.

Easter reflection on #MapLesotho

05 April 2015 | by debigc

[caption id=”attachment_377” align=”aligncenter” width=”208”] NUL Central Admin Building[/caption]

My first #MapLesotho mapathon experience today!

28 March 2015 | by debigc

We are now joined by Ts’epo Matthews Matlou, a 2nd year computer studies undergraduate reading at the Limkokwing University of Creative Techonology.

Motheo oa moral oa #MapLesotho

24 March 2015 | by hmkmota

MapLesotho ke leano la ho lepa naha ka thepa ea maran-grang ele hore ho ke hobe le ‘Mapa oa naha ka ho totobala le ho tseba hore na mobu oa naha o ntse o sebelisoa joang. Moralo ona ha nakoana ke moralo oa baithaopi ba naha ea Lesotho le ba linaha tse hole le haufi ba ileng ba eba le khahleho ho ...

When openstreetmap collides with slum upgrading

23 March 2015 | by debigc

Lehasa “Hazy” Mochekoane is an Assistant Physical Planner assigned to Mafeteng Urban Council who has been using openstreetmap for over a year now. Hazy talks about his plan to use openstreetmap to support a slum management project.

Why #MapLesotho: what practical use is it?

08 March 2015 | by debigc

In earlier blogposts the Assistant Physical Planners asserted that Lesotho needs each and every bit of spatial data that can be got in order to support their decision making, and perhaps to strike a new balance between stakeholder wishes and the evidence of the effect on the environment.

Round-up: two great weeks for #MapLesotho

25 February 2015 | by debigc

On Friday the 20th of February Dave Corley, Colin Broderick and myself boarded a small plane at Moshoeshoe International Airport Maseru. The previous two weeks had been amazing, exhilarating, exhausting and exciting. A real mix of emotions having made it to the plane with everything we planned mo...

#MapLesotho First Steps towards Evidence based planning

16 February 2015 | by rusty1052

#MapLesotho has now reached a point where we are now drawing down the data and we are now at a stage where important conclusions can be drawn about the physical layout of the country.

Portmarnock School Sweeps award for #MapLesotho project

10 February 2015 | by debigc

Portmarnock Community School have won an award at the Young Social Innovators competition sponsored by the Vodafone Foundation. They had to work hard to get there. Not only did these kids ask me (through their teacher Mr. Niall FitzGerald) to come to the school to initially show them how to use o...

#MapLesotho travels for the Fingal Team

08 February 2015 | by debigc

The Fingal #MapLesotho team left Ireland and Germany on Friday with Dave Corley and myself going through Dublin and Colin from Münster. We left amidst great good wishes from our friends in Action Ireland Trust, Fingal County Council and openstreetmap IRL. For a brief few moments our planes were r...

International NGOs take note of #MapLesotho

29 January 2015 | by debigc

We now hear from Ellen Ward, Information Technology Solutions Co-ordinator in CONCERN Worldwide who attended the #MapLesotho Mapathon in Swords on the 16th January to find out more about Humanitarian Mapping and Lesotho.

Red Bank High Makes Belated Contribution to #MapLesotho

23 January 2015 | by debigc

We now hear from Jeff Davis, Leah Keith-Houle, Sammy Breeden, a.k.a. the “US Cavalry” from Red Bank High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee who came in and shoved Urban #MapLesotho closer to completion last Tuesday.

Tension, Excitement, Mad Chatter and a Major Milestone

20 January 2015 | by shawnday

How many mappers does it take to #MapLesotho? Simple answer: All of us!

Interview with OpenCage Data Blog

11 January 2015 | by drake354

The interview with Ed Freyfogle over at the OpenCage Data blog is now up on their site.

#MapLesotho - Heading towards a full basemap

11 January 2015 | by drake354

2014 The year in review for #MapLesotho

31 December 2014 | by debigc

2014 was the year that #MapLesotho was born. I’m not even sure who deserves credit for first coining the phrase “MapLesotho”, which should immediately add to the mystique. It could simply be that we just copied the @MapKibera project that was devised by the brilliant Mikel Maron as he added a pre...

80% Complete - Nothing like a target of 90% for the New Year

27 December 2014 | by rusty1052

In case you missed it last night a number of #MapLesotho mappers pushed the rural task over 80% complete and 14% validated. We are almost there!

The First Basotho initiated #MapLesotho Mapathon - 16th January 2015

24 December 2014 | by debigc

Lineo Mothae is an Assistant Physical Planner working in Maseru District Council

A Virtual Journey Through #MapLesotho

20 December 2014 | by debigc

We are joined by Shawn Day, also known as Eiridium on openstreetmap. Shawn is a lecturer in Social Computing, Data Visualisation, Engagement, Design & the Humanities at University College Cork, Trinity College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast.

#MapLesotho - The benefits to Physical Planners

14 December 2014 | by rusty1052

Lineo Mothae and Ithabeleng ‘Moleli are Assistant Physical Planners assigned to the Districts of Maseru and Mafeteng respectively.

#MapLesotho reaches another landmark: One node per Mosotho Citizen

30 November 2014 | by debigc

Sometime earlier this week #MapLesotho edits on openstreetmap using the #hotosm editor tool exceeded the number of citizens in the country.

#MapLesotho and openstreetmap among other "open" things

25 November 2014 | by debigc

#MapLesotho hits the magical 2 million openstreetmap nodes

23 November 2014 | by debigc

Sounds good, hey?

Echo from 160 years in the past for #MapLesotho

26 October 2014 | by debigc

As Lesotho counts down towards 2016 to celebrate 50 years of Independence from British Protectorate status, the need for accurate and accessible maps of the country is as important now as it was in the middle of the nineteenth century when her territorial and sovereign future was uncertain.

#MapLesotho - How do you map yours?

26 October 2014 | by rusty1052

Following our milestone of achieving 60% complete yesterday, I thought it was time for a video.

40% left to go on the Rural Task

26 October 2014 | by rusty1052

It was just before 1am on Sunday morning that #MapLesotho Rural task hit **60% complete!**

Why I enjoyed #MapLesotho

21 October 2014 | by debigc

Guest Blogger: Cian Gargan

#MapLesotho hits the home of Action Ireland Trust

18 October 2014 | by debigc

On Thursday the 16th #MapLesotho came to Portmarnock Community College where a mixture of the Transition Year and Fifth Year students started to use openstreetmap (osm) to #MapLesotho. Portmarnock Community College is the home of Action Ireland Trust.

MapLesotho hits 54%!

15 October 2014 | by rusty1052

#MapLesotho hit 54% last night. Well done to all.

#MapLesotho Mapathon at the Embassy of Lesotho, Dublin - August 30th 2014

12 October 2014 | by debigc

At the invitation of his Excellency, Paramente Phamotse Lesotho Ambassador to Ireland, a small number of openstreetmap users gathered for a follow up mapathon just a month after the #MapLesotho crowdsource opened. This time the focus was on rural Lesotho, the larger of the two major HOTOSM tasks ...

#MapLesotho Edits January - 11th October

12 October 2014 | by rusty1052

We’ve come along way with #MapLesotho so far this year, where recently we achieved 52% of our rural mapping task complete.

#MapLesotho London - 29th July 2014

11 October 2014 | by debigc

In the lead up to the first ever #MapLesotho mapathon  on the 25th of July Colin Broderick started to engage with Medecins Sans Frontiers on twitter. In particular Pete Masters, creator of the excellent Missing Maps project (as seen here), offered to hold a large Mapathon in London, albeit it fou...

From the Archives: Last Day Mapping On Site 18/02/14

11 October 2014 | by rusty1052

From the Archives: Monday Mapping Contest between the Planners 17/02/14

11 October 2014 | by rusty1052

The area to be mapped today will be divided into three groups. Groups 1 - 4. The map below show’s their boundaries. We will be digitizing from 13h00GMT today if you would like to join tweet us.

From the archives: Mohale Dam

11 October 2014 | by rusty1052

Mohale Dam

From the Archives: Fire Hydrants and Planning for Infrastructure 14/02/14

11 October 2014 | by rusty1052

Fire Hydrants and Planning for Infrastructure

From the Archives: Similarities to note from Lesotho 13/02/14

11 October 2014 | by rusty1052

On Monday the Chief Planner of Lesotho asked if we would look at the issues caused by the sudden, and in some cases unplanned, building out of part of the Berea district call Ho Fuso. When the team started analysing the population data it seemed like Berea was very familiar. Here’s why:

From the Archives: Fingal Team Land in Lesotho 11/02/2014

11 October 2014 | by rusty1052

We set off from Dublin Airport on Saturday morning 8th of February and flew into London Heathrow, then we took a South African Airlines flight to Johannesburg (O.R. Tambo) and then almost 24 hours later we arrived at Moshoeshoe airport in Lesotho. We were greeted at the airport by our colleagues ...

#MapLesotho July 25th 2014

09 October 2014 | by debigc

On July 25th the first ever worldwide openstreetmap Mapathon focussed on Lesotho was held in seven venues across the world. These included Maefeng and Qacha’s Nek (Lesotho), Swords (Ireland), Katowice(Poland), Muenster(Germany), Ottowa(Canada) and North Carolina(USA). Different numbers of mappers...

What is #MapLesotho

07 October 2014 | by debigc

Apart from a social media hashtag #MapLesotho is a crowdsource effort. The aims are to create an open, free to use map of the Kingdom of Lesotho on openstreetmap. This map should be well spatially defined with openstreetmap tagging. Lesotho has had no such free, open and accessible spatial data s...

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