Kiyimba
Edwin Kiyimba is a GIS Solutions Engineer and system designer based in Uganda, with a focus on building location-driven platforms that solve real-world challenges in transportation, logistics, and public service delivery. He has led the development of several geospatial applications across East Africa including smart mobility systems, ticketing platforms, and national-level GIS dashboards. Edwin specializes in combining OpenStreetMap data with tools like Django, Flutter, and ArcGIS to create scalable, data-informed solutions for African contexts.
Session
Urban mobility challenges in African cities from unpredictable public transport to inefficient logistics require innovative, data-driven solutions. This talk explores how open mapping tools, particularly OpenStreetMap (OSM), can be used to build smart mobility platforms for buses, taxis, and delivery systems in Africa.
We will present real-world implementations from Uganda, including:
- A bus reservation and route optimization platform using OSM data for planning stops, calculating distances, and improving fuel efficiency.
- Integration of OSM with routing engines (e.g., OSRM, GraphHopper), mobile apps (Flutter), and backend services (Django/FastAPI).
We'll discuss:
- Challenges working with OSM data in African contexts (e.g., missing roads, informal transit).
- Techniques for supplementing OSM with GPS traces and community mapping.
- The potential of OSM in supporting multimodal transport, last-mile delivery, and real-time fleet tracking.
Whether you're a developer, planner, or community mapper, this talk will show how open tools and local data can power next-generation mobility solutions across the continent.