Community engagement is one of the most powerful and often underestimated elements of successful mapping. In this talk, I will share my journey and lessons from working directly with local communities in Tanzania on a range of mapping projects each driven not just by data, but by people.

From the litter assessment project in Dar es Salaam to school feeding mapping and infrastructure digitization in over 15 regions, I’ve seen firsthand how mapping becomes more meaningful when communities are fully involved. My role often included training local volunteers, many of whom had never interacted with digital tools like OpenStreetMap, ODK, or QGIS to map their own surroundings. We didn’t just collect data, we built relationships, encouraged curiosity, and created opportunities for people to take part in shaping their environment.

The process starts with trust, listening to the community, understanding their needs, and respecting their knowledge. This ensures that the data collected reflects lived realities not assumptions. In many cases, community members pointed out features or issues that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. Whether it was identifying informal waste dumping sites, mapping roads that never appeared on digital maps, or recording school locations accurately, the local input made the map more complete, more honest, and more useful.

We’ll also discuss the importance of building capacity. Training sessions were not just about teaching tools, but also about showing the value of open data and helping people to see themselves as part of something bigger. This kind of engagement leads to long-term impact participants often continue mapping, advocating, and teaching others long after the project ends.