The UN Mapper of the month - April 2023

Ingrid Reine Fotso Tuedjo is our mapper of the month for April 2023. Ingrid is a student in surveying and topography at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Travaux Publics in Yaoundé. She is enthusiast in all aspects related to GIS. She recently co-organized a training course for the students at her school to introduce OpenStreetMap and approach it with great dedication. 

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hello, my name is Ingrid Reine Fotso Tuedjo, I am from Cameroon, and I am currently in my last year of a master's degree in engineering, I have an interest in all things related to geospatial. 

How did you know about UN Mappers?
Last year, I discovered UN Mappers and at the same time OpenStreetMap. UN Mappers organized an online training about OSM for the club in my field of study and I attended every session. After the course, there was an evaluation in the Learning hub of UN Mappers and the final task was for the trainees to organize a local event in our school to introduce OpenStreetMap to other students.

We were less than 10 to reach this step and I took it to heart, so I did my best to handle it and finally it was a success.

When do you map? (Weekends, free time, in your working time?)
I usually map during the weekends.

Do you enjoy mapping? Why?
I enjoy mapping first because I like GIS very much, so I am interested by everything related to it.  Secondly, I appreciate the fact that OpenStreetMap is an open database, therefore very accessible, and that people can contribute by mapping wherever and more precisely, where there is a lack or a need for data. Indeed, I have been confronted more than once to a situation where I had to do a task or simply a map, but I could not find adequate data for the place concerned.

That's why I feel useful and proud to contribute to OpenStreetMap and look forward to getting more engaged in social and humanitarian projects.

In which countries do you map the most?
I have been mapping mostly in Cameroon, but also contributed in some projects in Mali, Somalia and Nigeria.