The UN Mapper of the month - August 2022

Arne Kimmig, AwoowoArne in OSM, is our Mapper of the Month of August. Arne is a German retired mathematician who enjoys volunteering in archeological and humanitarian projects. From the very beginning he made a great contribution to our projects in Somalia, being one of our first contributors and one of the most active mappers in the country.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Arne Kimmig and I live in Berlin, Germany. I am a retired mathematician and software developer and have a lot of time now volunteering in archaeological or humanitarian projects. I enjoy exploring the city and nature by bicycle. My whole life I was and still am enthusiastic about maps.

How did you know about UN Mappers?
In the past few years, I was lucky to participate in building a gazetteer of archeological sites for Sudan. When I was looking for maps in Sudan and Eastern Africa, I encountered the Missing Maps project and started contributing to projects in the Horn of Africa organized by the UN Mappers or MSF.

When do you map?
As a retired person I map in my free time.

Do you enjoy mapping? Why?
Apart from doing my bit for humanitarian projects, mapping gives me insight into landscapes and how these might influence the living and the culture of the inhabitants and vice versa how the people shape their environment.

In which countries do you map the most?
As an Awoowo (= "Grandfather" in Somali) of children with Somaliland roots, presently I am focussing on rivers, roads, and settlements in this scarcely mapped country. I am missing the contact to local mappers but there does not seem to exist an active mapper scene in Somaliland. My other focus is on mapping historical sites and their surroundings: currently I am doing this around Archaia Olympia in Greece, where I also try my first steps in mapping rural land use.

 

 

 

 

Arne Kimmig