Author: Hawa Adinani

Vingunguti is an administrative ward in Ilala district in western Dar Es Salaam and according to the 2012 census has a population of 106,946. Vingunguti ward is a flood-prone area of Dar es Salaam and many settlements within it are informal. The Msimbazi River flows around the West and North boundary of the ward, and during the rainy season is a major cause of flooding.

Launching mapping in Vingunguti

Ramani Huria launched mapping in Vingunguti with a community forum taking place on 11th September 2015. Red Cross volunteers were excited to be present at the event, with the Ward Community Executive Officer Mr Msimi, and community members from eight sub-wards, including Mtambani, Kombo, Mtakuja, and Miembeni. Also in attendance were representatives from the World Bank, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap, and university students from Ardhi University and the University of Dar es Salaam. 

Vingunguti ward includes many flood-prone areas and Red Cross volunteers shared their experiences of flooding in the ward during 2011 and 2015. One story shared by Mzeee Hamis was that in 2015, floods led to the death of five people and buildings within the ward were so heavily flooded they have been abandoned. He noted that due to financial resources current initiatives against flooding are severely limited. Mr Said Mwikala also shared his experiences, noting that on the 4th of April Vingunguti hospital was completely flooded, with drains overflowing and offices and wards of the hospital being severely affected. As a result, in one case, a pregnant woman had to deliver outside the labour room as it inaccessible and full of water. Ambulances were unable to bring the sick to the hospital, and the facilities were not functional for more than twelve hours. He noted that the flooding in April of this year was disastrous, with high costs to property and loss of life. 

Mapping Vingunguti

Assisting in the mapping of Vingunguti by Ramani Huria, the Red Cross volunteer group divided into two groups, each with ten volunteers, and each group worked with other community members and students involved in the mapping of the ward. The first group were active from 14th September to 18th September, and in collaboration with experienced student mappers, began data collection with GPS units. The second group were active from 21st September to 25th September.

While many residents were enthusiastic and supportive of the mapping project, the Red Cross volunteer teams did encounter some challenges. Power shortages made it difficult to digitalise the collected information in a timely manner and the changes in the availability of the room supplied by the ward office meant that activities had to occasionally relocate to the nearby Kombo Primary School. 

While some challenges were faced in mapping, the students, community members, and Red Cross volunteer all worked hard to complete mapping of the ward on time. Over two weeks the Ramani Huria team, including Red Cross volunteers, mapped the entire ward, including sub-wards of Kombo; Mji Mpya; Faru, Mtambani; Mtakuja; Butiama; Miembeni; and Majengo. Key features such as roads, buildings, drainage channels, and flood-prone areas, were all included in the mapping.

Completing mapping in Vingunguti

Mapping was completed in the ward and closed with a community forum on the 9th of October. Maps were presented at the ward, a general map and drainage specific map, and those participating in the mapping received certificates of achievement. 

The maps were presented to the Ward Executive Officer, Mr Msimi, to provide Vingunguti ward with the tools to enable improved disaster planning and response to flooding. 

Read more about Vingunguti ward on the Ramani Huria website and all data collected on the ward is available from Ramani Huria and on OpenStreetMap.

For many residents of Dar es Salaam, taking the dala dala is an everyday necessity. With over 200 routes across the city, dala dalas are medium-sized buses providing the cheapest way to move around and essential transportation for many. As one of the fastest-growing cities in the world (the third largest in Africa and ninth in the world), Dar es Salaam’s population of 4.3 million is expected to increase to 7 million by 2025 and transportation is, and will continue to be a factor in the quality of life for residents. Transportation routes in Dar es Salaam are severely affected during the seasonal flooding, with many roads becoming impassable and public transportation ceasing. Including roads and other transit features in our mapping data is vital in assisting Ramani Huria (and anyone using the data we collect) to more accurately assess the impact of flooding in the city and improve flood resilience. 

When mapping dala dala routes, the Ramani Huria team knew that the process would be challenging due to Dar es Salaam being a fast-changing and sometimes chaotic city. To ensure the data collected was accurate and reflective of routes actually used by dala dalas, we utilized a number of sources, including local community knowledge. During the mapping of dala dala routes, Ally, a German company that has created an app to help use public transportation, were visiting Tanzania. Given their expertise in providing local transport planning and real-time transit data they were extremely interested in being part of our work and joined our volunteers in the mapping process.

Following the identification of key transportation hubs, our mapping volunteers physically traveled all the dala dala routes identified. Volunteers had either a smartphone tracking app or GPS device and tracked their assigned route from starting point to the end, and then back. At the end of the first stage of mapping, when all routes had been surveyed, information on 243 routes had been collected!

When all the required data had been collected, Ramani Huria, the Tanzania Open Data Initiative (TODI) team from the World Bank, and Ally, worked together to develop a process to clean up the data and import all routes tracked into OpenStreetMap – allowing the routes to be freely available for anyone to access online. The routes can now be seen on OpenStreetMap by selecting the ‘Transport Map’ from layer options.

Ally then further processed the data and imported it into their app, making Dar es Salaam one of the first African cities with a public transit map available on smartphones. Other forms of transportation, including ferries and trains, are also included in the app, and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system will be included when launched. You can view a visualisation of all the dala dala routes mapped here.

Working with Ally was a great experience for Ramani Huria and the data collected through the dala dala mapping will be valuable in our continued work to map Dar es Salaam and efforts for flood resilience.

Download the Ally app here for iPhone and Android.

Every year during the rainy season, Dar suffers from devastating floods that wipe out roads, destroy houses, and result in deaths, sickness, and millions of dollars worth of damages. By helping communities to map their wards, Ramani Huria is able to support disaster prevention and response to areas that were previously off the map, literally. One key element of these maps is drainage systems. We have dedicated mappers working to ensure these, as well as wetland zones and flood-prone areas, are included accurately in our maps.

Some areas of Dar es Salaam are known to be flood-prone due to their physical features, however, in certain cases, it is difficult to differentiate between areas which are affected by floods and those that are not. Changeable factors such as drainage also contribute to how an area is affected by flooding. However, some areas such as the Msimbazi valley are consistently affected by floods. In this area residential, industrial and agricultural activities are affected every year by flooding. 

The Ramani Huria drainage team is working to add these details to OpenStreetMap and all the maps we create, below is a snapshot of their drainage mapping activities from September 17 to October 6 2015. 

Drainage mapping diary

17^th September 2015

We observed that many roads do not have open drains running alongside them. In Msasani ward, especially Masaki and Oysterbay sub-wards, we found no drains at all by the roads. However, this does not mean that drains do not exist, or that there is no flowing rainwater and flooding during the rainy season. 

28^th September, 2015

This week drainage mapping was done in Sinza ward and along University Road around Ardhi University and University of Dar es salaam. In Sinza, mapping of drainage was done specifically along Shekilango Road, Mori Road, and Sam Nujoma. The key issues we observed were that drains were blocked by solid waste and many areas lacked drains, especially the gravel roads. 

We also saw the construction of buildings over streams, for example at Sinza Mori near Big Bon filling station there are commercial buildings (a bar and saloon) built above a stream.

29^th September-1^st October 2015

We focused on mapping drainage systems along with trunk wards, including Kilwa Road, New Bagamoyo Road, Morogoro Road and Mandela Road. These roads are key in connecting the city to other regions of the country; therefore it is vital to know how these areas may be affected by flooding and water flow. Mandela Road specifically is a key road as it is connected to the Dar es Salaam port, affecting the flow of goods and people as all cargo vehicles from the port must pass via this road. 

1^st October 2015

In Kijitonyama ward we observed that many buildings are built over water streams or very close to the waterways. We have seen residential buildings being built close to streams as a common problem in unplanned settlements across the city. These structures result in the water not being free to flow and can lead to the buildup of water, increasing the effects of flooding. 

2^nd October – 6^th October 2015

Many drains, ditches, and streams are blocked by sand and other accumulated rubbish, restricting the flow of water. In some areas this may be also be due to drains and ditches being used as dumping sites, with road users not properly disposing of garbage. During the rainy season, these blockages are likely to lead to flooding – the blocked drainage system cannot allow for rainwater to flow out of the city.

In addition, to build up of sand and other solid materials in the drainage system, we observed along New Bagamoyo Road that dirt from natural vegetation has also built up in the ditches, drains, and streams, adding to the debris that can block the flow of water. 

Without efforts to keep drains clear of debris, through management and maintenance activities, flooding is likely to occur, or be more severe, even in areas which are not in the flood-prone zones of the city. 

Drainage mapping data

Data collected through our drainage mapping activities are uploaded onto OpenStreetMap and will continue to be updated as the Ramani Huria project continues. You can explore the drainage specific map

Mapping of the drainage system and waterways within the city will continue throughout the Ramani Huria project. It is done with the aim that this data will be useful in city planning and sanitation activities. 

Closing community forums took place in four wards of Dar es Salaam on Friday 9th of October. Mapping was completed in the wards of Kigogo; Manzese; Vingunguti; Mzimuni.

The four wards were mapped during September and October by students (from University of Dar es Salaam & Ardhi University), volunteers from the Red Cross, and community members from each ward. 

The closing community forums were attended by representatives of each ward, community members, students, and others involved in the mapping process.

The community forums provided a space for those involved in the mapping process to discuss their experiences. Community members and ward officers also discussed the possible uses for maps in the future, especially with regarding flooding and sanitation. 

The four wards all went from having very basic maps to highly accurate and sophisticated maps of each ward, including information about: roads; buildings; drainage; and key points of interest such as hospitals, religious buildings, hotels, shops.

Maps and data for each of the wards are freely available on the Ramani Huria website, and on OpenStreetMap. It is hoped that the community within the ward (as well as those in the wider international OSM community) will continue to ensure the maps are up to date, ensuring the maps provide the data needed to make planning decisions, especially relating to flood resilience. 

Phase 3 of Ramani Huria’s mapping of Dar es Salaam began on Friday 11^th of September with opening community forums being held in Manzese, Mzimuni, Kigogo and Vingunguti.

Building on the work in other flood-prone wards across the city, Ramani Huria will extend mapping to four additional wards. These wards will be mapped by students from Ardhi University and the University of Dar es Salaam, in collaboration with community members from the respective wards.

The mapping of the wards is expected to take around two weeks and once completed, the data and maps will be presented to the community members in closing forums.