State of the Map Africa 2023/Call for venues/Ethiopia

Welcome to the bid proposal page to host State of the Map Africa 2023, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

SotM Africa 2023 -Addis Ababa vision

In Ethiopia, difficulties are confronted enormously by the growing geospatial sector including public data administration, the address of relevant data, spread out of pertinent information from the data to the right recipient, and utilization of the same information for decision making and policy formulation especially the humanitarian service to displaced people and refugees are sensitive issues. Through State of the Map Africa 2023, OSM Ethiopia aims to bring together OSM communities to Ethiopia to share their experiences and challenges and their achievements in mapping Africa on OpenStreetMap. This will increase OpenStreetMap awareness among individuals in Ethiopia ( and all conference attendees) organizations and the Government of Ethiopia and in the end, utilize the knowledge and skills gained during the conference to help create well-established open data for decision-making platforms for Africa.

Why Addis Ababa?

Addis Ababa (meaning “new flower” in Amharic) is Ethiopia's capital and largest city, Central to the dynamic of rapid economic growth. The city (8.9806° N, 38.7578° E) is situated 2,440 m above sea level on a plateau surrounded by hills and mountains. According to the United Nations population projections, the current metro area population of Addis Ababa in 2022 is around 5,2 million. Addis Ababa is the headquarters of the African Union, plays host to the biannual AU summits, and is a hub for world diplomatic missions. Addis Ababa will be hosting #AfriConAI2022, a hybrid event on AI solutions in Geographical information systems ( GIS) and Africa-related solutions. This is a great opportunity for OSM communities in Africa and the region as It will accelerate the growth of OSM communities. The beautiful view, fresh air, museums, and attractive parks make Addis Ababa distinct. It is also home to mountains, offering the opportunity to properly hike and a good view over Addis with a wide diversity of wildlife. The great Ethiopian run will be hosted in the same month of June.

Who is the SotM Africa Addis Ababa Team?

The Addis Ababa Bid team is composed of OpenStreetMap enthusiasts from OpenStreetMap Ethiopia(OSM Ethiopia) which is embraced by GIS experts, engineers, and softwares programmers. OSM Ethiopia acts as a link to local OSM communities, youthMappers, HOT team, and other organizations. Our team has several OSM contributors, a regional ambassador in YouthMapper, and well-experienced personnel attending and organizing SotM Africa, GeoNight, and other international conferences. Our team members are

1. Biniyam Dele- OpenStreetMap Ethiopia and regional ambassador for youthMappers
2. Yohannes Yehualashet-OpenStreetMap Ethiopia
3. Tadele Dagne - OpenStreetMap Ethiopia and GIS expert
4. Edilawit Ashagre- OpenStreetMap Ethiopia
5. Tsion taye - OpenStreetMap Ethiopia
6. Dembel Bonta - OpenStreetMap Ethiopia and GIS expert
7. Yared - OpenStreetMap Ethiopia
8. Alazar Tekle- OpenStreetMap Ethiopia

You can contact us at omsethiopia{at}gmail.com

When?

We propose June for the conference month as the African Union summit, European Union - African Union summit, and the Great Ethiopian Run will be happening the same month in Addis Ababa. This can help attendees interested in getting leaders and experts in the OpenData sources and GIS. Furthermore, the month is very suitable for its weather to move on across the city.

Where?

We anticipate hosting up to 300 delegates for the SoTMAfrica 2023. Delegates will be brought from the OSM community and across other stakeholder groups (government, civil society, academia, non-governmental organization, technical community, etc.). Addis offers a selection of various and suitable venues for the conference. Our proposed venues are Skylight Hotel( about 1.8km from Bole International Airport; approximately 7 minutes drive with no traffic) and African Union Meeting ( about 8km from Bole International Airport; approximately 16 minutes drive with no traffic). The UN Conference Centre and African Union Conference Hall are available. All these venues have good facilities that have the capacity to host up to about 800 conference participants. A budget quote for one of the venues is enclosed in the budget below.

Transportation

There are various modes of transportation connecting to the city including Air, Road, and Rail transportation.

Air

Ethiopian Airlines is the leading and most profitable airline in Africa. In 2014 IATA ranked Ethiopia as the largest airline in Africa in revenue and profit. Over the past seven decades, Ethiopia has been a pioneer of African aviation as an aircraft technology leader. With International Destinations

• In Africa - 51
• In Europe & the Americas - 17
• In the Middle East & Asia - 25.
• Domestic Destinations - 19

Bus

Addis can be reached via buses, especially by those people coming from and around East Africa with a maximum transport cost of $1. The Public transport system of Addis Ababa comprises The public agency-owned Anbessa bus service. Light vehicles such as mini buses are widely available for short-distance travel destinations. It is also possible to town-hop on light vehicles on some major routes

The main form of intercity public transport in Ethiopia is buses. These can be broken up into three broad categories: luxury buses, ordinary buses, and minibosses. All are very affordable, with ordinary bus fares typically working out to around US$1 per 25–50km, though this does depend a bit on road conditions and the quality of the vehicle. Luxury buses, where they exist, tend to cost around 50–75 per cent more. Ordinary buses are a lot less comfortable and tend to operate on a more haphazard schedule. On busier routes, buses usually leave when full, so you might wait for anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours to get rolling, depending on how busy the route is and how full the bus is when you arrive. This guide includes travel times for most routes, but these are very approximate and journeys are subject to any number of delays.

Train

Addis Ababa boasts Sub-Saharan Africa’s first renewable energy-powered light-rail train and leads a modal shift for urban public transport on the continent. The Light-rail train (LRT), an inner-city tram, can carry up to 60,000 people per hour, and after 10 months of operation, ridership has reached 15,000 passengers per hour in each direction

Around Addis, Other modes of getting yourself around Addis are by Motorbikes, and taxi services such as Ride, Feres, ZayRide, Seregela, and so on.

Accommodation

As a Historic City for tourists, Addis Ababa boasts a wide variety of accommodation offers, from the most modest to the most luxurious, the choice is vast in all districts which offer quality services and wi-fi almost everywhere. Business hotels and serviced residences in the city centre, luxury hotels on the corniche, accommodation, guest houses, and inns at more affordable prices elsewhere, in more popular areas, or near the Meeting hall.

Hotels In Addis Ababa

Budget

The currency in Ethiopia is Birr. The current exchange rate is

1. USD 1 = 51.5678 Birr
2. EURO €1.00= 55.554 Birr
3. POUND STERLING 1=62.2633 Birr

According to the commercial bank of Ethiopia rate as of 30 May 2022.

Item	Quantity	Amount in Birr	Total Amount in USD	Remark
Venue	3days	300,000	5882	Amount in Birr and USD is inclusive of the 3days
Pre-conference marketing		102,000	2000	Marketing the conference will start as soon and up to a few days to the conference
Catering	3days	1000 per person per day	9,000	This is the average.
Scholarships	30	1,300,500	25,500	This number may change depending on the scholarships committee.
Tshirts	300	500 per T-shirt	2945
Banners	3	6460 per banner	380	It includes subjective and all e-banners designs
Stickers	1000	14025	275	Amount Inclusive
Conference Package	300	2000	4500	Including bags, pens, notebooks among others.
Media Coverage (Photography & Videography)	3days	76,500	1500	Amount in Birr and USD is inclusive of the 3days
Social event	1day	400,000	3750	Including Visiting, map Gallery, hiking programs.
Security	3	10,200 per person/3days	500
Volunteers	14	12,750	250	Amount will cover the accommodation and few other expenses for the volunteers.
Miscellaneous		102,000	2000
Total			58,500

Value Proposition

The city offers the African union integrated OSM community and GIS experts service, support in leveraging open geospatial data for humanitarian service, and developing productive partnerships with research institutions to optimize OSM achievements. The participants have also an opportunity to be engaged in humanitarian service in the country through their experience. Indeed several areas are waiting for us to be addressed.

Miscellaneous?

Visa policy for Ethiopia

Visitors to Ethiopia must obtain a visa from one of the Ethiopian diplomatic missions unless they come from one of the visa-exempt countries or countries whose citizens are eligible to apply for an electronic visa or visa on arrival.

See the full list of the various categories here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Ethiopia

Covid-19 requirements for travel to Ethiopia

Fully vaccinated passengers are no longer required to take a COVID-19 test to travel to Ethiopia. The medical certificate must show full vaccination with an approved vaccine, at least 14 days before arrival. See more details on COVID-19 policies for entering Ethiopia https://www.ethiopiaonlinevisa.com/covid-19-pcr-test/

Internet Connection

Ethio telecom has been a pioneer telecom service provider in Africa and Ethiopia. It has been introducing the latest technologies to support the socio-economic development of Ethiopia. The fifth-generation network (5G) characterized by the fastest speed has been launched in Addis Ababa.

Language

Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia and Addis Ababa. English is the most widely spoken foreign language in the country.