Tanzania Flying Labs Newsletter 2019

1. Newsletter Q3 2019
New STEAMBOTS Program
Drone Data Analysis
Course
Here is a tip for all trainers who intend to introduce new technology
to young students: give them control and get out of the way. We
are not trying to be facetious. Time and again we’ve recognized
how sophisticated and tech-savvy the current generation of youth
is, requiring only a brief tutorial and they are ready to go. Having
learned this valuable lesson, we are introducing a new Science,
Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM)
program called STEAMB TS. Our first session was held last week
with our new partners from Projektinspire with students from
various backgrounds and a particular focus on girls. The tech
industry is primarily a male domain even though plenty of evidence
has proven women have contributed significantly to science and
technology throughout history. Women have been incessantly
discriminated against overtly and subtly to avoid such careers.
Hosted in Dar es Salaam, the event had two stages. First, an
introduction to the central theme of nature conservation in marine
protected areas where the students made origami of various
aquatic animals. Then the second segment introduced the students
to drones and how to pilot them safely over an area of interest. We
must prepare our children for the fourth industrial revolution, where
increased automation will require a more highly skilled labor force.
Christine, in the first photo above, is a brilliant student who already
possesses high social intelligence, and if given the right exposure
and skills will proposer in this new age. We intend to scale-up
STEAMB TS and reach kids in limited-resource settings around
the country. Your support in any form is warmly welcome.
The facilitation of our own data course and STEAMB TS for
the first time generated good press and positive reputation for
TFL. HDIF has pledged to support the latter in the near future
Drone Data Analysis
Course.Tanzania Flying Labs
facilitated this training for
students and professionals in
GIS-related fields between 29th
July and 16th August. This
course also catered to individuals
in organizations which are
seeking to incorporate Geo-
spatial competence to meet their
objectives such as think tanks.
The ability to properly interpret
drone data and GIS skills are
becoming more important as we
enter the 4th industrial revolution.
Significant contributions of such
data towards informing policy and
achieving the SDGs can only be
realized if there is adequate Geo-
spatial literacy to accurately
interpret actionable data
products. As such, we organized
two training sessions, one in Dar
Es Salaam and another one in
Arusha. The participants of
training in Dar Es Salaam
included Ardhi University and
Ifakara Health Institute. And for
the training in Arusha, we trained
members of the Nelson Mandela
African Institute of Science and
Technology and members of the
Kenya Flying Labs. There were
22 participants in total. All
participants were greatly satisfied
with our methods of instruction.
Key Achievement

2. Newsletter April, 2019
Drone Mapping Training
Drone Mapping Training in Mnazi-
Bay Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park,
Mtwara: The Drone and Data
Training in Mtwara, Tanzania was
held from August 26th to August
30th. There were 17 participants from
different organizations with varying
experience in drone mapping.
Participants ranged from community
representatives, local park officers,
Mtwara municipal Fishery officers to
representatives from World Wildlife
Fund (WWF), Tanzania. The training
was divided into three core sections:
theory, hands-on flying, and an
actual full-on pilot project. The first
section aimed at educating the
participants on the kinds of drone
data that can be collected and the
related works that have been done
so far in Tanzania. Then came the
practical session where participants
learned how to fly drones by actually
flying a quadcopter both manually
and semi-autonomously. This
session also included flight planning,
collecting and processing drone data
and finally generating data analytics.
Finally, with the new-found
knowledge, the participants mapped
out the mangroves in the nearby
MBREMP area. Everything from flight
planning to collecting data and
processing were done solely by the
participants.
On-going projects
Photo Gallery
tanzania@flyinglabs.org
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Decreasing mortality and increasing food
production by using Anti-Malaria Drones in
Tanzanian rice agro-ecosystems
Poverty Mapping w/Drones proposal with
REPOA
Drone Data Analysis Course
STEAMB TS Program
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3. Newsletter May 2019
Projects Projects and trainings
Topographic Survey for Solar Power Plant in Kahama.
The client is in-country and Tanzania Flying Labs is awaiting
project approval from the Energy and Water Utilities
Regulatory Authority (EWURA) to proceed with mapping for
the moment. Our client, a company from the UK in Tanzania
is putting together mini-solar power plant for the local
community in Kahama. They are planning to build more than
10 installations in the future. Thus, we also envisage to
incubate new companies who can participate in their solar
power installations projects using drones for mapping and
surveying to make sure the power plants work properly.
Land Management Pilot: Participatory mapping exercise
in Meatu District. This was after collecting the data last year
and this year, we brought back the data to the local
community. We traced eleven farms- eleven households- 55
people. The objective of this exercise was to trial and fine-
tune a methodology for mapping farms rapidly and
accurately using drone data. This was a dress rehearsal for
phase 2 which is now in the hands of the ESRF and the
Meatu District Council. As a side benefit, since it was done in
a participatory manner, it will help eliminate land conflict in
the local community.
Key Achievement
The participatory mapping exercise in Simiyu Region was a
success. We were able to take drone data which was
collected last year back to the community and prove how it
could be useful in improving their land rights
The drone training course in Zambia will open new doors and
strengthen regional integration in robotics
Decreasing mortality and
increasing food production by
using Anti-Malaria Drones in
Tanzanian rice agro-
ecosystems. It is two-fold project
in the sense that it’s about ending
hunger and improving the health
of farmers. The idea is that less
rate of disease would lead to
more production, hence less
hunger and higher income. We
will manage the trial of AMDs in
Tanzania and organize a training
workshop for Tanzanian pilots to
learn how to fly the same drone.
DJI will be directly engaged in
this project.
Lusaka City Council Drone
Training Course. Zambia has
initiated a land titling program.
Lusaka City Council has
requested to update the valuation
roll through application of drone
mapping. Tanzania Flying Labs
facilitated a 5-day drone mapping
course which included students
from the University of Zambia
and members of the new Zambia
Flying Labs.
Zanzibar Malaria and
Elimination Program (ZAMEP)
Drone Training Course. ZAMEP
staff were trained to fly drones
and map mosquito breeding sites
using GIS software. This training
was offered in partnership with
Aberystwyth University from
Wales.

4. Newsletter April, 2019
Other activities
Country Environmental
Analysis Workshop: Meeting
with the Minister of Environment
to demonstrate how geospatial
data can contribute towards
environmental protection
Lake Victoria Challenge
Organizing Committee Working
Meeting and Unmanned Aircraft
Traffic Management Systems
Workshop: Tanzania Flying labs
attended this meeting in Mwanza
as part of the LVC organizing
committee
REPOA Annual Conference on
local economic development:
This year’s focus was on frugal
innovation and TFL was there to
add a voice and promote jobs for
the youth in the drone ecosystem
Introduction to LiDAR and
comparison to photogrammetry
at the World Bank
(https://bit.ly/2LMY3Ij): A Dutch
company given a job by the World
Bank and TFL was asked to
demonstrate and show the results
of using LiDAR in flood resilience
mapping and effort. The
presentation lasted for half a day
Upcoming projects and
training
Photo Gallery
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A spatial analysis of land conflicts between
farmers and herders in Morogoro Region
Drone data interpretation course, Dar es
Salaam, July 2019
Ghati Marwa of Tanzania Flying Labs leading a training on drone data
analysis in Zambia
Yussuf of Tanzania Flying Labs with the participants of a
training in Zambia

5. Newsletter April 2019
Project: Use of Drones for Land Survey and
Mapping
Training: ZAMEP Drone
Training
Zanzibar’s vision is to have no
locally-acquired malaria cases.
One of the challenges is to
manage the water bodies where
malaria mosquitos breed. Having
spatial records will help the
Zanzibar Malaria Elimination
program (ZAMEP) team and
partners move a huge step
towards malaria elimination on the
island. ZAMEP is now exploring
the use of drones towards malaria
elimination efforts. The training
took place at the State University
of Zanzibar and a case study for
data collection will take place in
rice paddies nearby. The
participants sequentially studied
the mapping workflow from mission
planning, data acquisition, data
processing, and analysis.
The Use of Drones for Land Survey and Mapping for
Improving Livestock Grazing and Farming: Participatory
mapping in Simiyu Region
Drone data was used to try new innovative ways of identifying
and demarcating farms with the local community using drone
data. This was our second visit to this area after mapping the
entire village with drones last year. We initiated a pilot study to
1) understand how drone data can add value to existing
methods of data collection and management; 2) determine the
cost of drone data collection; 3) determine what additional
value drone data can contribute; and 4) to determine where the
challenges lie, both in acquiring drone data for land
management applications and in combining it with other data
sources. This time around we brought a high-resolution base
map created from the drone data and asked 10 random
households, to trace their farms. It was amazing to see the
immediate recognition of their property considering the area
was semi-arid with very few visual markers when we initially
collected the data. What was equally revealing was the mutual
recognition of boundaries amongst the local community. All the
farms were positively identified and nine out of the ten farms
were correctly traced. It is prudent to conduct such exercises in
the shortest time possible after data acquisition, as
recommended by Its4Land in this report: https://bit.ly/2Y1fp5C.
Follow this link to view the web maps: https://arcg.is/0eejC
Key Achievement
Alignment with the Tanzanian government and local
community stakeholders on the objectives of the Simiyu Land
Management Pilot through the participatory mapping exercise
conducted in Meatu District.

6. Newsletter April, 2019
Other activities
Strategy workshop with
WeRobotics in Dar es Salaam: We
developed a 6-month activity plan, a
new value proposition, vision and
mission for TFL.
REPOA Annual Conference on
local economic development: TFL
participated in this conference that
was organized between 9th and 12th
April. The focus of the conference
was on frugal innovation. TFL was
there to add a voice and promote
jobs for the youth in the drone
ecosystem.
And other activities that Tanzania
Flying Labs participated include
Msimbazi Topographical Survey
Results Workshop and
Introduction to LiDAR and
comparison to photogrammetry at
the World Bank.
Upcoming projects and
training
Topographic Survey for Solar Power Plant
in Kahama.
Drone training course in Lusaka, Zambia.
Photo Gallery
Citizens of Ng’hoboko Village assisting us
and each other to identify their farms
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TFL team with local community in
Simiyu Region