The Proud Moment as a Bangladeshi

My excitement was extremely high since I had come to know that this year’s State of the Map Asia would take place in the beautiful setting of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh for the very first time. SotM Asia 2024 had let us acquaint the people from all over Asia with our country’s culture, heritage, natural beauty, and the tradition of hospitality. The co-events – State of the Map Bangladesh, YouthMappers Bangladesh Summit, HOT Open Summit – surely added extra colours to the main event. I was eager to witness this proud moment being present at the conference doing any sort of adjustments needed to my existing schedule.

The Uncertainty & Risks

As my final exams coincided with the event, my participation became uncertain. But as I mentioned before, my willingness to make adjustments to my schedule and comfort made my participation happen somehow. As a result, I could ensure my presence only on the second day of the event – 1 December 2024. I started my journey from Dhaka on 30 November night as I had an exam on that day and reached Cox’s Bazar very early next morning. Then, I attended the conference for the whole day and again left for Dhaka in the evening of the same day. Upon reaching Dhaka on 2 December morning, I again sat for another exam. That is how my trip was designed with so much risks as I was not ready to miss this historic event!

All the Hassle Was Worth It

The struggle I embraced for the sake of SotM Asia 2024 was worth it. I enjoyed my whole time there. I could connect with many new people and meet many people in-person whom we only knew via online till the conference. I loved the souvenirs from the event. I was happy to present my general talk titled ‘OSM Data: A Tool for the Monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Realization’ to the audience. Many members from our YouthMappers chapter – YouthMappers University of Dhaka – attended the conference with great enthusiasm and it was nice meeting them outside the regular chapter activities.

Being part of the ‘Open Mapping Guru’ project, I was lucky to end the day having dinner with other open mapping gurus attended the SotM Asia and the honourable representatives from the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team – Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific. But unfortunately, I could not spend much time in our beautiful beach which was not the prime concern this time though.

Gratitude

I appreciate the ceaseless efforts of the organizers and volunteers for pulling off such an incredible and seamless conference in Bangladesh. My heartfelt thanks go to all the participants and sponsors from home and abroad for making this event a grand success through their valuable contribution. The exemption from registration fee for the speakers and the scholarship in the accommodation category facilitated my participation a great deal. I am grateful for that.

I am looking forward to having more amazing experiences like this in future. Long live State of the Map Asia! Long live Bangladesh!

~ Marzia Hossain Jamila