From the day I heard about the program, I was eager to participate in this international conference in my homeland. The venue, Cox’s Bazar, was another triggering factor of enthusiasm for me. Moreover, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to participate in a State of the Map Asia conference.

Though I come from a coastal area of Bangladesh, I have never been to the Cox’s Bazar. So. the excitement to journey with my fellow chapter members was beyond description. Though I attended only one day of the conference, the day was full of gaining knowledge and experience and making new connections. Many types of people were at the conference, ranging from students to experts and specialists in different sectors.

The knowledge I gained in this short time opened my eyes. It taught me that the map we create isn’t only used for humanitarian purposes but also many other reasons. The talks, speeches, presentations, open discussions, and workshops of both offline and online participants were all valuable for the whole open data community.

The experience of this annual conference of the Asian community will always be with me. Besides this, the culture and nature of the historic city of Cox’s Bazar will be remembered by me. Like the long stretch of the Cox’s Bazar sea beach, I realised how vast the horizon is of this movement.

This conference gave me a great chance to make valuable networks with like-minded mappers from inside and outside of Bangladesh. These people have diverse backgrounds and contribute to and use the data for many purposes. These networks will help me in the future and will also help our chapter of YouthMappers to collaborate in the future.

I also had the chance to give a short talk at the event about ‘How to Print an OSM Map.’ Mainly targeting the newbies, I tried to give the Lightning talk on how to do it and how many ways the map can be downloaded. It boosted my confidence and inspired me to participate in these types of conferences in the future.

A heartfelt thanks to the organizers, volunteers, and sponsors for this fantastic event. This conference was really an eye-opener for me. After this program, I knew that many people use the data we put in the system for many purposes, for the betterment of human life.