2021 was my most productive year in OpenStreetMap mapping. It was all downhill from there due to a variety of factors, highlighted by an abrupt career change that I never anticipated (COVID-19 pandemic did a lot of damage to everyone), and derailed me from my tracks.

Four (4) years since, despite being busier as a government employee with multiple designations, I decided to go back to mapping. I allocate a part of my free time to reacquaint myself with a long-lost love, and continue updating the places that became part of my journey.

Also, I became a father in the last quarter of 2024. To honor my only son, Daniw (an Iloko term for “poem”), who has exhibited a profound interest in exploring the outdoors at four (4) months old as of this writing, I shall be using a new name bearing his name.

Ngawit Aman Daniw means “Ngawit, the Father of Daniw” in Cordilleran lingo.

See our photo here: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2294431287573827&set=a.119524685064509

“Ngawit”, by the way, is my Bontok Igorot name. I was adopted by the community in 2020 together with my life partner, Carla, through a Sangguniang Bayan Resolution. She was given the name, “Khayapon”.

You can read more about this narrative here https://nordis.net/2020/10/04/article/feature/culture-and-lifestyle/filming-their-way-home-to-the-cordillera/?amp

Hello, everyone! I am happy to be back!

On 17 May 2020, I apparently had an invitation from fellow contributor GOwin for an interview in connection with a WeMap session featuring local mappers who, in GOwin’s words, “have been quietly contributing to OSM all these years”. Since I was busy juggling schoolwork and work-related stuff during this stretch of the year, I missed seeing the invite on time, ergo, missed the opportunity to share my story. Also, I just came back to mapping at OSM in November this year when I found out that our internet speeds here in Bontoc have improved a bit (not ideal, but far better than the last five years) to handle in-browser OSM mapping. Moreover, I finally installed JOSM successfully after many failed attempts in the past due to hardware issues. Now, I am adding my changesets using JOSM (still buggy with the most stable version, but working to my mapping needs at the moment nevertheless).

In this blog entry, I’ll share my would-have-been / could-have-been responses to the audio-visual interview that GOwin requested that we do. Of the eight (8) questions, I only managed to answer five (5) of them. The other three (3) were deliberately left unanswered because it felt I lack the experience to answer them substantially. My long absence from OSM also kept me away from updates within the OSM/FOSS4G community. For transparency, I’ll share the unanswered questions.

Here it goes:

… See full entry

After being inactive for a long period, I am back to contributing again to OpenStreetMap. The once-poor Internet infrastructure in my area has hampered my online mapping in the last five (5) years. Fortunately, the connectivity has improved a lot now (albeit intermittent at times, as one would expect in a mountainous terrain that generates its own, unique weather system affecting signal quality). Another factor that discouraged rigorous mapping here in the North is the long absence of updated satellite imagery. Thank mapping gods, we now have updated satellite data. Yey!

Last month, my fiancée and I were chosen as one of the eleven finalists for the first-ever CineTotoo Philippine International Documentary Festival. Our case study will focus much about the Gran Cordillera Central culture. The Bontok society (in Mountain Province) will be the highlight of the documentary fieldwork. The grind is estimated to run for about four months.

The project puts me in a perfect scenario to contribute to the mapping of these areas. In the previous years, I’ve been mapping the towns and villages in the north (in Kalinga). I look forward to extending the work to the south (in Mountain Province).

‘For my beloved hometown’ ang kahulugan ng pamagat. Ang wikang ito ay lokal sa San Carlos, ang bayan ng aking kapanganakan. Ito ang wikang Pangasinan. Mahirap aralin, mahirap ding bigkasin.

Matapos ang maikli ngunit masigasig na pag-eensayo sa in-browser editor na iD, napagpasyahan kong ipokus ang pagpapaunlad ng mapa sa aking lungsod. Bago ko iwan ang Map Maker, dito ko ibinuhos ang mga pinakahuling edits ko. Ngayong nasa OSM na ako, nais kong ipagpatuloy ang naudlot na proyekto.

Hello, OpenStreetMap!

Magdadalawang linggo pa lang ako sa OSM, at kasalukuyang pinag-aaralan ang interface. Medyo nalilito pa, pero kayang-kaya naman.

Sa mga kapwa OSM mappers sa Pilipinas, ako ay nagagalak na mapabilang sa hanay ninyo. Nawa’y magkaroon tayo ng pagkakataon na magkita-kita, magtipun-tipon, at magmapa nang sama-sama.