I have not participated in so many State of the Map conferences, only in two LATAM conferences, the first one being Sao Paulo in 2016, historical for me since the Geochicas were founded on this occasion and the following year in 2017 in Lima. I also participated in a Global conference in Milan (2018).

These conferences have seemed fundamental to me because of the links they generate, strengthen and activate. The OSM universe has a remote reality where in a somewhat miraculous way very strong human bonds of friendship, collaboration, emulation, creation, where it is possible to generate governance issues, where it is possible to build agendas and develop them. However, the face-to-face coexistence brings to this an additional unfailing strength: the friends we make at the State of the Map conferences remain forever. In addition, obviously, we discover themes, ways of impacting reality thanks to collaborative mapping, we update ourselves, we connect with people, companies, institutions and we all grow together.

That powerful sub-communities like Geochicas have emerged stimulated by one of these conferences is telling, Geochicas now being recognized globally for the actions and leadership it builds, and for what it manages to bring to the open technology communities of the geospatial world.

By connecting with people at these conferences, we also build bridges between national and regional communities allowing individuals to bring valuable knowledge in other contexts. I think of my connection with Jorge PB from Cuba, from SOTM Sao Paulo, which has led me to participate in other conferences in Cuba contributing there, I hope, some grain of sand.

From what I remember from the State of the map in Lima, many exchanges around the urban issue of mobility, pedestrian and cyclist accessibility with a gender perspective and also the discovery of an initiative that marked me and that I continue to pursue in other countries: the search for the gradual construction of a national coordination of drone operators (DronePeru) for their immediate, distributed reactivity in case of disaster.

With these memories I want to underline how the State of the Map conferences really succeed in connecting minds, practices, and transferring knowledge, enabling spin-offs, and continuing to build together the main lines of action of the sector surrounding OpenStreetMap.

State of the Map Belém

Being a collaborator of HOT, I voluntarily abstained myself from participating in the organization of the event, seeking to avoid criticism that always comes from individuals in the community, despite my other hats from which I am very active from a personal point of view. I let my colleagues from Geochicas lead the participation of women and the development of inclusive codes in this conference and I only made a few interventions: - A talk presenting HOT’s humanitarian mapping activities in the region and in Rio Grande do Sul, - and the moderation of a panel inviting all the people in the assembly who had mapping experiences with Amazonian communities from all countries to comment on their experience and how they solve the difficulties of digital barriers in these contexts.

I rediscovered the works of fellow community members, updating myself, better understanding other issues that I had not been able to give much thought to, such as Overture, and I even discovered from new angles the works of my own HOT colleagues.

I witnessed with great pleasure a particularly large participation of young people, members or not of the Youthmappers network and also a participation never seen before of women who have been in this case a numerical majority of attendees and participants. It is important to highlight this achievement!!! Among these people I discovered with pleasure new leaderships, strong leaderships! that show their passion towards the theme that unites us. I love it! It gives me back an energy that multiplies my own!!!!

To end on this note, what this LATAM conference in Belém has achieved in my perspective, was to bring together an unprecedented diversity of people, without having forced it, and to demonstrate that the OpenStreetMap community of today, is this same: diverse, with many women and young people, along with people from the old benevolent guard, with constructive presence of the private sector as well (TomTom, Meta, Development Seed), and that makes us want to strive to keep it that way: to continue to bring together the conditions so that people with this level of diversity want to come, can come, feel comfortable to share and also develop the passion that these conferences give us back.

What am I leaving with?

With an even greater conviction of wanting to follow this path of building diversity and building the renewal of the community, this for the very benefit of the map and the impact it has on people’s lives. I leave with new friendships, with great respect for many of the people I met and saw again. In addition to that and feeling appreciated by this community, it gives me even more desire to lead impact projects, to contribute to this map that changes lives, to act creating bridges between reality and data, to continue promoting public policy with data made by the people.