A year I was just starting as a volunteer for the CWTS++ program, from answering a question to being accepted in the program. I did not even realize that there is something beyond this before I thought the benefit of it was just the technical of mapping. Surprisingly, I did not even expect what would be coming as I went through with it and imagine representing it to other people.

So I am one of those people that got lucky and been awarded a travel grant to “Pista ng Mapa” a national conference in Dumaguete, Negros. So everything is sponsored and I am thankful for that because I get to experience something new again, this includes air travel and no parental supervision outside of Manila.

One of the workshops that I went to is Data Storytelling with Open Contracting Data. I just had a feeling that’s why I choose this workshop and I can’t to the other workshop ‘cause I already have experience in OpenStreetMap and it was only the introduction of it. So I challenge myself by force and went to the Data Storytelling, even though I don’t have a clear idea of the whole workshop rather than creating a story with the given data. The speakers were journalists and data scientists which amused me about their topic and the talk itself, even though I can’t intake everything they’re talking about. I was grouped with other people which had a lot of experienced specially with politics, academe, and volunteering. They taught me how to filter a whole of data set which was around a thousand plus items, you have to sort it, tally it, analyze and make an interpretation out of all the gathered data to create your own story. Sadly the time was not enough to create the whole data story but it was fun learning at a different level.

The next workshop that I went to is Geo* Data Science with Python. I thought this workshop would be like an introduction to Python but it isn’t, it’s on the intermediate level. I don’t have a background on Python but I have with programming languages. As the workshop continues I realized I already did this kind of work back in one of my past workshops at my school but with HTML and much simpler output. Python was fun and it was easier to use than other computer languages that I had experienced, might learn this soon.

After that I planned to go to an OpenStreetMap Mapathon, the other workshops are unavailable to me because I already went through those ways back at my school and which help me limit my choices. I was excited to map again, the last time I map was around a month and haft ago. We were task to map pedestrian infrastructures. And the mapathon would be the last event of the 1st day of the conference.

The following day was quite exciting and nerve-racking for me because the day has come that I would have to deliver my Lighting Talk in front of an audience for 5 minutes. So I don’t have a heavily scientific basis for my talk it would just be about volunteerism and why do I volunteer and continue with it. I wasn’t confident with what I have to be honest especially with all the amazing talks I had already witnessed. But I also realized that I’m just starting with mapping and only have one year’s experience. I also think that if I have talked in front of people again I would have to feed them with a well-researched talk. So might as well start my thesis in mapping.

Following the lighting talk is one of my favorite workshop which is the “DIY” Imagery Collection for Mapping. There is a drone workshop that excited me, they taught us the hardware of a drone, checking the drone before letting it fly and studying the environment of where it will fly. We even went to the flights to have an actual test of it – there were flight patterns in collecting images and there was a software to control it and a direct controller. After that, we have to process that data which had a high resolution.

The next event would be Geo-ladies Plenary Session. The talks tackle women in mapping – their experiences, how they map, the odds of being a woman in the field and their advocacy in promoting mapping to women and the minority. This is one of my favorite talks at the conference.

Overall my Pista ng Mapa Adventure at Dumaguete was more than fun I say. It was short but the feeling of adventuring while at the same time doing something that you like was the best of it. I realized after the conference that there are many things I still need to improve on and learn as I progress to what work I may do which of course includes mapping and my advocacy for mapping grew over time as I learn more new knowledge about it.

Until the next mapping adventure.