Concept Note
"Pista ng Mapa" (Filipino for "Festival of Maps")
Pista ng Mapa is a non-profit outreach event to encourage public participation, promote the use of open (geo) data, free software, and related technologies. It aims to gather together contributors, enthusiasts and users in the public and private sector (community, government, academe, corporate, individuals, etc.), highlight achievements, and foster the growth of hyper-local communities outside the capital region.
How would you like to participate in PnM20?
The capital region, Metro Manila is host to numerous geo/mappy-related events throughout the year but the rest of the Philippines rarely host any, except for the occasional seminar or workshops intended for targetted groups through project-based initiatives of various organizations.
In 2019 August, the inaugural Pista ng Mapa (aka PnM19) was held in Dumaguete City in Central Visayas, with Foundation University as venue sponsor, and attracted 166 participants from various parts of the country.
For more details, check out https://pistangmapa.github.io/2019/.
Through various presentations, workshops, and hands-on activities attendees of the conference can have a better understanding of how the local open mapping communities work together for the common good, while acquiring new technical digital skills and techniques, and getting acquainted with national and regional contacts to help expand their reach and networks.
Open Data is a global movement to make the information and representations of our world much more shared and accessible. Often the focus is on the release of data held by government for use by all citizens. OpenStreetMap take it further by allowing anyone to contribute to Open Data.
The data created from these activities are not limited for use in disaster preparedness and response, but also for other efforts: humanitarian aid, community development missions, conservation, cultural projects, academic research, local development, and many other purposes - this is possible by the free and open license that governs the data created on OpenStreetMap.
This year, we are planning for 200-250 participants and seek for the same loving-kindness and energy that made PnM19 happen, and hope to reach out to more people, and organizations who wants to invest in, and leverage the power of diverse peoples in participatory activities for greater access to Free and Open (geo) data.
For our supporters, we hope that through this event, they can reaffirm themselves as a champion and community pillar for bringing open (geo)data and free software to the local community of enthusiasts, users, and field practitioners. That through our collaboration, it could lead to more novel applications, and wider understanding of how spatial data is relevant to other academic fields of study, outside the domain of “maps” and “technology”.
We strive to spark the interest of new users, reignite the passion of current contributors, and help nascent local communities grow, where skills and local expertise can be developed or further enhanced.
Currently, our committed working group of volunteers are coordinating within our network of communities and contacts, preparing workshop programs. Our participants and volunteers come from a cross of multi-sectorial, inter-disciplinary groups:
- Local Communities - OpenStreetMap, OSGeo/FOSS4G, and map-py friends and allies
- Developmental NGOs - The Asian Foundation, The Foundation for Economic Freedom
- Transportation and Mobility - advocates
- I.T./Civic Tech User Groups- advocates
Many of our core volunteers has led, organized, or volunteered for major and minor conferences in the recent past.
The largest international conference so far, was the annual regional conference State of the Map Asia in 2016, hosted by the local OpenStreetMap community that drew in 186 participants and representatives from 21 countries, 15 of which are from Asia. Pista ng Mapa, in fact, is inspired by the said conference, and had been in the minds of the organizers since then, but localized for the specific needs of prospective participants.
We have volunteers who are part of the core group of leader-organizers of the annual FOSS4G-PH events in UP Diliman, Quezon City.
Some of us are facilitators/organizers of smaller local mapping workshops and events in various parts of the country, but often in Metro Manila.