Now that I am home, it is time to tell you about my experience participating in SoTM and FOSS4G in Florence this year, I hope I am not late… It was a big surprise when I received the email saying that I had been selected for the HOT Unsummit travel grant, it was a moment of great euphoria for my family too because I come from a humble and large family, a typical family from the northeast of Brazil, so it was great news to know that I would travel outside of Brazil and that I had my work recognized. My family always encouraged me to study, my mother’s generation did not have much access to school as it is today, in a family of 10 brothers only my mother and two sisters finished high school. But since childhood I liked the area of maps in 2018 with my first cell phone I started to contribute to GMaps with Local Guides and was the stepping stone for me to really start my passion for maps in knowing that I was helping people like me to get around the city better but in 2019 worried about issues of privacy and monopoly of the data that I was producing I started looking for an alternative to GMaps and that’s when I found OSM and I fell in love with an entirely open map and created by the community itself but there was a problem there wasn’t much data in my city and not even in the neighboring cities I started trying to contact city halls looking for open data and finding that there was nothing! Not even if it is digital they still used printed maps from the 80’s was then that I did my first mapping project I went with a clipboard and the printed map collecting the addresses near my house but in a week I gave up because it would be too much work, soon after I started to map the buildings of cities near mine and that were smaller first using the DAMN then changed to the taskmanager and were about more than 20 cities mapped completely, among other projects such as importing schools in the states of Maranhão, Piauí and Tocantins. Most probably you know my work with Data Quality, long before I joined the HOT Data Quality Intership I already edited a lot correcting errors many by MapRoullete Tasks. I believe that all this effort can make me arrive here in Florence and finally be able to meet great idols that I only knew through the internet and some that I had the opportunity to talk through video call and not to mention the new friends that I created and that I will certainly try to keep in touch and although I think I do not do a great job I discovered that yes I am a great mapper in Brazil and that I even have fans hahahhhhaha Participating in SoTM was without a doubt a unique experience in my life and it demonstrates that all the effort I’ve had all this time working as a volunteer to try to bring a good open map to everyone. I had a unique opportunity to learn even more about OpenStreetMap and show a little more of my work, know what is being discussed for the future of OSM and mapping see how the community is really great and welcoming made me feel I was in family and that despite having some differences in the end we are all mappers. Besides a face to face event we have the idea that those people we only meet on the internet are real people and not just profiles on the internet and knowing that these people believe in an open map for everyone is without a doubt something that will always motivate me. Now participating in FOSS4G was a very different experience, I ended up creating new friendships with the other volunteers and I would say that I will take some friendships forever like with my Best Friend. I would like to start by thanking Arnalie for always being there to support everyone and Lorenzo and Anissa for being real leaders and always ready to help with any problem and especially my Best Friend (Ericka) for making my afternoons during FOSS4G more fun. Special thanks to my Mastodon supporters who funded all my costs that I had to prepare and during this trip, thank you very much for believing in my work!

** I ended up losing my backpack at the airport in Paris, along with my incredible collection of Stickers and other souvenirs, if you want to send stickers I’m accepting! **

Highlights

Conhecendo outros Brasileiros

Primeira chuva de granizio da minha vida aconteceu em Florença

Caminho até a local do SoTM.

Apresentação de 10 anos do editor ID

a do Brasil é melhor

Mercado central de Florença

Foto com Matheus Gomes

Foto com Pete Masters

LATAM presente no SoTM22

Voluntarios do SoTM11

Uma taça de vinho durante o icebreak do FOSS4G

Voluntários do FOSS4G The Last Guys