It was a big surprise when I received a mail that mentioned I would be presenting at State of The Map Asia 2022, my first-ever International Conference. The moment became more exciting when Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific sponsored us to visit Legazpi, Philippines, and present our work in person. Ever since I started contributing to OpenStreetMap around 5 years ago, this was the first time, I had been a part of such a great event. I thought all the hard work and perseverance had finally paid off.

Due to General Election in Nepal, we missed the first two days of Pista NG Mapa but were able to attend all the sessions of SOTM Asia, 2022. Since it was my first international flight, it was a whole new experience and excitement when I reached Legazpi City on 22th Nov. Mount Mayon covered under the cloud was there to welcome us to this beautiful land where we were about to meet OSM enthusiasts around Asia and spend the most exciting five days of my life.

We were in a completely new place, with new people and yet we felt at home because of the way they talked with each other I felt we were like-minded, talking similar things that made me feel much better and comfortable.

Looking back at SOTM Asia 2022, there are many reasons that have made this event memorable for me. One of the many reasons is that I got a chance to meet to many people who have been contributing a lot to OSM in person. I got a chance to talk and listen to them about what they have been doing lately and their future plans to contribute to OSM. I also got a chance to spend a day with all of them at ATV. Doing this was a fun part.

On the first day of the SOTM Asia 2022, I had a presentation on our project “Mapping Communities POI Using Mapillary and OSM” with my friend Rabi Shrestha. Since it was our first time presenting in front of an international audience, we were quite nervous and at the same time excited to show our work to a large audience. We were happy to see our presentation being liked by the people and also being asked to say some words on our motivation to map in OpenStreetMap.

I also had two sessions on the second day, The first was a presentation on “MAPPING HITI (Water Spouts) AND STREET NAMING IN OSM: LALITPUR METROPOLITAN CITY” and the second was a panel discussion on “Voices of YouthMappers” along with Feye Andal and Rabi Shrestha. There were so many youthmappers attending the session, addressing how youthmappers have been helping them to create a sustainable mapping ecosystem in their university, the challenges they have been facing at present, and what could be the priority areas that youthmappers can work on.

Apart from my presentation, I loved listening to the work many people have been doing at OSM. Some of the workshop sessions and presentations that I liked during the events are:

• Moving towards OSM data usage – OSM hackfest and way forward - Nirab Pudasaini, Nirman Khadka, Asim Bhadra, Prakash Ghimire, Pawan Bista

• Tasking Manager: Needs Assessment - Ramya Ragupathy

• Using Drones DRONEBIRDs ARE GO!!! - Taichi Furuhashi

• Application of OpenStreetMap and Geo Spatial Techniques in Disaster Exposure Mapping: Attanagalu Oya River Basin in Sri Lanka - S. Suthakaran

• And many more…

At last, I am honored to be a part of this great event SOTM Asia 2022. I would like to thank the organizing committee and Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific for providing me this wonderful opportunity to meet mapping enthusiasts, students, different youthmappers chapters, volunteers, and presenters and see their effort to maintain an open mapping ecosystem and emphasizing the use of open data in today’s world.