Last September 21-23, the international conference State of the Map was held in the city of Heidelberg, in the southwest of Germany. This annual OpenStreetMap gathering attracted nearly 600 participants from around the world.

I want to start by thanking the OpenStreetMap Foundation for their support to attend the event. Their scholar program allowed many OSM collaborators to come from several continents, including me.

As this was my first OSM conference, I didn’t know much to expect. And I was pleasantly impressed by what I saw. To begin with, the good organization of activities in the facilities of the University of Heidelberg, a public center that hosted oustandigly the event.

A diverse program resulted in the challenge of choosing which presentation to attend and then quickly moving to the next’s presentation room. Wow, what a workout I had. A few topics called my attention: public transport, green spaces and automation of processes supported by artificial intelligence..

The people who participate are a key element in the success of the event. In general I found friendly and accessible people. I even had longer conversations with some of them. Here I am with Fernando, my colleague from Colombia, one of the few Latin American representatives present.

One of the announcements of the closing of the event was the selection of the next international edition: Cape Town, South Africa 2020 !

Among the dense program of the event, I took time to visit the city of Heidelberg, a pleasant place that maintains a picturesque old center and is located in a privileged location.

I managed to visit the statue that inspired the image of the event: a monkey that brings good luck.