November 2022 was such a pleasant moment because I participated in the State of the Map Asia for the first time. I always wanted to join the SotM in person since 2020 after participating in lightning talk SotM 2020. In 2021, I didn’t have chance to submit my research result because I just finished it on early July. So, I proposed myself as a translation volunteer for Bahasa Indonesia (see SotM 2021).

In 2022, I also planned to join SotM 2022. However, I couldn’t join because I was very busy with my thesis and had to graduate before September 2022. I thought I didn’t have a chance to join any OSM event in 2022 before my friend sent me an Instagram post that Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific was looking for scholars. There were three categories of scholars: community nomination, mapping, and map-making poster. I decided to submit in map-making poster category because I didn’t participate at all in OSM local community in Indonesia since I lived in Taiwan to study, and I didn’t contribute much to OSM in 2022. I created the map-making poster about the quality of road data OSM in Jakarta by comparing the OSM data and local government data (see my poster here). Thank you Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific for this amazing chance!

I arrived in Legazpi City, Philippines on Sunday, November 19, 2022. Mayon Volcano became the first thing that I saw when I landed at Legazpi Airport. The scenery of Mayon Volcano was very beautiful, I didn’t take a proper picture at that moment, but I took a good one when I visited the Cagsawa Ruins on Tuesday (11/22).

State of the Map Asia 2022 was actually different than any SotM Asia events before, as it collaborated with Pista ng Mapa (Festival of Maps), so the conference was quite long, five days in total. But I didn’t complain, because all the presentations and workshops were totally fun!

During the registration, all participants were given the Souvenir Program book. Besides the program overview, the book contains a bucket list of things to do when you visit Legazpi City. Because of the bucket list, my roommate (Thi Ngoc Ahn Le) and I tried the chilli ice cream and rode the tricycle. I didn’t think I would do that if the bucket list didn’t exist (thanks a lot, the volunteers!).

Bucklet List Pista ng Mapa and State of the Map Asia 2022

On the third day, I joined an Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific workshop. The workshop was supposed to be a maphaton, but due to the limited internet connection, it was changed to running-map, that we should finish several missions in each station. Every station has a different task, and the winner will get 1000 PHP.

On the fourth day or the first day of State of the Map Asia 2022, the talks are divided into two parts: in the gym and auditorium. I attended several talks that I was interested in the most, including “OpenStreetMap and Wikidata in Taiwan” by Dennis Raylin Chen, because I never met any local OSM community when I lived in Taiwan, and Moving from Car-centric to People-centric Mapping: Using Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision to Map Sidewalks by Tanapon Lilasathapornkit and Meead Saberi, as I am into the AI for mapping. In the night, there was a Cultural Night, where most people wore their traditional outfits. I wore Songket during the Cultural Night, and I received an award for winning the map-making poster.

On the last day, I presented my poster. I was nervous before the presentation, but glad I did it well. It was my first time presenting with a number of people, and it was great to see the audience’s positive reaction. Also, because everyone in the event knows the OSM, it’s easier to explain the OSM data quality. In the night, Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific invited all the scholars to have dinner, including a farewell party. There were 15 scholars from several countries; we talked a lot while having dinner, and it was so fun to know all of them and be friends.

Thank you very much, Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific, for this pleasure chance!! I got so many new insights about OpenStreetMap, encouraging me to contribute more to it. I hope by reading my OSM diary makes anybody who reads it participate in any OSM event.