By Vanessa Joy Anacta
The Department hosted a whole-day mapathon for students during "Sipat" (Tagalog: Examine), promoting awareness towards the importance of contributing to the Openstreetmap (OSM) community.
"Sipat" was co-organized with the 2018 Rizal Team Field class and the UP Resilience Institute (UPRI). It was held on March 22, 2019 at Palma Hall Room 104, as part of
Geography Week 2019.
Participants of the full-day mapathon workshops were mainly students of Geography 1 (General Education class), Geography 131 (Geography of the Philippines), and Geography 133 (Geography of the Tropics) classes. The mapathon workshops were mainly on the basics of contributing to OSM.
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| Series of workshops during the whole-day "Sipat" mapathon. Top photo shows Ms. Dinnah Feye Andal and Asst. Prof. Ma. Simeona Martinez facilitating morning sessions. |
Ms. Dinnah Feye Andal, a geography alumna and former senior science research specialist at UP NOAH Center, was the resource speaker of the event. In the morning sessions, Ms. Andal explained the importance of contributing data to OSM, an open and free platform for collaborative mapping with many contributors worldwide.
The usefulness of OSM is recognized by both public and private sectors, epecially in disaster risk reduction and management. During Typhoon Haiyan for example, volunteers from more than 80 countries were involved in collaborative mapping through OSM.
Ms. Andal also facilitated morning workshops through guiding students about tools and best practices in contributing to OSM.
Asst. Prof. Ma. Simeona Martinez led the afternoon workshops with the help of Rizal Team members. Rizal Team members included Jose Mari Espares, Monica May Mendoza, Kyle Vincent Singson, Beatriz Lim, and Christina Angelica Samia.
Ms. Mendoza also introduced the UPRI Youth Mappers, an organization that is actively contributing to the OSM community and conducts mapathons in universities.
Read about the Geography Week 2019 events here:
