I've spent the last few years quietly integrating AI into how I write, code, and map — and the more useful it becomes, the more I find myself asking what I'm at risk of losing. I don't have clean answers, but I'm trying to stay awake to the parts of this work that are still, stubbornly, human.

Can I Be Honest About AI for a Minute?

2025 was a year of alignment—full of meaningful work, growing communities, and steady progress across research, mapping, and systems-building. It was also a year of movement, travel, and personal indulgence, where I learned to slow down, savor good food, and make space for relationships. More than milestones, I’m grateful for how grounded the year felt.

10 Things I’m Grateful for in 2025

Hosting State of the Map 2025 in the Philippines was both exhausting and deeply rewarding — a reminder of how far our local mapping community has come and how much heart it brings to the global stage. Despite the long hours and heavy coordination, seeing everything come together and hearing everyone’s positive stories made it all worth it.

Hosting State of the Map 2025 in Manila: What a journey it has been! 🌏🇵🇭

Our visit to Naga City were a journey of learning, sharing, and connection. We capacitated local stakeholders on flooding, introduced NOAH tools, and received valuable feedback—especially on how Typhoon Kristine’s rainfall exceeded even our "worst-case" flood models. The trip was made even more memorable by meeting dedicated locals like "Mr. Typhoon" and ending with a surreal, inspiring encounter with Hon. Leni Robredo.

NOAH's Visit to Naga City: Learning, Sharing, and Inspiring Encounters

In places where data on critical infrastructure is hard to access, street-level imagery offers a low-cost and verifiable alternative. By building on tools like Mapillary, we explore how visual cues, like school signs or facility names, can support disaster resilience through open, community-led data collection.

Open Mapping in Baguio City: Field Notes from the Road

I had the honor of representing the 2024 Rising Stars at the first-ever Geospatial World Forum Rising Stars Summit, sharing the story of our work in open mapping and being reminded that leadership is about inspiring others and serving our communities.

Stories That Shine: Speaking at the Geospatial World Forum’s Rising Stars Summit

Our two-day UPRI YouthMappers x TomTom mapping party focused on adding missing speed limits to OpenStreetMap, with 20 participants contributing 399 updated highways using Mapillary and KartaView. We discovered gaps in speed limit data near toll exits, gas stations, and U-turn slots, encountered funny AI misdetections, and enjoyed a fresh perspective on mapping beyond roads and buildings.

Mapping Speed Limits with YouthMappers and TomTom: A Fun and Refreshing Experience

The Social Good Summit 2024 provided insightful discussions on tech, AI, and governance, highlighting the growing importance of education, open data, and inclusive urban development. Key takeaways included reflections on content creation, placemaking, and hearing from inspiring leaders like Mayor Joy Belmonte, whose programs are making tangible impacts in Quezon City.

Reflections and Takeaways from the Social Good Summit 2024: Education, Tech, and Liveable Cities

UPRI-NOAH Center has been selected as one of the four winners of the PREP Innovation Challenge by WFP and USAID. Our Impact-Based Flood Forecasting project, developed in partnership with Weather Manila, integrates scientific data with community flood reports to provide advanced flood warnings and strengthen disaster resilience in vulnerable communities.

Winning the WFP-USAID PREP Innovation Challenge -- We're beyond grateful!

Attending the Indo-Pacific Forum in Fiji was a surreal and deeply rewarding experience, where I shared my work with an international audience and connected with representatives from multiple countries. The support from the organizers, who sponsored my travel for a 25-minute talk, was humbling and underscored the value of our geospatial contributions. This experience reaffirmed the importance of our work and the power of sharing it on regional platforms.

Surreal Moments in Fiji: Presenting YouthMappers at the Indo-Pacific Forum

As a team at the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute YouthMappers (UPRIYM), we recently embarked on a new and exciting endeavor: collecting urban heat data. Our fieldwork revealed several practical challenges and solutions that will guide future urban heat data collection efforts. Learn more on this blog post.

Exploring Urban Heat: Our First Field Experience at UPRIYM

Attending the Geospatial World Forum was an enriching experience, highlighted by receiving the 50 Rising Stars certificate and participating in panels on engaging Gen-Zs and DE&I. I am deeply grateful to the communities that have supported and shaped my journey, making this milestone possible.

I am a Rising Star: Reflections from the Geospatial World Forum

Ever wonder why the ratio of beginners and intermediate/advanced mappers is significant in OSM? Let us unpack this intriguing question by navigating my experiences launching the first-ever Regional Validation Hub Philippine Camp.

Advancing to Validation Stages in OSM – Challenges and Opportunities from the Regional Validation Hub: Philippine Camp

During Open Data Day 2024, we, the UP Resilience Institute YouthMappers (UPRIYM) started collaborating with Tiklop Society of the Philippines (TSP) to engage biking communities in open mapping initiatives for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

A Recap of #OpenDataDay2024: Launching #PedalMap

Dr. Brent McCusker and I hosted a 2-leg Participatory GIS workshop for the local chapters in the Philippines based in Metro Manila -- FEU Alabang, FEU Tech, Adamson University, and UPRI YouthMappers.

YouthMappers hosts Participatory GIS Workshop in Manila, Philippines

November 2023 was a month of profound experiences as I traversed through three exceptional conferences in Asia, each leaving a lasting impression on my journey in the open mapping community.

November to Remember: Celebrating my 10th Year Anniversary in OSM through Open Mapping Conferences

I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with four universities in Leyte on a special YouthMappers UpSkilling Series workshop. Each leg of this series was like a unique chapter in a mapmaking story, with a common goal: to help build more mappers in the community.

YouthMappers UpSkilling Series heads to Leyte!

With a clear and simple goal in mind - to enhance Mapillary's coverage in the Philippines - I started on an exciting journey equipped with my newly acquired Insta360 camera. My destination was the quiet streets of Leyte, where I was scheduled to conduct a YouthMappers UpSkilling Series across four universities. Check out my Mapillary story in Leyte.

Testing Insta360 for Mapillary Captures in Leyte, Philippines

In case you missed the memo, I’m thrilled to introduce a game-changer as part of my role as a Regional Ambassador for Technical Support – the YouthMappers Asia UpSkilling Series!

Elevating Skills in Asia: Introducing the YouthMappers UpSkilling Series

Hey there, fellow data enthusiasts! If you are eager to explore and utilize recently released data from Overture Maps but feel a bit overwhelmed by the process, this blog post will walk you through the steps to access and work with this exciting dataset.

Accessing Overture Maps' Global Dataset using Athena (AWS)

Embarking on my first State of the Map US (SoTMUS) experience in Richmond, Virginia, was a dream come true. This year, with financial support through a travel grant, I eagerly delved into the realm of open mapping communities from the US.

State of the Map US in Richmond, Virginia: Finding my place in an unfamiliar landscape

As a dedicated community volunteer, I recently had the opportunity to attend the annual FOSS4G conference held in the beautiful city of Prizren in Kosovo.

FOSS4G in Kosovo: Breaking Barriers, Connecting Communities, and Overcoming Hurdles

Last 13-14 May 2023 marked a significant milestone in my career as I had the privilege to facilitate a youth-led community flood mapping workshop in Barangay 598, Santa Mesa, Manila..

Facilitating a Youth-Led Community Flood Mapping Workshop for a YSEALI Project

The YouthMappers network competitively selected university students from chapters worldwide to participate in the 2023 YouthMappers Leadership Fellows Summit held in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Undergraduate and graduate students from a recognized YouthMappers chapter were chosen based on their demonstrated leadership potential, technical abilities in open mapping, and strong communication skills.

Participating as a Navigator in the YouthMappers Leadership Summit in Jamaica – Reliving the memories

On February 18, 2023, I organized an online get-together for all local chapters of YouthMappers in the Philippines. The Filipino YouthMappers community has grown over the years, so gathering them together helps nurture our community and creates a sense of belonging in the network. Also, part of this event is to collectively create a social impact to the communities in Turkey and Syria affected by the massive earthquake last February 6, 2023.

Filipino YouthMappers for Turkey and Syria Disaster Response

As an OSM volunteer, I know the significance of assisting communities during these critical times. Through YouthMappers, we supported the disaster activation efforts of Yer Cizenler by conducting regular mapathons.

Mapping for Turkey and Syria – what is it like?

I am highlighting the significant contributions of the local chapters of YouthMappers in the OSM community in 2022 and a short reflection about the impacts of YouthMappers in a local context.

Filipino YouthMappers: The leaders of TODAY in the local OSM community

I co-organized the annual Pista ng Mapa and State of the Map Asia 2022 in Legazpi, Albay last 21-25, 2022.

Pista ng Mapa and State of the Map Asia 2022: It was all about chemistry and teamwork

I attended the annual State of the Map (SoTM) and Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) 2022 in Florence, Italy, last 19-28, 2022 to represent YouthMappers and the Philippines.

When the stars align: My SoTM2022 and FOSS4G2022 story

I just gave my first commencement speech at my alma matter - FEU Roosevelt - Marikina (formerly Roosevelt College Marikina) last 21 July 2022.

A commencement speech for Class of 2022 - FEU Roosevelt Marikina

The OpenStreetMap-Philippines community hosted its first face-to-face mapathon since the pandemic began.

OSM-Philippines holds face-to-face mapathon after two years

This year, we celebrate International Women’s Day with the theme #BreaktheBias. As women continue to face challenges in society, Arnalie Vicario discusses how we can change perceptions and challenge the conversation forward to create positive and social change on mapping.

International Women's Day 2022: #BreakTheBiasedMap

Senior high school students from the Philippine Science High School - Bicol Region Campus, Carlo Mañago and Rhoanne Miranda, pursue community mapping using OpenStreetMap (OSM) as part of their Science Immersion program.

How PSHS-Bicol Students Pursue Community Mapping for their Science Immersion Program

My first year as a Regional Ambassador for YouthMappers has concluded!

YouthMappers Regional Ambassador - 2021 Year in Review

The NOAH-WebGIS Team is currently in the process of revamping the NOAH website. We are excited to release it very very soon!

NOAH Revamp is coming soon!

The need for serving the communities through providing them with accurate and updated data still matters, but the joy of working with the people we meet help sustain us (volunteers) in continuing our volunteer efforts.

Awards

🏆 YouthMappers Best Blog of 2026, YouthMappers

🏆 Gawad Pangulo 2025 (Natatanging Organisasyong Pangmag-aaral), University of the Philippines System

🏆 2025 Ignacio B. Gimenez Excellence Award, Parangal sa Samahang Mag-aaral

🏆 WFP-USAID PREP Innovation Challenge Winner, WFP-USAID

🏆 YouthMappers Best Blog of 2024, YouthMappers and USAID GeoCenter

🏆 Leader of the Year - Philippines, Open Mapping Women Awards 2024 (Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team)

🏆 50 Rising Stars - 2024, Geospatial World

🏆 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Champion, State of the Map Asia 2023