Of being a part of the OSM-PH community

Last September 2020, the OSM-Philippines community released the Call to Correct Narratives about Geospatial Work [in the Philippines]. We’re provided with an opportunity to share our own narratives and showcase the local community’s initiatives through a documentary-video produced by Amazon Web Services – Philippines.

I am especially thankful for the chance given to me by the local community to represent YouthMappers and to share my journey as a volunteer for OSM-Philippines in this documentary-video. My interest and passion for OSM and open mapping rose out of my deep admiration over my co-volunteers in OSM-PH, who have immeasurable passion for open mapping and for serving the local communities. My active engagement in this community has given me a lot of opportunities to meet other people and to learn something new every day. It has also helped me hone my technical knowledge and skills in mapping, gain my confidence and build my credibility to make a good impact to the community, and direct me towards the consciousness of building a quality data to OSM.

Years after initially being a part of the local community, I realized that 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. I am glad that I am surrounded by people who care deeply about their work and service to the community and challenge me to be the best that I could be.

Through the OSM-PH community, I am humbly reminded of the importance of community and of coming together to serve the communities in any way possible. I know, for sure, that this is what binds the OSM-PH community together and stronger -- something that cannot be taken away from us.

I hope that we are able to inspire other local OSM and geospatial communities to capture what is really happening on the ground and to share their own narratives through their lenses.