---
description: Concise prospectus for public use
tags: 2019, MapAmore, PistaNgMapa
---

# Pista ng Mapa - Prospectus
>"Pista ng Mapa" (Filipino for Festival of Maps)

Pista ng Mapa is an outreach activity envisioned to become a regular (annual or bi-annual) event to generate public interest, and promote the use of open (geo) data and free software, gather enthusiasts and users (community, government, academe, corporate, etc.) in the public and private sector, and grow local communities outside Metro Manila.

### Rationale

Metro Manila has been hosting numerous geo/mappy-related events but the rest of the Philippines has never had any significant conferences in the last several years, except for workshops intended for smaller communities through project-based initiatives of various organizations.
Through various presentations, workshops, and hands-on activities attendees of the conference can understand how the local open mapping communities work together for the common good, while acquiring new technical digital skills and techniques, and getting acquainted with national and regional contacts to help expand their reach and networks.
Open Data is a global movement to make the information and representations of our world much more shared and accessible. Often the focus is on the release of data held by government for use by all citizens. OpenStreetMap take it further by allowing anyone to contribute to Open Data.
The data created from these activities are not limited for use in disaster preparedness and response, but also for other efforts: humanitarian aid, community development missions, conservation, cultural projects, academic research, local development, and many other purposes - this is possible by the free and open license that governs the data created on OpenStreetMap.

### Expected Results
For our participants and local partners, we hope that through this event, they can reaffirm themselves as a champion and community pillar for bringing open (geo)data and free software to the local community of enthusiasts, users, and field practitioners. That through our collaboration, it could lead to more novel applications, and wider understanding of how spatial data is relevant to other academic fields of study, outside the domain of “maps” and “technology”.

We strive to spark the interest of new users and attract other enthusiasts, to help nascent local communities grow, where skills and local expertise can be developed or further enhanced

## Organizers
Currently, our committed working group of volunteers are coordinating within our network of communities and contacts, preparing workshop programs. Our volunteers are from the following communities/sectors:

* Community - FOSS4G, OpenStreetMap, OsGeo
* Humanitarian - Red Cross, Community Development
* Government - National and local
* Transportation and Mobility - advocates

Many of our core volunteers has led, organized, or volunteered for various conferences in Metro Manila in the recent past. The largest conference so far, was the [annual regional conference](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_the_Map_Asia) [State of the Map Asia in 2016](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_the_Map_Asia_2016), hosted by the local OpenStreetMap community that drew in 186 participants and representatives from 21 countries, 15 of which are from Asia. Pista ng Mapa, in fact, is inspired by the said conference, and had been in the minds of the organizers since then, but localized for the specific needs of prospective participants.

Also, some of the members of part of the core group of leader-organizers of the annual FOSS4G-PH events in UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Some of us are regular organizers and/or facilitators of monthly local mapping workshops and events in various parts of the country, but often in Metro Manila.

## Event Registration
https://ti.to/PistaNgMapa/2019

## Programme and Schedule
https://ti.to/PistaNgMapa/2019#schedule

## Our Collaborators

### Venue Partner
The [Foundation University](https://foundationu.com/) of Dumaguete, a progressive local university known for their strong advocacy for community action, and the tight integration of information technology in their curriculum program, and modern facilities are hosting the 2019 conference.

We are expecting 80-120 participants for the event and our are provisioning for

* **Computer Laboratory rooms** for technical workshops
* **Auditorium** for plenary presentations and sessions
* **Break-out room/spaces** for small, informal discussion groups
* Volunteers as ushers and technical assistants

### Sponsors and Friends

* **Platinum tier**
* Kaart - https://kaartgroup.com
* Mapbox - https://mapbox.com
* HIVOS - https://sea.hivos.org

* **Gold tier**
* Grab - https://grab.com

* **Silver tier**
* Mapillary - https://mapillary.com
* Uav4Geo - https://uav4geo.com

and the special participation of
* MapAmore Initiative
* Maptime Diliman
* GeoLadies
* JFDI

:::info
###### For questions or queries, contact the ad hoc organizing team thru:
**name**: 2019 Organizing Committee
**email**: [e-mail]
**webRTC**: https://meet.jit.si/PistaNgMapa
:::