Everyone is invited to join the worldwide Openstreetmap Christmas Party this year. We have small event cum micro-mapping here in Metro Manila.

Details

• Date: December 12, 2009 8:00 AM till 5:00 PM
• Mapping Area: Cubao/Araneta Center
• Mapping Goal: To map amenity details around Araneta Center with walking-papers and GPS.
• Schedule:  8:00 AM - Meet at Starbucks Araneta Center (approximate location). 8:00 – 3:00 - Collect mapping data.
  3:00 – onwards – Back to Starbucks to upload data, share stories and plans for next year.

Add your name here if you want to join.

Eugene reminded us that Andy finally uploaded the videos of Openstreetmap’s State of the Map Conference last year in Limerick.

I helped Mike create the presentation material. I think he gave a good overview of the status of mapping in the Philippines back then.

In case your curious, that’s me in the first slide :).

I am pleased to announce the new release (20091114) of the OSM-PH Garmin GPS Map. This release is another important milestone for the OSM-PH Garmin GPS Map project.

Get the map here

This is the third release who graduated from our new release cycle with several major improvements. The general release cycle is every two months (1 month for pre-release testing and 1 month for the regular release). Big thanks to all those who tested and provided feedback.

What’s new in this release

• data as of 20091114, thanks to all the 350 contributors
• 45,000 ++ kilometers of roads
• Sea  polygon!
• Beta of Address search!

Known bugs

• Full address search may not work as expected
• Some islands are “flooded” (coastline data issue)
• POI icons not visible using 3D mode in some units

Read on for the visual release log of this map.

Visual Release Log

Can you see the sea?

Sea areas now rendered as dark blue polygon

Address search

You can now use that “Find Places” search window.

Choose your own style

A new map style is added in the installer. Big thanks to Rally for providing additional TYP styles. You can find in the c:\Program Files\OSM-PH Garmin maps\” these files:

• OSMPH_MINIMAL_TYP.exe
• OSMPH_RALLY_TYP_v2.6.exe

To load any of the map style, simply double-click either of the file and then open MapSource.

Different map styles rendered in QLandkarte GT. Default map style (right), OSM-PH Minimal (lower left), Rally’s map style (upper right).

That’s it! Enjoy! As we prepare for the next batch of improvements, please continue updating the map and report bugs. Happy GPSing!

Get the map here

After more than 2 years of filing a complaint against AOWA Electronics, the Department of Trade and Industry finally responded.

I pasted our rather long but amusing complaint letter (mostly in Filipino) below, for posterity purposes.

DTI Sulat Reklamo sa AOWA Electronics

Ako si xxxxzxxxxxxxxx, xx ­taong gulang residente
ngxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx isa ako sa naging biktima ng AOWA Electronics na may tindahan sa 2/F Tutuban Centermall I, CM Recto Avenue Tondo, Manila noong Ika­-8 ng Hunyo 2007 ng hapon. Nasa sumusunod na mga kaganapan nakalahad ang mga pangyayaring ng nasabing
araw sa Tutuban Centermall.

Habang kami’y naglalakad sa loob ng Mall ng aking pamangkin na si xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx may isang ahente ng AOWA ang lumapit sa amin at sinabing meron kaming libreng payong dahil diumano ay ipinakikilala nila ang kanilang Company at ito ay maaaring makuha sa loob ng kanilang Tindahan. At kami’y nga ay napapasok sa kanilang tindahan kasama ang kanilang ahente na si LINO CELINO. Ako ay pinaupo sa loob ng tindahan at kanilang i­dinemo ang Foot Massager kasabay nito ang pagdedemo ng kanilang iba’t ibang produkto habang minamasahe ang aking paa sila ay nakikipagkwentuhan sa akin hanggang sa naitanong nila na kung ako ay may creditcard.

Sabi ni Lino na kung puede daw itong “makita” nun inilabas ko na yung card ko kinuha ito ni Lino at iniaabot kay Girley Silacay nagpakilalang Manager) saka nila sinabi na ako daw ay entitled sa isang raffle. Umalis si Girlie dala­dala ang credit card ko at itong si Lino naman ay may dalang souvenir item na nakakahon dahil wala na daw available na payong at ito ang naging kapalit. Si Lino ang nagbukas ng maliit na kahon na may lamang doorbell at maliit na papel na nakasaad doon na may FREE water purifier ako kasama pa ang iba’t­ibang items na mamahalin. Ilan sa mga ahente ng showroom ay nagtilian sa kanilang kasiyahan at wari’y sila ang excited sa pangyayari at pinagkumpulan ako saka kinamayan at binati ng “Congratulations” ako daw ay isang napakaswerteng nanalo ng isa sa kanilang mamahaling mga produkto. Bihira daw ang mga nananalo ng ganun.

Sinabi ni Lino na tatawagan nya ang kanilang manager (mula sa Main Office daw nila) sa hawak niyang cellphone upang ipag­bigay alam na isa ako sa nanalo. Pinakausap sa akin ang kanilang manager at sinabi nito na makukuha ko lamang ang premyo ko kung ako ay bibili ng isa sa kanilang produkto. Hindi man lamang ako tinanong kung ako ay sang-ayon sa aming pag­uusap. Doon nagtapos ang usapan sa celphone at isanauli ko na kay Lino ang cellphone.

Maya­maya pa’y naglapitan ang mga ahente sa akin kasabay ang malakas na tugtugan sa loob ng tindahan dala­dala ang iba’t ibang klase appliances gaya ng mga iba’t­ibang klase ng mga kaserola (Cookware set), Induction Cooker, Food Chopper, Multi Cooker. Ito raw ay kasama sa aking napanalunan.

Nagbalik uli si Girly at sinabi sa akin, “Mam KAYA NAMAN PO NG CREDIT CARD NYO”. Hanggang sa ang mga ahente ay pagkumpulan ako’t batiin kasabay ang napakalakas na tugtugan sa loob ng Tindahan. Nandyan pa na sabihin niya na ako raw ang gagawing ENDORSER ng kanilang produkto at
ito ay diumano ay ilalabas sa isang magazine. Pakiramdam ko, ako’y masyadong namamangha sa mga pangyayari parang nung mga oras na yon ay hindi ko maipaliwanag ang mga nangyayari sa akin dahil sa ingay ng paligid at pagkakakumpol sa akin ng mga ahente ng AOWA na sobrang saya
nila. Hanggang sa nagulat na lang ako at mayroon nang Sales Contract na pinapipirmahan sa akin ng isa pang babaeng ahente at iyon aking napirmahan ng hindi man lamang ipinaliwanag sa akin ang nakalagay sa kontrata.

Ako pala ay nakabili na ng foot massager sa halagang P33,750.00 at yun ay may mga FREE diumano na Cookware set, Induction Cooker, Food Chopper, at Multi Cooker. At saka nila ito kinuwenta sa aking
harapan kung magkano ang total amount ng mga FREE ITEMS ito ay daw ay diumano ay nagkakahalaga ng mahigit sa P 100,000.00 ngunit ang halagang dapat ko lang bayaran ay P33,750.00.

Sila ay tuwang­tuwa para sa akin na halos magtatalon ang mga ahente sa saya! Panay pa ang KAMAY AT BATI sa akin ng congratulations ang lahat ng ahente doon sa loob ng Tindahan. Pagkatapos non kami ay kinuhaan ng litrato dahil diumano ay ilalabas kami sa isang magazine, at may kasama pang pangako sila na isang taon kaming makakatangap ng kanilang appliance product. Lumabas na kami ng kanilang showroom iniwan muna sandali ang mga produkto upang asikasuhin muna ang ibang bagay doon sa Tutuban. Saka ko binalikan ang mga aplliances upang iuwi.

Habang ako ay pauwi doon ko napagisip­isip na napakalaki ng halagang nai­charge sa aking credit card. At sa napagtanto ko na para bang scripted lahat ng mga pangyayari sa loob ng kanilang tindahan. Paano kaya nila nalaman na ang credit card ko ay may ganoong kalaking halagang credit limit? Hanggang napansin ko na wala yung item na water purifier na diumano ay aking napanalunan! Sinabi pa nila ang halaga ng foot massager noong una ay P 33,750.00 lamang at napansin ko sa resibo
na dinagdagan pa nila ito ng 12% VAT na umabot sa kabuuang P37,800.00.

Ang kanilang mga produkto sa loob ng kanilang tindahan ay walang ring mga PRICE TAGS.

Pagdating ko sa bahay ng gabi agad kong tinawagan ang ahenteng si Girly upang ipagbigay alam na isasauli ko na lamang ang mga items. Sabi nya nasa byahe na sila bukas na lang daw kami tumawag sa
Tindahan. Tinawagan ko din ang aking credit card company upang ipagbigay alam ang nangyari in­advice ng AIG na humingi kami ng reversal ng payment sa AOWA.

Kinabukasan ika­9 ng Hunyo 2007, agad kaming nagtungo ng anak kong si xxxxxxxxxx sa AOWA Tutuban upang isauli ang mga produkto. Pagdating sa loob ng tindahan ibinababa uli namin ang mga appliances na aming dala­dala. Saka kami dinala sa isang sulok ng tindahan upang kausapin ni Lino at sinabi namin na gusto naming magkaron ng reversal ng statement at ipa­kansel ang nangyaring transaction at tinatanong kung ano ang aming dahilan kung bakit gusto namin mag­cancel ang
nangyaring transaction. Sinabi ko na wala akong kapasidad na mabayaran ko ang ganung kalaking halaga sa aking card. Dahil sa transaction na nangyari, NAUBOS ang aking credit limit sa aking card company. Ang advice ni Lino sa amin hindi daw nya maaaring i­recieve pa yun product dahil “considered sold na daw yun kahapon pa”. Kapag tinanggap n’ya ayon sa kanya, siya daw ang matatanggal sa trabaho kung kaya s’ya ay nakiusap sa amin na ‘wag nang iwan ang product bagkus
kailangan daw naming sumunod sa kanilang company policy na magfill­up daw ako ng costumer feedbackform at ilagay ang rason kung bakit gusto kong ma­cancel ang transaction. Sinabi nya na ang processing time ng papel namin ay aabutin ng 3 hanggang 5 araw dahil nga Sabado nun wala daw opisina sa Ortigas at sa Lunes naman ay (ika­11 ng Hunyo 2007) ideneklarang Holiday tumawag na lang daw kame sa Martes sa Ortigas kung ano ang desisyong ng kanilang top management. Hintayin daw namin ang tawag or kami ang tumawag kay Ann Sho Bermejo ang isang costumer service doon sa Ortigas. Dahil daw Sabado wala daw opisina sa Ortigas pero nai­fax na daw n’ya yung papel at binigyan kami ng kopya.

Lumabas ulit kami ng opisina dala ang mga appliances. Ngunit hindi ako kampante sa binigay nya sa aming rason kung kaya’t tinwagan ko ang sinasabi niyang opisina at hinanap ko ang nag­ngangalang Ann Sho Bermejo at dun ko ito nakausap ganun din ang sinabi sa aking mag­antay daw ako ng 3­5 days. Hindi pa din ako kampante sa sagot nila kung kaya’t naghanap ako ng taong puedeng makatulong sa akin lumapit kami ng anak ko sa costumer service ng Tutuban Centermall sinabi nga nila na maari naming ipa­blotter sa security office nila ang nangyari sa akin. At doon sa loob ng security office ng Tutuban ipinatawag ang pinaka­head ng store ng AOWA pero si Lino pa rin ang lumabas at nakipagusap sa amin. Ipinalahad sa amin ang nangyari at kung anong mga item ang ang nakuha namin sabi namin ang nakalagay sa resibo ay Foot massager sa halagang P 37,800.00 at yung ibang item ay FREE at sumabat itong si Lino na hindi daw Free ang mga item na iyon kundi SPONSORED
ITEM daw ang mga yun. Pagkatapos ay nagkaroon kame ng kasulatan at pirmahan sa loob ng securty office ng Tutuban Centermall na kami ay humihingi ng assurance sa AOWA na magkakaroon ng reversal sa aming credit card.

Paglabas namin sinabi sa amin ni Lino na bakit naman daw namin ipinaalam pa sa Secuity ng mall. Wari’y talagang mayrooon silang itinatago.

Martes, ika­12 ng Hunyo 2007 tinawagan ko ang AOWA Ortigas at kinausap si Ann Sho Bermejo, sumagot siya na wala pa din daw desisyon dahil daw half­day sila ng Sabado at walang opisina ng Linggo at Lunes. Miyerkules ganun pa din ang isinagot sa akin wala pa daw desisyon ang
top management nila. Huwebes ika­14 ng Hunyo 2007 tinawagan na ako at sinabi nila na hindi na daw maaring kanselahin ang transaction. Hindi ako pumayag at sinabi ko sa kanila na magsusumbong ako sa DTI sinagot lang ako ni Ann na, “kahit magsumbong kayo dito pa din tayo mag­uusap sa aming opisina”, para bang malakas pa ang loob nila sa kabila ng ginawa nilang panlilinlang sa akin.

Tumawag ako sa credit card company upang humingi ng advice at tulong na maari nilang gawin dito. In­advice nila sa akin na gumawa daw ako ng LETTER OF DISPUTE tungkol sa nangyaring transaction upang maibistigahan ng kanilang company.

Tumingin ako sa internet upang i­check ang AOWA appliances isa pala itong scam at napakarami na ng biktima nito

(http://www.gov.ph/FORUM/thread.asp?rootID=67560&catID=13&page=1).

Bakit magpasa­ hanggang ngayun ay patuloy pa din itong namamayapag?

Dahil sa mga nabanggit na mga pangyayari, nais ko pong magsampa ng reklamo sa AOWA Electronics ayon sa nakasaad sa Republic Act No. 7394 The Consumer Act of the Philippines batay sa mga sumusunod na artikulo sa ilalim ng nasabing batas:

ARTICLE 50. Prohibition Against Deceptive Sales Acts or Practices ­ A deceptive act or practice by a seller or supplier in connection with a consumer transaction violates this Act whether it occurs before, during or after the transaction. An act or practice shall be deemed deceptive whenever the producer, manufacturer, supplier or seller, through concealment, false representation of fraudulent manipulation, induces a consumer to enter into a sales or lease transaction of any consumer product or service.

ARTICLE 52. Unfair or Unconscionable Sales Act or Practice ­ An unfair or unconscionable sales act or practice by a seller or supplier in connection with a consumer transaction violates this Chapter whether it occurs before, during or after the consumer transaction. An act or practice shall be deemed unfair or uncionscionable whenever the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller, by taking advantage of the consumer’s physical or mental infirmity, ignorance, illiteracy, lack of time or the general conditions of the environment or surroundings, induces the consumer to enter into a sales or lease transaction Grossly inimical to the interests of the consumer or gross one­sided in favor of the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller.

a) that the producer, manufacturer, distributor, supplier or seller took advantage of the inability of the consumer to reasonable protect his interest because of his inability to understand the language of an agreement, or similar factors

ARTICLE 81. Price Tag Requirement ­ It shall be unlawful to offer any consumer product for retail sale to the public without an appropriate price tag, label or marking publicly displayed to indicate the price
of each article and said products shall not be sold at a price higher than that stated therein and without discrimination to all buyers:

Provided, That lumber sold, displayed or offered for sale to the public shall be tagged or labeled by indicating thereon the price and the corresponding official name of the wood:

Provided, further, That if consumer products for sale are too small or the nature of which makes it impractical to place a price tag thereon price list placed at the nearest point where the products are
displayed indicating the retail price of the same may suffice.

ARTICLE 82. Manner of Placing Price Tags ­ Price tags, labels or markings must be written clearly, indicating the price of the consumer product per unit is pesos and centavos.

Dagdag po dito, nais ko rin ireklamo ang AOWA Electronics sa ilalim ng Department of Trade and Industry Department Administrative Order NO. 10 Series of 2006. SUBJECT: Reiterating the Rules on Price Tags/Labels and Providing Prohibition Against the Imposition of a Surcharge, Extra Charge or Additional Charge in the Use of Credit/Automated Teller Machine (ATM)/Debit Cards for Payment of Purchases of Consumer Products or Services.

Section 2. One Price Tag Requirement. Every retailer is required to display a price tag to indicate the price of each consumer good and/or services, as required in Articles 81 to 83 of the Consumer Act of the Philippines or R.A. No. 7394. The price tag must be written clearly, indicating the price of the consumer product including Value Added Tax (VAT) whenever the consumer product is VATABLE. Service charge, if any, shall not be included in the price tag.

Ako po humihingi ng tulong sa inyong opisina na sana po ay magawan ninyo po ito ng agarang aksyon. Kalakip din po ng sulat na ito ang sipi ng mga sumusunod bilang karadagang dokumento sa aking reklamo:
1. AOWA Electronics, Philippines, Inc. Sales Contract A12 No. xxxx
2. AOWA Electronics, Philippines, Inc. Official Receipt No. xxxx
3. AOWA Electronics, Philippines, Inc. Costumer Feedback Form
4. Credit Card Receipt Reference No. xxxxxxxxxx
5. Product Warranty Certificates

Marami pong salamat.

Lubos na gumagalang,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pinadalhan ng sipi: AOWA Electronics, AIG Credit Card Company, Philippines

I am proud to announce that OSM-PH received Quickbird high resolution images from DigitalGlobe.  This data donation is part of DigitalGlobe’s assistance to our humanitarian efforts.

Thanks to the Openstreetmap community (especially Andy) for helping us create map tiles and host them in OSM’s dev server.

Estimated boundingbox of the imagery

You can now use these images to trace roads and other geographic features using OSM’s data editors.

In JOSM (OSM’s offline java editor)

In Potlatch (OSM’s web-based flash editor)

This project is OSM-PH’s contribution to provide updated geospatial data to assist disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts.   Join the OSM-PH mailinglist for details on how to use the imagery.

Dear Philippine Lenovo and Asus Distributors,

Last week, I was asked by a relative to shop for a new netbook. The new ‘puter will be used for basic PC tasks (document creation, web, mail and chat) of my college student cousin. I volunteered to do the window shopping and suggested a little over 20K Php is enough.

First stop, a local reseller of Lenovo. I really like Lenovo’s IdeaPad S10-2 model. The design is simple. It’s thinner and lighter than the usual notebooks and the price is within the range I expected.

The 2 nice features are:

• OneKey Rescue key- this key provides one-touch quick backup, repair and recovery tools.
• QuickStart key – with this key, you can boot the netbook in under 10 seconds and instantly connect to the internet for email, chat or VOIP. It uses the SplashTop technology installed in the netbook’s on-board Flash memory. No need to load the default OS for a quick check of webmail or chat.

Perfect for my college student cousin.

After a quick demo, I found out that Windows XP SP3 comes pre-installed. I asked the shop agent if I can wipe out the pre-installed XP and install another OS. He said it’s possible. I then asked if it’s possible to buy a unit without XP and then cutoff a few thousand bucks since we won’t be using the pre-installed XP anyway. He said it’s not possible.

Oh OK. On to the next shop.

Might as well get an Asus Eee PC , at least I have the option to get Linux or Windows OS pre-installed. Or so I thought.

Second shop sells the new Asus Eee PC Seashell.

I like this one even better. The design looks better ergonomically than Ideapad. Almost the same features as Ideapad and battery life is touted to be much longer (6-10 hours, although I didn’t tested that long :P ). Price, also within the range.

Another perfect netbook for my cousin.

Seeing that the installed OS is also Windows XP, I asked the same question to the shop agent.

Is it possible to buy a unit without XP and then cutoff a few thousand bucks since we won’t be using the pre-installed XP anyway? Well, same answer. He said it’s not possible and added that the previous Xandros pre-installed units was discontinued. (Is this true? I can’t find anything on the web).

Why are you treating me like this? Why should I buy something that I won’t be using anyway?

I really like your netbooks but you are including an operating system that is two versions late and won’t get supported in about a year from now.

You are not giving me any consumer choice.

Imagine, if we have a facility providing real time rainfall and water level data. The rainfall gauges are installed on mountains within the major headwaters while water level monitoring devices are installed along major waterways.

Imagine, if these devices transmit regular (every minute, every hour) reports to a centralized communication channel (via radio frequency). The central communication HQ would then process this data and generate near-realtime flood forecasts.

Imagine, if these flood alerts were communicated to affected communities (for pre-emptive evacuation), pumping stations and flood gate operators (to regulate the water level).

Imagine how many lives and properties could have been saved if such a Flood Forecasting System exist?

You don’t have to (imagine), a  flood forecasting system existed for Metro Manila more than ten years ago.

We live in a flood prone area.

Metro Manila is covered by former tidal flats along Manila Bay including portion of Manila, alluvial plain from Marikina to Laguna and tuff plateau from north to south in the middle part. Marikina River drains 506 km2 basin area down to Pasig River and finally to Manila Bay during normal river discharge. Network of esteros drains the urban watershed except those directly emptying to Pasig River or to Manila Bay. Discharge exceeding 600 m3/s inundates the low lying areas of Manila aggravated by the tidal fluctuation in Manila Bay. (Felizardo, undated)

River basins in Metro Manila (Felizardo, undated)

During flood time, the Laguna Lake becomes the temporary storage of excess flood waters from Marikina River via Mangahan Floodway and Napindan Channel. It also helps drain flash floods from the upper Marikina River. (Felizardo, undated)

Manggahan Floodway and Napindan Channel (Felizardo, undated)

Controlling flood waters and flood warning system in the Metropolis
When the Manggahan Floodway was constructed (June 1984) , a system was installed to provide early warning to local residents that maybe affected by artificial flooding of the caused by the operation of the weir. The DPWH implemented the non-structural project (Nationwide Flood Control and Dredging Project, Part B, an Effective Flood Control Operation System including Telemetering and Flood Warning System in the Pasig-Marikina-Laguna Lake Complex: the EFCOS Project) financed by OECF from a loan package amounting to ¥1.036 billion (JICA, 2001 ).

The project includes:

1. establishment of hydrologic gauge stations (2 rain gauge stations, 5 water level gauge stations);
2. installation of flood warning equipment (warning posts, patrol cars) and;
3. installation of telecommunication facilities (telecommunication network covering gauge stations, warning posts, Rosario, weir operation station, and the total controlling office at the head office of DPWH in Manila.

EFCOS Communication Sytem (JICA, 2001)

Through this system, EFCOS personnel was able collect hydrologic data and transmit warnings to areas near the floodway. The information received by DPWH is automatically transmitted to PAGASA via the existing communication line. The project was completed October 1993.

Additional grant was provided to rehabilitate the EFCOS project (philstar.com). The improvements includes:

1. installation of hydrological observation stations for collecting more accurate data on rainfall and water level;
2. introduction of the digitized telemetry system as well as on-line data processing system by computers; and
3. deployment of radio communication equipment at the pumping stations along the Pasig River as a means of strengthening flood control management.

The second phase project was completed 2002. (philstar.com). MMDA later took over the project operation (abs-cbnnews.com).

From the JICA evaluation report, the system was well received by the surrounding communities although “warnings were late in some cases, the warning system was generally given a favorable evaluation. Residents recognized the importance of the warnings in saving their lives and acted properly.” (JICA, 2001)

Communities responding to disaster reduction need up-to-date information
For many disaster prone communities, instituting a community-based disaster management system is the only defense. A bottom-up approach was necessary given the ill-capacity of LGUs to respond to the needs of the community during times of disaster.

Buklod-Tao is one community organization in Barangay Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal that implements community initiated disaster response mechanism. Through the years, numerous projects and activities were initiated towards disaster response, rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts. A good success indicator is while they where ravaged by several flooding events the past 5 years, human fatality remains minimal.

During my integration with the community (years ago), Buklod-Tao leaders shared that although Barangay Banaba have proven resilience towards the annual flooding events, forecasting flooding is the missing component in their disaster response and mitigation system. If they can predict the time and volume of floodwaters before they arrive in the community, more lives and properties can be saved.

Access to the EFCOS data at that time, seems to be a very viable option to strengthen Buklod-Tao’s community-based flood forecasting system. During 2005-2006, Buklod-Tao initiated partnership with EFCOS personnel which in turn provided training on interpreting EFCOS data and integrating the data to the community-based disaster response and mitigation system.

During a period of extensive rain, Buklod-Tao would call EFCOS Control Station to request near real-time information on rainfall intensity and water levels of Nangka and Marikina River. These data were plotted on a blackboard and and then radioed to the rescue teams. When “critical” rainfall intensity was recorded rescue teams would roam around the community to alert them of a possible evacuation. This system looks “crude” but it has proven its effectiveness during Typhoon Gemma in 2006.

Last year (2008), Buklod-Tao leaders tried to contact EFCOS Control Center but the usual phone number was unanswered. Later, they discovered that EFCOS is not updating it’s data with the usual frequency as before. The rain gauge station located in Nangka River was visited less than usual and they can’t get the regular updates from the EFCOS Control Station anymore.

When flood waters hit Barangay Banaba because of Typhoon Ondoy, residents where surprised to see flood waters as high as a two-storey building smashing through their houses. Fortunately, Buklod-Tao’s advocacy and continuous reminders once again ensued ZERO fatality in the community.

Ondoy sparked finger-pointing
The enormous flood waters because of Ondoy lead to questions why the EFCOS System wasn’t utilized to provide updated flood warnings which could have prevented massive loss of life and properties along communities surrounding Marikina River. Several newspapers have reported this (here and here).

I won’t comment on the news articles anymore to prevent this post from becoming a rant to government inefficiencies.

What should be done?
I believe the EFCOS project is a critical infrastructure towards adapting to living in a flood-prone area like Metro Manila. We need to strengthen our monitoring system and pro-actively involve local communities towards an effective disaster response and mitigation system. Several suggestions:

Rehabilitate and expand the EFCOS System - We need rehabilitate the existing system, we need to add more monitoring stations. I don’t think it would cost us 100M Php for repairs. There are several alternatives. UP scientist are developing a cheaper SMS based rainfall monitoring devices. Schools can be used as rainfall monitoring stations.

Provide near real time access to rainfall and water level measurements – how much would it cost to set-up a webserver? Use [insert whatever programming language] to automate consolidation of data. Publish it as csv, kml, georss, or whatever open format humans and computer can access. Allow scientist and ordinary folks alike to access real time data.

Who knows what application we can create if the public is allowed to consume the data?

Maybe Dr. Lagmay can integrate the data generated from his citizen based flood height map into the rainfall measurements of EFCOS during Typhoon Ondoy and create a better flood simulation and forecasting model.

Integrate flood forecasting to community-based disaster response and mitigation initiatives – Activate local communities. Disaster response is successful if there is support to local initiatives. Local (barangay) and community organizations are our first line of defense. We need to provide these frontliners the necessary information to interpret and adapt to local conditions the rainfall and water level measurements. We need to provide them easy to use (blackboard, pencil and paper) tools to interpret data. Provide a feedback loop so that communities can report back to EFCOS the data they were able to collect locally.

A concerted and integrated effort is necessary. Flooding is not an isolated event constrained by administrative boundaries or local jurisdictions. In this era where uncertainty is becoming the norm rather than the exception, PUBLIC access to information (raw and processed) proves to be one of the critical factor towards saving or losing lives and properties.

Over the course of the week and last weekend, I have reviewed current initiatives on existing webmaps supporting Typhoon Kestana/Ondoy rescue and relief operations. The focus of these maps were on the immediate need for relief deployment, search, and rescue (missing persons lists). I feel there is also a need to monitor and report problems for the post-disaster rebuilding efforts. In most cases, this aspect of disaster is forgotten especially when media is out the radar.

The Humanitarian OSM Team (H. O. T. ), provided assistance in creating webmap to report related problems on post-disater recovery and rebuilding efforts.

The webmap’s focus is not on relief and rescue, it is intended for gathering information on the post-disaster rebuilding efforts. The interface was borrowed from OSM’s OpenStreetBugs.

Here’s the site: http://osb.maps.jsintl.org/

Features:

• Any visitor can add a geocoded report on what needs to be done within the area (garbage collection, drainage clearing, etc.).
• Other users can comment on the posted problem.
• Other users can mark the problem as fixed or re-open the report.
• Download the points as GPX format which can be integrated to a GIS system or a GPS for navigation.
• Monitor reported bugs in given boundingbox via rss feeds (i.e. reports in Marikina)

Other tasks:

• Monitor and update reports.
• Create pages compiling reports according to type and admin jurisdiction.
• Coordinate dissemination of reports to concerned agencies who can help fix the problem.

Please help in updating the status around your community.

If your sick of waiting for the LGU concerned to fix the reported problems, you can fix it yourselves. Find a reported problem near your community (a drainage ditch that needs clearing, a mud-filled road that needs scraping, etc.), organize some of your friends and fix the problem. Make sure you mark the report as “fixed” in the map.

More info here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team/philippines_ondoy

Last July, I received an announcement from Yahoo! regarding the scheduled closure of Yahoo! Geocities.

I hosted two html pages in my Geocities site. One was a webform for an online reservation request of students. The other one was my very first webmap.

The map (visit now since it won’t be online next month), shows bird sightings in the Philippines classified according to IUCN’s category. The map is powered by worldkit, data in xml format, and the background map from NASA’s OnEarth WMS.

The cartography and page design was so poor it deserves an entry in Daniel Huffman’s blog. Nevertheless, this map is important to me because a lot of “first” happened when I made this map.

• My first webmap, and the only webmap of Philippine birds back then.
• My first dive to XML.
• My first introduction to HTML editing.
• My first to understanding Web Mapping Service.

A lot of new technologies emerged since 2005, and this experiment help me get started to pursue other online mapping projects.

I am pleased to announce the new release (20090912) of the OSM-PH Garmin GPS Map. This release is another important milestone for the OSM-PH Garmin GPS Map project.

Get the map here

This is the second release who graduated from our new release cycle. The general release cycle is every two months (1 month for pre-release testing and 1 month for the regular release). Big thanks to all those who tested and provided feedback.

What’s new in this release

• data as of 20090912, thanks to all the 292 contributors
• 42,900++ kilometers of roads
• new map design (thinner consistent road style, smaller two-tone POI icons)
• compiled with mkgmap version 1173

Known bugs

• Address search is not working
• No polygon for sea areas
• POI icons not visible using 3D mode in some units

Read on for the visual release log of this map.

Visual Release Log

The major highlight of this release is the new look of the map. After several months of experiments and tweaking, I was able to understand Garmin’s cartography styling using typ files.

POI icon improvements

I changed most of the POI icons using a unified brand-neutral-two-tone scheme. Each icon is colored according to the POI category (blue for transport and auto related categories, orange for food and entertainment, etc.). Big thanks to Matt, Marat and the National Park Service for licensing their icon symbols in the public domain.

A different road style

Inspired by Cloudmade’s Fine Line style, I created a minimalistic road style called, well “Minimal”. Most road are thinner from Garmin’s default. At lower zoom levels, all you see is a simple road layout. By creating thin lines, roads are more visible especially on GPSr’s small screens.

Zooming at higher levels, POIs become more visible. For well mapped areas, icons are overcrowded, I used smaller icons (16 by 16 px) in order to pack in more in a small space. One of my favorite is the traffic signal icon on road intersections.

Building polygons and better land use colors

Building outlines are more visible.

As well as, landuse types.

Beginnings of an address database

We are slowly adding address information in Openstreetmap, you can now see them in your GPS. However, “address search” is not yet working on most GPSr.

When there is data, there is detail
While we cannot claim complete coverage for much of the roads in the country, in areas where we have data, there is great detail you can’t get from other proprietary Garmin maps. A few I can mention here are:

Local delicacies. Visit the popular “Banoks Barbecue” in Davao known for it’s great chicken barbecue.

Tricycle stations in Marikina.

Viewpoints and other attraction in Luneta Park. Can you spot the Philippine’s Largest Relief Map?

Not only for road navigation
Openstreetmap data is not solely for roads and cars. Many contributors add data you can use for other purposes. You can use it for:

A leisure stroll around Tagaytay’s Picnic Grove.

Visiting Avilon Zoo (note to for future visitors: please add detail for animal enclosures)

Camping in Mt. Makiling

Explore caves in Biak na Bato.

Hiking and mountainbiking in La Mesa Eco-park.

Mapping tool
You can also use the map to identify data errors. In some areas we imported data taken from various out-of-copyright maps. These roads have been marked with a “FIXME” tag. For safety purposes, I disabled routing on these roads. You can visit and re-trace these roads using your GPS and submit corrections in Openstreetmap.

That’s it! Enjoy! As we prepare for the next batch of improvements, please continue updating the map and report bugs. Happy GPSing!

Get the map here