Did you ever see someone’s idea of “cute” in a sign (usually one prohibiting something or another (where they use a grouchy looking person or a cartoon character staring out at the world and saying “This Means You”)?
Well for years I have been right at the forefront of people who complain about not being able to find decent maps of the Philippines … and I notice that unlike many of my half-thought out Quixotic (sometimes Idiotic, but we won’t go there) quests, I have seldom marched alone.
The state of maps here in the Philippines has been poor to say the least. The The National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA), the government agency entrusted with this vital part of the country’s resources is, shall we say doing a sub-optimal job (I’d give you a link to their website so we could both read what they are up to, but the site has been loading now for more than 15 minutes and I do have other things to do today).
Recently, I have seen a lot of progress on the part of Google … some of you may look at the maps I frequently link to my blog posts, there is now a lot more readily available online and Google has even begun to recognize place names in the Philippines … the country is definitely coming out of the dark ages and getting “on the map”.
Full credit to Google where and when it is do … I’m smiling as I type this because Bob and I were just discussing another aspect of the services Google provides to us all and we both sort of share the same attitude that Google isn’t always the benevolent giant it sometimes appears to be. Still in all, you have to give credit where credit is due.
All the technical expertise and server horsepower that Google brings to bear on a problem, though, is really worth absolutely nothing if there is no information behind it. Here’s where the folks in the interesting article I am highlighting today come in:
New cartographers
RALLY de Leon, 38, likes to map out uncharted territory.
In the early days, he used paper and pencil. Nowadays, he goes around the city with a global positioning system or GPS device¯sometimes mounted on his helmet¯as he rides a bicycle around the city, recording tracks that he will later upload onto a mapping program.
He takes a car or a motorcycle on some of his mapping trips—and sometimes, he just walks.
The hobby helps De Leon in his business, a small courier service that delivers bulk mail¯such as bills and bank statements¯to addresses east of Manila. … read the full Manila Standard Philippine mapping article here.
Now in addition to the fact I thought the whole volunteer effort was newsworthy in itself, the (not so) hidden reason I focused on this today was to issue a challenge … to you and to me as well.
We all want better maps, it seems and we all realize that better maps won’t only help tourists, it will help businesses and government units do a better job as well.
So just what are you doing with that spare time that sometimes seems to weight heavy on your hands? An excuse to invest in kewl new technology, to travel and explore and then even have something to show for it at the end … sounds like one of those rare win-win-win situations to me … what do you think?
Good idea Dave ,,,I'm bring a gps with me to the Philippines and track my travels then upload it to Google earth ..then see what happens ..I haven't located any good topo maps of the Philippines yet …..Phil n Jess
Great article Dave! Here's a website you might be interested in:
They feature two things, mainly, Philippine trekking and GPS usage. They try to fuse these two aspects together and make the website the GPS traveller's guide to the Philippines.
http://waypoints.ph/index.html
Dave: I bought a Garmin Nuvi GPS and the main downside is that the Philippine maps are not made by Garmin. The good news is that there are numerous aftermarket developers working on the problem, from using Google Earth to doing it the hard way. The days of the paper map are fading, day by day. In particular, GPS units are getting much cheaper… Give it 5 years or so and I'll bet you a bottle of Tanduay that someone will have a decent GPS map for sale. Might not be from a Filipino company, but will be available.
Best map i have had through the years was from Nellis ( French i think )and purchased in the US . But i am currently having a hard time finding an E-Z fold out map of Davao City from here in CDO . Seems National Book Store no longer carries them though i don't know if that's just here or everywhere .
I'd love to find a good topo source too … but the Philippines never had anything that really resembled to USGS, so I doubt you'll find what we are used ti being able to buy in the US. I guess I should write about how I miss the USGS like I miss the USPS … Hmmm, what other four-letter agencies do I miss?
Thanks Miss August. Indeed that's a nic e tool for trekkers and hikers … but I really want to be able to find street information. Things are looking up, though, so we travel hopefully.
Garmin doesn't make maps, they buy them from commercial manufacturers. One of the revolutions that's occurring is the the rug has been pulled out from under these companies … the information Google literally gives away is worth billions of USD in terms of a few years ago. So this puts the market in a turmoil … people are loath to invest money in something which will be given away.
I'm convinced the open map project is the key … just like the Open Source software we all use so often. The key, in business terms, is how to monetize it, though.
A continual problem with National bookstore. The managers must actually enjoy being out of stock .. they certainly do well at it.
You might find something suitable at: http://www.ezmaps.info/index.html
ir (my favorite): http://www.accu-map.com/prod_cat1.html
There's also openstreetmap.org
Here's an example of what we've done so far in Metro Manila: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=14.554&lon=…
The data is contributed by volunteers and you can use the data in a lot of different ways.
And you can even use this map on your Garmin GPS (for free): http://esambale.wikispaces.com/osmphil_garmin
Hope you can contribute to the mapping efforts as well (especially in Marilao).
cheers,
maning
You guys can also go to http://roadguide.ph/ (Garmin Compatible Digital Roadguide to the Philippines). They have a more detailed street level routable Philippine map especially for provincial areas than OSM.