After two years and nine days, a new diary entry.

Over seven months ago, I stumbled upon a publication announcing that many street names (, buildings and other open spaces) inside the University of the Philippines Los Baños campus area will be changed in honor of the many people who contributed much to it. For this posting, I’m focusing on street names.

Since then, I’ve been waiting for the street signs to go up and reflect such changes. As of this week (and in time for their annual alumni homecoming event/s), some of the street signs went up. Almost instantly, I recorded them and added such info on the map.

Looks like we’re the first one to reflect such changes on the map.

But then again, not all (new) street signs are up. For the next months, such changes will be reflected on the map, little by little.

After 3-4 months of mapping with little or no documentation in the User Diary, I decided to map a new mall found approximately 3 kilometers east of downtown area. Since it started its construction a few months back, I decided to check out its progress every other day. But other activities forced me to limit the update to the point that I cannot make substantial edits to the area.

Many people, including the San Pableños (an adjective to describe the residents of my home city), waited for months. Now the wait is over, and some of my online friends commented that virtually all of San Pablo City was practically deserted as many of its residents drove or commuted to the new mall. In fact, one of them was curious with the new mall, as she was away from the city (and the country) for quite some time. I told her that I already went to the above-mentioned establishment and mapped it, but I didn't enter the building (since my intention was to map, not to engage in retail therapy or compulsive buying. Also, there were too many people window shopping and camwhoring at that time). I also gave her the link to the map showing SM City San Pablo (the name of the establishment).

Personally, I believe that my contributions a few hours back made OpenStreetMap the most up to date online map of SM City San Pablo so far (That's what MapCompare said.) Regardless of its effects on traffic and the entire city in general, SM City San Pablo now becomes part of OpenStreetMap history (in my opinion) as probably the first retail area in southwest Luzon that was *somewhat* thoroughly mapped on its first day of operations.

240+ entries ago, I made an entry about my not-so-good mapping experience. Since then, I never came back to Los Baños until this morning. After mapping a portion of the area, I decided to go to the Barangay Hall to check if someone tried to file a complaint against me (on that day). Thankfully, no one did.

I managed to talk to an official, and I asked him if my actions on that fateful day (mapping housenumbers without the malicious intent of "invading someone's privacy" or planning a heist) could have sent me into various kinds of trouble. According to him, probably not, since I'm just documenting housenumbers. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'm now glad that this problem is solved, more or less. But this should serve as a warning for those who'll try to map housenumbers, myself included. There are people out there who are paranoid when it comes to privacy.

Looks like the webmasters have dealt with that already. Moving on...

Got approached by a local of Batong Malake (in Los Baños, Laguna), because I was mapping certain amenities and housenumbers. He was less than pleased (and he has a sticker on his car identifying himself as a member of a local gun club, as he was driving a car at that time) but I assured him that his privacy is guaranteed.

What's wrong with that? Simple: I was mapping that guy's housenumber.

Is there a clause somewhere in the OpenStreetMap wiki (or some blog managed by OSMers) stating that we can't describe the occupants of a certain housenumber (especially if the occupants are very paranoid when it comes to their privacy), except if it "houses" an actual amenity (like restaurants and convenience stores)? And do we need ID's to confirm our identities as volunteer surveyors, if we are suspected of doing something bad (like preparing for a robbery or a more dastardly and criminal act)?

Disregard that, spam removed

We need report buttons and more admins for this page. Sorry for this short post.

Before you consider this post as spam, this is a mapping checklist, which will be accomplished (or not) for the trip to Baguio City, which will happen this weekend. (Also, I can use this trip as an excuse to avoid certain real life drama)

* Add POI's between Valenzuela and Baguio Cities (Read: 200~ kilometers, 100~ waypoints. If you add a stopover at Manaoag, Pangasinan, add 50+ waypoints.)
* Find out if Marcos Highway (the less dangerous route to Baguio) should be upgraded to trunk status. Also find out if Kennon Road should be downgraded to primary road status
* Find out where the "blasted" bust of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos is (clue - located along the Marcos Highway before the tunnel if Baguio-bound)
* Add POI's within downtown Baguio and some nearby tourist attractions

* Upload GPS traces that I forgot to upload (some are "made" since December 2009)

* Add more housenumbers in San Pablo City

* Verify some parts of Baguio (my family will go there next weekend)

* Finish some edits that I made in the UP Rural High School area

* Try to map housenumbers in Batong Malake/UPLB Campus area (see map)

(UPDATE 1:Task 2 is 60% complete, Task 4 is 100% complete. ~ 03062010 at 1712 PHT)

It has been at least three months since we've breached changset 2 million. That changeset had to do with making some corrections in a train depot in Brussels. The user, who "owned" the changeset, is now (mostly) making corrections for data consistency's sake.

My last changeset ID is 2955015. Good luck to the future owner of changeset 3000000, and to the persons who will break even more milestones for OpenStreetMap!