For the 2010 third quarter OpenStreetMap Mapping Party, we decided to go big and tackle the road network of Cavite. OSM had very poor data in the southern parts of Cavite and since one of our mid-term goals is to complete the basic road network of the Philippines, we decided to venture to the unmapped parts of this historic province last September 11 and map the major roads connecting the cities and municipalities of Cavite.

So how did it go? Pretty well! While we encountered some nasty surprises, we managed to map the routes to all the targeted municipalities such that you can now use OpenStreetMap to go to remote towns like Magallanes or Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo.

Then and now

Before anything else, here are some before-and-after maps.

There was some sparse data for the town of Gen. Mariano Alvarez (GMA) before the Mapping Party but now there’s much more detail though it’s still far from complete.

Maning’s team took the time to map extensive parts of Naic and even visited some of the beaches in the area.

My team had Mendez-Nuñez as our last stop and we added a bit more of the road network in the town proper.

Rally’s team refined the coastal road between Naic and Ternate as well as added details in the town propers of Ternate and Maragondon.

Some highlights

Originally, we planned to have four teams, but one of our designated drivers had a minor family emergency and so we were left with three vehicles. Thus, during the morning meetup in Alabang, we hastily refactored our planned routes and teams into three. I was the driver for the Orange Team which also included Ian and his mom. We would tackle GMA, Silang, Amadeo, and Mendez. The Green Team was composed of Maning, Ernest, and Sorbi, who was the designated driver. Their assigned areas were Naic, Indang, and Alfonso. Rally, Rem, and Rhodor comprised the Red Team (or the ’R’ Team, hehe), and they had Ternate, Maragondon, Magallanes, and Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo as their assignment. We specifically gave Rally’s team the most mountainous and dangerous parts of Cavite since they have experience and we trusted their good judgment.

One nasty surprise the Orange Team and Green Team encountered were very rough dirt tracks. When we did our planning using various other maps, we targeted to cover roads that seemed to provide important routes. Well, it turns out that a few of them were actually agricultural dirt tracks. Maning shot a video of one of these dirt roads that was originally designated as a secondary road. Well, now we know better and they are now marked as dirt tracks so that other drivers won’t take these routes.

In another change in our plans, we originally agreed to meet up in the afternoon at Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay. My team arrived there first but we were shocked to discover that the establishment had a whopping parking rate of 100 pesos per hour (if you’re not checked in)! So we hastily changed the meetup point to the nearby Mushroom Burger joint. I didn’t mind because it’s been a long time since I last ate one of their burgers and I had been meaning to visit their branch in Katipunan in QC, but going to the original is even better.

Rally’s team took an extra hour of mapping and I find this funny because last year during the Tagaytay Mapping Party, my team and Maning’s team were the ones who took an extra hour of mapping. I guess Rally inadvertently paid his debt. Hehehe.

Shown below is a frame from the animation I made showing the progress of the three teams throughout the day of September 11. It’s very interesting to see where the teams where at any given point in time. Try to guess in which town my team had lunch.