A Longstanding Fascination with Mapillary

My journey with Mapillary began in 2016 when the potential of street-level imagery for open mapping fascinated me. I was introduced to Mapillary by OpenStreetMap Philippines’ Erwin Olario when we were teaching street-level imagery collection to other communities.

At the time, I was eager to contribute, even investing in a GoPro to capture imagery. However, my enthusiasm was quickly met with the reality of limited resources, which made large-scale fieldwork challenging. While my use of Mapillary waned for a while, my commitment to open mapping and its potential for disaster resilience never faded.

Fast forward to 2023, my interest in Mapillary reignited when I learned about its powerful and massive automatic object detection capabilities. The ability to extract valuable map data from street-level imagery for mapping using artificial intelligence was a game-changer. This rekindled interest led to various collaborative projects with YouthMappers chapters, where I mentored students and volunteers on leveraging Mapillary for open mapping initiatives.

Training the Next Generation of Open Mappers

As a longtime OpenStreetMap volunteer, mentor at the UP Resilience Institute YouthMappers (UPRIYM) and a former Regional Ambassador for YouthMappers in the Asia-Pacific, I have had the privilege of introducing many students and communities to the power of open mapping.

In 2023, I conducted field workshops across various Filipino YouthMappers chapters, guiding young mappers in collecting and utilizing Mapillary imagery for data enrichment. I traveled to four universities in Eastern Visayas to lead Mapillary workshops, collecting my own imagery as I drove my rental car. For this trip, I upgraded to an Insta360 camera with panoramic coverage.

During these workshops, I covered both the theoretical foundations of Mapillary and hands-on training on imagery collection. We conducted small mapping exercises within the university campuses, where I demonstrated the use of the Insta360 camera for panoramic street-level imagery. The students also practiced using the Mapillary mobile app to collect and upload images.

The YouthMappers chapters I worked with were particularly interested in leveraging Mapillary’s detected map objects for disaster preparedness and response. Since these universities are located in areas prone to storm surges and flooding, they saw potential in using Mapillary for mapping critical infrastructure. The decision to train these universities was strategic—not only due to logistical considerations but also because of their active mapping communities and vulnerability to disasters.

Another key highlight of that year was leading Mapillary training sessions during Pista ng Mapa 2023. This Filipino open-mapping festival brings together mapping communities, advocates, and professionals to share knowledge and skills on open mapping.

Through these workshops, I emphasized how Mapillary can be integrated with OSM for more comprehensive and detailed mapping, particularly in disaster-prone areas. Participants learned the importance of systematically capturing street-level imagery using smartphones and 360 cameras and how it contributes to improving map data critical for urban planning, mobility, and disaster response.

Community Support and Insta360 Adoption on Mapillary

While I was doing my Mapillary workshops in 2023, Insta360 was not yet fully supported, presenting a challenge for contributors looking to capture high-quality 360-degree imagery with Insta360 devices. While GoPro Max was the more commonly supported device for street-level mapping, it was not widely available in the Philippines, making alternatives like Insta360 crucial for local mappers. Recognizing this gap, I reached out to Said from the Mapillary team to report the issue and highlight the need for broader device compatibility.

In response to community feedback, the Mapillary team actively worked on making Insta360 integration possible. A few months later, they officially rolled out support for Insta360 cameras, demonstrating how Mapillary listens to and values input from its contributors. This update significantly improved the accessibility of high-quality panoramic imagery for Filipino mappers who previously had limited options.

Bringing Bikers into the Mapping Community

In 2024, my work with Mapillary expanded through a collaboration with the Tiklop Society of the Philippines (TSP).This non-stock, non-profit organization brings together decent people with a singular love and appreciation for folding bicycles.

The collaboration, called PedalMap, aimed to integrate their biking hobby with open mapping, encouraging TSP members to capture imagery that could benefit various humanitarian applications. During Open Data Day last year, we pitched this project and were awarded a mini-grant by the Open Knowledge Foundation, which we used to purchase bike mounts, safety vests, and first aid kits for the bikers. The use case for Tiklop and other biking communities extends beyond transportation planning—these street-level images can serve as crucial data sources for disaster risk reduction and management.

The inspiration for this initiative stemmed from the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake, where there was an urgent need for up-to-date ground-level imagery to assess building damage and plan response efforts. Similarly, the Philippines experiences frequent earthquakes, making near real-time street-level imagery crucial for rapid response.

By equipping bikers with tools and training to collect Mapillary imagery, we are building a community-driven mapping approach that ensures critical infrastructure and disaster-prone areas are well-documented before disasters strike. This type of participatory mapping strengthens preparedness efforts, enhances situational awareness, and supports post-disaster damage assessments.

The initiative has since led to increased engagement within the biking community, with participants actively using Mapillary to document highways, as well as trails. Some bikers continue to contribute imagery, alongside their contributions to Strava. Recently, we trained another batch of TSP members along with another biking group, the Firefly Brigade, on using Mapillary, where they expressed interest in utilizing this tool during long rides. As a result of this collaboration, we have lined up workshops with other biking groups, including Bike Scouts Philippines, to further expand the reach of open mapping within cycling communities.

The Future of Mapillary and Open Mapping in the Philippines

Mapillary has proven to be a powerful tool for open data advocates, and my journey has come full circle—from an early adopter in 2016 to a mentor and advocate in 2023 and beyond. The platform’s evolving capabilities, particularly in AI-powered object detection, have made it an indispensable resource for community mappers, disaster responders, and urban planners.

In 2025, we are taking targeted steps to expand our collaboration with biking communities, particularly those in Metro Manila and key regional hubs. We aim to encourage bikers to integrate street-level imagery collection into their daily routes, ensuring that more areas, especially secondary roads and pathways, are mapped with updated visuals. Additionally, we are working on proposing the integration of OSM and Mapillary into the curriculum of the University of the Philippines, making open mapping a more institutionalized part of geospatial education.

In my ongoing project with the UP Resilience Institute and the UP Department of Industrial Engineering, we plan to collect imagery in Baguio City and Iloilo City, two urban areas with unique mapping challenges. While we take inspiration from Mapillary’s AI-powered object detection, we focus on capturing critical infrastructure using street-level images, particularly micro-scale features not visible from satellite imagery. These images will also enable us to enhance existing infrastructure datasets by adding details such as floor levels and other structural attributes, which are vital for disaster resilience and urban planning.

As I continue working with YouthMappers, UPRI, and biking communities, I see endless opportunities for Mapillary to bridge gaps in geographic data and empower local communities to take an active role in mapping. Whether for disaster resilience, active mobility, or urban planning, integrating street-level imagery into open mapping will remain a crucial part of our efforts to build a more informed and resilient Philippines.

/Feye Andal

Twitter/X: @dfeyeandal

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/feye-andal/

Website: feyeandal.me