I am busy mapping Batangas City again this Christmas vacation, as continuation of my task of improving its map since I started to edit OpenStreetMap for most of the time. I have mapped Batangas City in Google Map Maker, but I am more encouraged to map Batangas City in OSM because of better data, in contrast to Google Maps, which I see as worse, as well as the Map Maker shutdown resulting from the “Android pissing on Apple” incident in Pakistan. Thankfully, I discovered OSM and I started to share my knowledge and improve it to its present state.

My updates on mapping Batangas City includes several mapping activities: updating, expanding, and improving the power lines in Batangas City, now focusing on NGCP’s 69 kV subtransmission system and 13.8 kV distribution system, and Meralco’s 7.97 kV and 13.8 kV distribution system and 69 kV subtransmission system, adding missing and new POI’s (adding the first Alfamart branch in Batangas City, some missing POI’s in P. Burgos Street at Poblacion, and adding missing businesses around Balagtas, Julian Pastor Memorial Market, and Cuta) and updating some POI’s, (renaming the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to follow the sign outside, verifying the name of a day care center in Cuta, near St. Bridget College, and adding the name of Eternal Gardens Batangas, which was missing before and missed out by my large-scale mapping activity last year) mapping sports facilities (basketball, badminton, and tennis courts, and a swimming pool in the Batangas Coliseum), and mapping buildings as part of Project NOAH-ISAIAH’s task for Batangas (HOT OSM project 1886).

First part is power line mapping, where I continue to expand and improve the electric power distribution system in Batangas City, which includes NGCP’s 69 kV subtransmission system and a supplementary 13.8 kV distribution system, and Meralco’s 69 kV subtransmission system and the 13.8 kV and 7.97 kV distribution system. Meralco, or the Manila Electric Company, which serves Metro Manila and nearby provinces, distributes electricity to Batangas City and San Pascual, but is isolated from the rest of Meralco’s franchise area, with other cities and municipalities around, like Bauan, San Jose, Lobo, Alitagtag, Cuenca, and Lipa being served by the Batangas II Electric Cooperative, a provincial electric cooperative. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines originally supplies Meralco’s 13.8 kV and 7.97 kV distribution system through its 69 kV subtransmission system, but, with increasing power demand in Batangas City (“load increase”), power reliability issues on NGCP’s existing subtransmission lines, and JG Summit in Simlong requiring higher power demand (see Meralco’s 1st quarterly report, 2nd quarterly report, and 3rd quarterly report for 2015), Meralco responded by constructing three subtransmission lines, all operated and owned by the company itself, with two lines (constructed between early 2013 and early 2015) to connect NGCP Batangas Substation in Mahabang Parang with Meralco Batangas City substation , and one line (constructed from mid 2014 to early 2015) to connect Batangas City Substation and JG Summit, with a backup connection with Bolbok Substation, in case of outage of the three subtransmission lines supplying Batangas City Substation are shut down. While I am not yet contributing to OSM, I saw the construction of those lines, with the presence of tall poles laid out at many roads around Batangas City.

While the 230 kV lines of NGCP’s transmission system are already OK (power line data already OK and 230 kV switchgear at Batangas Substation fully mapped), I now focus on the subtransmission and distribution systems, either operated by Meralco or NGCP. For Meralco’s subtransmission and distribution system, I removed portions of 440 V split-phase lines composed of a neutral instead of two 220 kV lines and a neutral, extended portions of Meralco 69 kV subtransmission lines and further extended an overhead cable leading to a substation inside Saint Bridget College, surveyed distribution transformer locations and info (rating, phases), improved existing distribution circuit relations, especially in Poblacion, where most of those circuits converge, added poles (some used to support a guy wire for a nearby pole) and more information for existing ones, and added more 7.97 kV and 13.8 kV lines in Cuta and Malitam. For NGCP’s subtransmission and distribution system, I extended portions of the Batangas - San Miguel Purefoods - Fortune Cement (Lafarge) 69 kV line in Kumintang Ibaba and Balagtas, added portions of 13.8 kV lines in Balagtas, and expanded the 69 kV switchgear at Batangas Substation to accomodate extended 69 kV lines. Along with expanding and improving Meralco and NGCP’s power line map in Batangas City, I am gradually retagging poles used on the 69 kV lines, from tower to pole and adding pole designs on most poles on Meralco’s distribution lines, as part of possible implementation of an expanded power pole tagging.

Second part of mapping Batangas City is additions/updates on points of interest. First is mapping the first Alfamart branch in Batangas City, found on Recto and Ofelia Building A along M.H. Del Pilar at Barangay 1, Poblacion. After a Mass at Christmas day, we visited Plaza Mabini, ate at KFC near P. Burgos corner A. Evangelista, and bought “puto bumbong” (purple-colored rice cake cooked on bamboo and sold during “Simbang Gabi” or “Misa de Gallo”) , “bibingka” (rice pancake), and popcorn from food vendors near the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, exactly at the time of Simbang Gabi. While we are buying puto bumbong and bibingka at the front of the Basilica, I saw an Alfamart sign not far from Plaza Mabini, and it indicated the presence of an Alfamart store. Having that seen while outside, being in field mapping, I decided to map it out, along with some missing POI’s I found along P. Burgos when we went to KFC, like a Landbank branch and a Shanghai Siomai kiosk. I have mapped many Alfamart stores, primarily at Cavite and Laguna, since the opening of more stores starting from their entry into the Philippines, after their commercial success at Indonesia, where they started.The following updates aside from the new Alfamart store and additional POI’s at P. Burgos are renaming of two POI’s, like the Basilica of the Conception and a day care center at “Cuta Journal” area of Cuta, near Saint Bridget College. For the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, I renamed it to follow the sign at the church complex’s entrance, but, I have to add the original name as English name (name:en) instead. For the day care center at Cuta Journal, it was previously named as “Lingap Bata Educational Foundation”, but re-verifying it on the ground, while we are walking to the Basilica for the Mass, I found the real name. I first saw the real name of the day care center, “Lingap Kalinga sa mga Paslit Educational Foundation” through Google Street View using my cell phone or tablet at my home at San Pedro, but being aware that it cannot be used as a source for OpenStreetMap data, I rather waited to go to Batangas City for vacation and verify it on the ground myself. Following those renaming edits are additions of missing POI’s at Balagtas and Cuta. I added a Chinese school, Batangas Kipse Academy (actually “Batangas Kipsi School” on their advertisement along M.H. Del Pilar towards Cuta), the main garages for Alps the Bus at Balagtas, a Suzuki dealer and a trucking company garage and office at Diversion Road,added the name “Eternal Gardens” to the unnamed cemetery at the same barangay. While I am making many sets of edits at Batangas City last year, I missed out that cemetery, with the other cemetery at Concepcion only having the name “Eternal Gardens” since it is added to the map.

Next is mapping some sports facilities, primarily using Bing. Seeing them while browsing Bing imagery to trace, I decided to map them out. Some sports facilities I mapped are basketball courts (at Pallocan West), and the swimming pool at Batangas Coliseum.

And last, I contributed some buildings and building address data for Project NOAH-ISAIAH. My edits since I returned back on mapping for Project NOAH-ISAIAH with changesets using the prescribed edit comment on the Instructions at the OSM Task Manager, but I prefixed the location (in brackets), as I use a changeset comment format used by ianlopez1115 (Ian Lopez), seav (Eugene Allan Villar) and Nate Joshua; however, for the following edits, I used the prescribed edit comment on the instructions, but the first edits having incorrect hashtags, with #hotosm-project-1886 being #hotosmproject-1886. For the later edits, I used the correct hashtag. My contributions for Project NOAH-ISAIAH are buildings in Pallocan West, some barangays in Poblacion, and Balagtas, including adding address info to buildings.

Yet, my mapping activity will continue, with more updates to be done. But, the present aerial imagery that can be used is only Bing, and they are now outdated, that some new developments, like the expanded NGCP Batangas Substation at Mahabang Parang, Camella Solamente at Sorosoro Karsada, and new buildings and POI’s along Diversion Road cannot be mapped easily without GPS traces or local knowledge. so, I requested Mapbox for additional imagery to cover Batangas City, along with the remaining part of Lipa, San Jose, Ibaan, Cuenca, and part of Alitagtag. I hope Mapbox will add them at the next year or other times at the near future

Happy mapping!