After Project NOAH-ISAIAH HOT tasks and also my rural mapping in Batangas City, there is also an increase in mapping critical POI’s in the rural barangays of Batangas City, either on the lowlands or the mountainside. Schools and barangay halls are being added in rural barangays, and using names of those newly added schools or barangay halls, I trace barangays and add the nodes for them via Level0 (instead of JOSM). Rural mapping, especially of critical POI’s and infrastructure, may be useful for disaster risk reduction and rural development. Before, Batangas City has the urban areas only mapped in detail, until Project NOAH-ISAIAH started a HOT task that added buildings not only in the lowland urban areas, but also in the rural areas.

Thanks to all the efforts of local mappers, especially “Brad-M”, “digmaan” and “imeeperezveedor”, the critical POI’s (schools, day care centers, barangay halls, health centers) and infrastructure (roads and buildings) of the rural barangays of Batangas City are being mapped in more detail, like the urban areas, especially the Poblacion area. And it is possible that the city’s government, via the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRMMO) or City Planning and Development Office, may lead such mapping for disaster preparedness and response, and rural development.