It is my pleasure to introduce the next keynote speaker. Wonderful lady, most of you probably know it. You danced probably on Tuesday at the GeoChicas event. Now it is the high time to know the story of this

wonderful community set by one of its leader Miriam Gonzalez. Whoo, all right.

I'm very proud and happy to be here. I hope I can entertain you a bit about the GeoChicas, I mean the journey from the state of the map all the way to post 4G, a special journey. So, okay, mouse. First I want to do this a bit interactive. So read this question.

What are some of the answers you or we all hear about why there is so little women mapping. So I want three volunteers. Raise your hands, whatever you have here. Doesn't matter if you are always a member, no I don't say member.

What have you hear about this? Why women are not mapping? Just three volunteers. Two. Okay, one. Yeah.

Yeah, I think the community is fairly abrasive sometimes and creates a barrier for people to talk and discuss ideas.

We're unsure of ourselves.

I think education profiles where men do the technical stuff and women do other stuff. All right, exactly. Those are some of the answers we receive. Women are not for technical things. They do better other things and the community can be harsh.

They can be, instead of welcoming, saying why you are mapping this wrong instead of mentoring you. We were not secure about what they are doing. So they are like, I prefer not to be adding certain things, better I stop mapping. We have here so many of these things.

So some numbers right now. There is more than 10 million people registering in OpenStreetMap till today, 2023. According to certain studies, there is around three to five percent only of women mapping in OpenStreetMap. So tons of data, not really diverse people putting all this data in the map and then if we are talking about the biggest,

largest special database in the world, this is scary. I mean, what is the map showing? Whose vision is the map showing? Are we really representing in this map 50% of the population? Not really. So we are doing things wrong.

So what is your Chicas? So how we all started? So we start as Latin American community because I mean, I'm from Mexico and then we're certain women over there. Let me show you now. We're more global. We have two channels, one in Spanish and one in English and the one we welcome anybody who is a woman from any country that wants to join the community. So how everything is started?

Everything started in a bar, to be honest with you, with a beer. So we never thought, I mean, while we started, I mean, we'll become what it is today. So we were a few ladies in the OSM Latin Telegram group, raising our hands, asking questions. At that time it was

2015, 2016. So you see different countries in Latin America with not even street names, with not boundaries in their countries. So we were discussing how to do things better and we realized we were the same two, three ladies, raising our hands, asking questions. So there was this big event, the sale of the map, Latin America happening in Sao Paulo and we said, let's meet,

let's have a beer, discuss about how we can bring more women into the mapping world. So we did this, I will say, very ugly banner at that time, saying, Yo mininas, yo ladies, yo chicas, come and join us and have a beer and let's speak about maps and how we can do a more diverse map in OpenStreetMap. At that time, we spoke with different companies.

Telenap, I was working at that time in that company, Mapbox, Mapillary, Carto, Hot, and everybody was so supportive about this. It was the first time we gathered. We were a few ladies and then at that time we were having first couple hours, just ladies, and then everybody was welcome. So we had also kind of a big party with everyone from the conference at that time.

But what's the point about yo chicas? What are the things we are trying to achieve? I will say we have maybe three main lines of action. One is how we can promote and empower more ladies to lead these special projects and also be part of the OSM community in a welcoming way. I will say welcome a lot. You will hear me say that word a lot.

The other part is how can we have more women representing special projects in conference globally? So I can really proudly say that before pandemic times, there were already more than 14 ladies already presenting in global conferences, which never presented before

because they didn't think that they will have enough information for submitting an abstract and then with the mentorship we were doing together in the safe space, they realized they could submit a talk and they were talking in Bucharest, in the FOS for you over there, in some events in USA, in some other events around Europe and all around the world. And then how can we share the knowledge with more people?

How can we be more open? So also we have certain webinars that we did also in the past and we want to continue doing in the one. Also this knowledge was sharing by companies like Carto, by QGIS experts and some other people also helping to build this knowledge together. And also making opportunities to more women to have better opportunities in their careers.

So who was two days ago in the Ushikas and Space Syntax take prison? Do you have fun? Good. If you missed it, so sorry next time. So right now we are seeing that

all these events This is the first ever event we attended as FOS4G and I can tell you we fell in love with the FOS4G community. We fell in love. It was in Dar Es Salaam 2018. I met some of my good friends in your special there and we could not believe to be able to have 40 ladies from five different continents

speaking about all these topics and then it was the first time we ever played the bingo that you play also in the event two nights ago. So that was the first time. Then we continue doing these events. Why? Because we think the night before the main events is a key part of the events.

You create this atmosphere in the one you make people included in the event. If you arrive to one event of 1,000 people suddenly it's like, oops, who do I know? Should I approach? Even if you are extrovert, you could be shy, you could be an introvert. I mean you can struggle with this. So all these events that we have been doing right now more than probably 12 I would say around the globe in Wellington, Tanzania for the second time this year, Heidelberg, Astrid around here.

She did one in Berlin in March and then Bucharest in the FOS4G in 2018 in Detroit. All these events have been helping also to create this welcoming atmosphere in the one after. People know each other in the event. They are starting already speaking about projects, collaborations and many other things.

So collaboration is the word we want to share right now. Collaboration and again collaboration and collaboration. Why? Because we're not here to make things change by ourselves. It's not just a problem for the women. It's how we can collaborate to make things better for everyone.

So what we have been doing over the last couple of years, I would say, at the same time, Yochikazu was also growing. We see that all these initiatives, women plus in geospatial, this is of Landsat, this is of SAR, meeting at the GEO with Adriana here, women in Copernicus,

space syntax, all these initiatives have been growing over the last few years. What's happening? We are all in geospatial. We are in the space industries, especially industries. Then we have same goals could be and also we can collaborate each other for certain things that we are doing better one or another.

So this has been leading to amazing collaborations. I can share with you that in pandemic times, there was a special forum in the Netherlands and then with my friend Olive Powell, she is one of the directors in women plus in geospatial, we say, hey, I mean, let's approach the organizers and see how we can do also kind of a networking event before the big event.

Then we approached them and they were like, yeah, we have never done that. Do you think it's a good idea? Of course, it's an amazing idea. So that was in 2020. I can share with you that that's the second one we did. This is the one of this year. And then this year they decided that it was even better to not have only one event at the beginning of the conference.

They did a special session in the one. It was female entrepreneurship, female resident stars, more topics to discuss about how to keep breaking the barriers. And then they even have all these DI partners in the one, in Meninas Dazio is part of these DI partners right now. So the beginning was knocking when they're saying, what about having an event?

And now they even have this place in the one. They want to move things forward in the industry to make things better for everyone. So this is some events also last year in Firenze with also women plus in geospatial, we have an amazing time too. And the one on the left is the Living Planets in Pozum in Bonn.

In the one we work together with Ladies of Landsat and also with Sisters of SARS to make this event that also was incredible. And then in Berlin, we hosted together with the company work for 42 Ladies of Landsat and your Chicas Network event.

Sorry. So if you ask me in 2016, do you think, I mean, where Chicas will be going? I will be like, we will be having another beer in every event. And then speaking about maps, I will never think that your Chicas was going to be recognized in the Financial Times, Al Jazeera, Fast Company, El Clarin in Argentina, on Dark Magazine, some Italian newspapers.

So I will never think that we will be mentioned here for research, for studies, for articles and some of the other things, urban planning and some of the other things. So this is something out of my mind.

And even right now, actually in Los Angeles, there is this Oxi Arts is a public space in the one. They combine art, culture and also social movements protests and they try to present these positions. So we're part of this expo at this moment. We finish in July 29. So if anybody is going to L.A. these times, I would recommend you to go.

The name of the expo is For the Sake of Dancing on the Street. So this is a group exhibition celebrating the interconnections of feminists and queer movements. And we're a part of this. Here you can see the map of a rapist in the path. This is a great story because one lady's name is Sarah and she came to the channel and she say, hey, I know nothing about maps,

but I really want to show how this movement is keep growing all around the globe. So we say, yes, I mean, we gave her like some kind of like guidance of the tools of mentorship. Then she prepared them up with other teams, the members of your chicas. And then suddenly it became it became the map in the one.

All these protests around the globe in the one they were protesting for a female violence starting in Chile. It was already happening in Europe. Some other protests in America, around Australia and also New Zealand. And then it became the map in the one everybody was adding their data in the one they were showing videos, they were showing manifestos,

they were showing different things. Organically, without planning too much, amazing things happen. There's another project we have, one of our star projects, Las Calles de las Mujeres. And this project also was part of the 8th, March 8th commemoration, I think like five years ago.

There was this map in the one we show how women have been forgotten from the public space and how we can also link this lack of visibility in the public space with Wikipedia articles written. So we also partnered with Wikipedia at that time and we started doing this project.

I hope you can see the map. So right now we have more than 30 cities. We have three languages in Spanish, Portuguese and also in Italian, which was added last year. So some examples of what you can see in this map. You can you can search online if you want later. This is one example of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the one out of all the maps in Argentina, you have 94% of male names and just 6% of women name. Out of these 6% of women name, only 67, they have an article in Wikipedia. Wikipedia, as we know, according to certain articles, they also have an issue regarding

having around 10%, 11% of women adding data to the initiative. So they have also an issue like OpenStreetMap. But also here you can see because of the articles you have. Sometimes women are not recognized because they don't have enough achievements to be able to have an article in Wikipedia. Another example will be Havana, for example.

In the one 62% of the Swiss, they have male name. 38% they have women name and the Wikipedia articles here, 36% of them have article. The last one I will be showing is this small city in Italy. The name is Brescia.

This project was really nice because this professor of geography was checking different collaborative projects in Italy with the students. And then they were checking Yochicas and some other things and they decided, what about doing this for the city in the one we live? So together with the students, they decided to be part of the Yochicas initiative.

So they imported Brescia and they saw that 95% of the street names were men. And 5% were women. Out of the women, 76% they have an article, which is a very high number from what we have seen in the past. And only 23% didn't have it. All right. So.

Wait, now what? How can I participate? How can I be part of this initiative? So, are men allowed to be part of this? Even the name sometimes when we have the event, Yochica Steak, I am a Chico. Can I go to the event? One of my colleagues told me that I really laugh a lot. Why keep supporting these initiatives?

So some answers right here. So women or whoever still herself as a woman can join. The communication channel is just for women for having a safe space in the one we can communicate. So you're a woman or a person, as a woman, you can more than welcome to join. I mean, of course, I mean, we always need cooperation.

We always need allies. So we're planning to do a better feathers. I mean, we can have a discussion, 15, 20 minutes in that one. How can we help? We're thinking also about how we can... Right now, it's having certain technologies from five years ago. So we want to see how we can scale these and keep adding more languages.

But with the current code, it will have certain issues. So we can speak also about that. Or you can write this to your chicasosm.gmail.com and we can, we are able to help you. Everybody can be mentor. Everybody can provide a webinar with what you know. So more than happy to hear about options.

And why keep supporting these initiatives? I would say, I mean, kind of a short answer. Having these initiatives is not a women's problem. It's not that your chicas has to change the world. It's not about women posting your space has to change the world. It's about how we all together need to change what's happening in this industry. How we all together can work in harmony to make things better and more welcoming

for everyone. So I will give you some homework. So you don't need to give it tomorrow. It's not like a assignment in school. But I will give you these questions. If you saw the bingo at the end of the bingo, there were these questions that we were planning.

If there was enough time, either we do one or the other because of the amount of people we decided was the bingo better. But share with maybe today at lunch, maybe today in the coffee break one of these questions with the people you are speaking with. So what has been for you an experience in the one you felt excluded in a conference or even at work?

What has been something that maybe a barrier for you that you can also give some advice to someone else, maybe new anywhere in the industry? How can you challenge yourself to also make things in the future and make everything more diverse, inclusive and with more equity? Share also success story.

I mean, how did you face something and you were successful for achieve something else? You have mentors, every single person. I will say this. Every person in this room, we are all experts in what we do. It could be coding. It could be digital. It could be giving a conference. It could be communication. It could be a business development.

I do partnerships between space companies for living. So everybody's an expert in what you do. So what you do also can serve to someone else's journey. That is maybe beginning their career, maybe starting something. Maybe you can also give this expertise and then keep the knowledge flowing and keep supporting more minority groups and women for moving things.

And then the last question is how we can continue the conversation beyond this day. So it's not one stop. I mean, we did continue and I hope one day we stop talking about this topic because everything is, I mean, more diverse and we want equity for everyone and inclusion. I hope so.

So something I want to share is that I could not be able to be here without all the support of one really special person who was key in this journey for your chicas. She was an inspiring person. And thanks to her, your chicken was able to connect really with the first 4G community in the way we are working today.

So I really want to be thankful to to Molina. And this talk is dedicated to her because she was an amazing your chicas and an inspiration for all of us. So I hope you can read a bit more about her if you didn't meet her. They doesn't meet her. So the last question is.

How has been your journey? Think deeply if you had challenges, if you had opportunities and how you can support more people to be able to keep this journey safe, diverse, inclusive and with equity for everyone. Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone. I'm happy to answer any question and I will be around.

Thank you so much for your talk. It was wonderful, inspiring, wonderful. We have a few moments for questions if anyone has some. Also, for our previous speaker, if there are any questions otherwise.

Great presentation. Thank you for that. I don't want to do homework, so I'm going to ask you to do some homework, too. What are some of your empowering moments in geospatial that you can point

at where it's been you've seen the future coming? OK, I will say some of my moments have been when you are not afraid about raising your voice.

So I think that that's that's those are key moments in the moments in the one you see, to give you one example, you will go to this conference and then you see five males in the panel, five dudes speaking, how experts they are in topic ABCD.

And then nobody feels comfortable about saying anything. And you raise your hand and say, thank you. I really enjoyed the talk. But where are the women? Where are the minority groups here? Can we change that for future panels? So I think we should not be afraid of raising our voice, raising our hand. And then maybe you will be what about the point of me

and they don't want to invite me anymore to this talk or to this event. Don't be afraid of that. I mean, I think you will have more benefits than than other people. Is more open right now in in what I mentioned before, especially our forum. So depending on the one, most of the people attending is people from maybe other generations.

And now I see how they are more open to listen, how they are more open to like see what is it can do from the side? Because at that time it was not an issue. It was not discussed at that time. So be outspoken raising your hand. We don't need to be aggressive. We can just be asking question with a soft voice saying, where is the rest of the population of the world represented here?

Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you. Great presentation. And I want our Nina to join from Damascus. I think it's going to be great that she could feel

a part of something to empower someone else. Thank you. Great. If you need the link for joining the channels, Astrid is here, Yochica, Astrid, Tatiana is here, Carmen is around also me.

You can let us know. We can give you the link for joining the channel. Thank you.