We are holding two mapping events this week in Lima, Peru. Last night we held a Geo & Open Data Meetup, the second of its type. We had a great turnout last night, with 30+ people coming out to talk about geo and geodata.

30+ people came out to talk about geo and open data.

The meetup consisted of several lightening talks on topics like scraping for data, reflections on DAL, and OpenStreetMap Peru. I presented on using TileMill and OpenStreetMap to make custom maps, and Ruben presented on on his work opening up data with the local municipality of Huamanga.

Ruben presenting on his work opening data with the local municipal government in Ayacucho.

Tonight Ruben and I are leading a training on designing custom maps with TileMill. We’ll cover topics ranging from geographic information system basics, basic TileMill, choropleth map creation, data processing for census mapping, to mention a few topics. If you’re new to TileMill, I recommend arriving at 5:00 pm with your laptop, and we can help you get it installed. Full details on the training are posted on opendata.pe. There is no cost for the training, and all are welcome to attend.

Based on last night’s turnout and discussion it is clear the community and interest is growing. We hope to hold more events relating to geo and open data in Peru moving forward. Watch opendata.pe for updates on events.