Thursday, August 1, 2013

WMSU-CET Kicks Off IT Expo 2013; Hosts Google MapUp Party

Thursday, August 1, 2013

In partnership with the College of Engineering and Technology in Western Mindanao State University, a Technology Training and Seminar Workshop on G+ and Google Maps exclusive to CoE/CS Students has been conducted last July 5, 2013 in the afternoon at Audio Visual Room, College of Engineering and Technology of the same school here in Zamboanga City. The event is on the occasion of the one-day IT EXPO 2013 that has been successfully kicked off on the college grounds for the benefit of the current students, visitors and guests.



IT EXPO 2013

Engr. Cielito Olegario, CoE/ComSci Department Head officially opened the expo together with the College Dean Engr. Villareal and the faculty and staff. Ms. Yolynne Medina, GDG Zamboanga Community Manager has been invited to give an inspirational talk to the participants during the morning programme.

Notably, the annual IT EXPO shows off student IT Projects that include android mobile applications, mobile games, information systems, web development projects, computer engineering robots and a showcase of other student talents as well. Select IT projects are briefly presented on stage with the use of projector and visitors can go around from one booth to another to get a hands-on experience on the students' latest innovations. By and large, the student projects are promising and marketable.

What has been more exciting for everyone aside from the uber-sizzling tech stuff in the expo wagon and what's in store for them in the afternoon programme is the presence of the Zamboanga Cosplayers in their complete costumes walking around and poking fun to everybody's delight. Their presence added more colors and extra fun that complemented that entire event.

 G+ and Google Maps
Meanwhile, Google sparks fresh experiences for the IT students as they are treated to a free Technology Training and Seminar Workshop on G+ and Google Maps the entire afternoon. The workshop pooled about 100 students.

The sessions are handled by Community Managers Ms. Yolynne Medina (G+) and Ms. Grace Sojor (Google Maps and MapMaker). The sessions comprised of tech walkthroughs and actual demo. The speakers are thankful for the wifi connectivity in the area and the participants came in more than prepared as well - totally geared with their laptops, tablets and internet sticks.



We have tested Hangouts, Google Drive, G+, Google Maps, added an edit using Google Map Maker and eventually
did a Google MapUp Party that is extended online as a map up competition amongst registered participants. Google sponsored shirts, tumblers, stickers and drawstring bags. These are raffled off as well and given as rewards to those either asked or answered questions. Elearning Centre also sponsored the certificates for the event.


Ms. Medina took the opportunity as well to discuss the upcoming Philippine Transit App Challenge- Zamboanga Bootcamp.

Google MapUp Party is an opportunity for anyone interested in mapping using Google Mapmaker help map places in the locality. One of the objectives of the afternoon session is to show participants how to map different places, draw roads, add categories and discuss other features, points of interest. This will enable them to become citizen cartographers and improve the quality of maps and local information.




























For the record, it is GDG Zamboanga's first time to visit this university to do a Google Session. Further, Google Developer Group (GDG) Zamboanga is almost on its third year here in the city. It is one amongs the seven active chapters spread across the Philippines and supervised by GDG SouthEast Asia-Google. Other chapters are GDG Bacolod, GDG Baguio, GDG Cagayan De  Oro, GDG Cebu, GDG Davao and GDG Halsema. Google Developer Groups are for developers who are interested in Google's developer technology; everything from the Android, App Engine, and Google Chrome platforms, to product APIs like the Maps API, YouTube API and Google Calendar API.

GDG Zamboanga takes on the challenge to map for Mindanao and beyond. Additionally, Google has been pushing for MapUps for some years now. Google sponsors Map Up competitions as well. Last year alone, Ms. Grace Sojor has been awarded as one of the Top Ten Mappers/Winners in Google's Map Your Town Competition Philippines. The particular competition gave away ten HP laptops and portable HP DVD-ROMs to the top ten winners and awarded the Top 1 Mapper the privilege to grant
100,000 pesos to a public school of his choice. Competitions like this among others are things to look up to in the coming days. For Google MapUp Party inquiries, you may check out our group site at gplus.to/gdgzamboanga or send us an email at gdgzambo@gmail.com.









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