The Universidad Autonoma de Baja California hosted the technical exchange focusing on border issues. Visitors from San Diego State University joined the students and faculty from the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California in examining the role of spatial data creation in rapidly growing border cities between the US and Mexico.

Kathmandu Living Labs hosted the 2C-Asia technical exchange. Participants included representatives from India, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. The 2C projects from Mongolia, India, and Nepal shared demonstrations of results from their projects. The technical exchange provided an opportunity for networking with other interested partners across Asia.

Dynamic Mapping of Secondary Cities Symposium II, 17 June 2019, Harvard University: This symposium focuses on sustainability planning for data creation projects – specifically how to expand networks, leverage resources, and maintain project integrity. This second symposium builds on the partnerships facilitated by the Secondary Cities initiative and is a follow up to the first 2C symposium that focused on tools and technology for data creation.

The Center for Remote Sensing and GIS (CERSGIS) hosted the 2C Africa Technical Exchange (2C-ATE) in Accra, Ghana. The 2C-ATE provided an opportunity for 2C partners to meet, discuss the status of their project, share demonstrations of new tools and technologies and identify future opportunities for networking. 2C Africa projects include: 2C Port Harcourt, Nigeria; 2C Douala, Cameroon; 2C Mekelle, Ethiopia; 2C Boke-Kamsar, Guinea; 2C Pemba, Mozambique. The technical exchange included hands on workshop on geospatial applications and in-field data collection activities.

The Universidad de San Francisco de Quito hosted the 2C Latin American Technical Exchange (2C-LATE) in Quito, Ecuador. The 2C-LATE provided a venue for all 2C projects to meet, share lessons learned, build a network of geospatial experts, and discuss sustainability plans for 2C projects. 2C Latin America projects include: 2C Tijuana, Mexico; 2C Santiago, Dominican Republic; 2C Cusco, Peru; 2C Esmeraldas; and 2C Santa Fe. The technical exchange included hands on workshops using open source tools, ArcGIS Online, and demonstrations of geospatial analysis.

Since 2015, the Secondary Cities (2C) Initiative has developed a global network of universities, non-governmental organizations, and local government to generate local, geospatial data for emergency preparedness, resiliency, and human security. Focusing on low-income and mid-income countries, the 2C Initiative spans 16 cities in as many countries. A panel will discuss the status of the initiative, lessons learned, and highlight initial outcomes. The 2C Initiative hosts the 2C Geonode where all data are posted and shared. Challenges to implementing a global project are both technical (i.e., interoperability across tools and platforms) and cultural (i.e., languages). Success is measured in the 2C partner efforts to generate data and the training of the next generation of geospatial experts.

Kathmandu Living Labs (KLL), a Secondary City Initiative partner, hosted State of the Map (SOTM) Asia, September 23-24, 2017, two days of talks, discussions, workshops, and networking all around OpenStreetMap, the free and open map of the world. SOTM is an event for all mappers and OpenStreetMap users. Dr. Lee Schwartz, the Director of the Office of the Geographer and Global Issues was a keynote speaker.

Africa EIS and Esri South Africa hosted the 2C South Africa Technical Exchange (2C-SATE) in Midrand, South Africa. The 2C-SATE provided a venue for all 2C Africa projects to meet, share lessons learned, and create a network of geospatial experts. 2C Africa projects include: 2C Douala, Cameroon, 2C Mekelle, Ethiopia, and 2C Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The technical exchange included hands on workshops using ArcGIS Online, geospatial data analysis, and data generation activities.

This session focused on the US Office of the Geographer and Global Issues signature initiative – Secondary Cities. Secondary Cities is in the second year expanding into new cities that are under-examined and under-mapped. The fundamental aim of these projects is to identify critical data needs, utilize open source tools, and create robust datasets for sustainable futures. This session provided an overview of Secondary Cities, described a case study, and presented methods for remote and local mapping of Secondary Cities.

On October, 2016 at the Habitat III conference in Quito, the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador was selected by the State Department as the newest city to join the 2C Initiative.

The Mapathon promoted themes of shared humanitarian interest, and mapping was coordinated through the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team’s Tasking Manager, with imagery services provided by the Office of the Geographer’s Humanitarian Information Unit. The three daily themes were Secondary Cities and Urban Resilience, Disaster Preparedness and Response, and Health and Infectious Disease.

How the rapid growth and development of thousands of secondary cities in the global south will dominate urbanization over the next several decades.