5th Anniversary Party
We’re not really sure how it started, but archaeological evidence suggests that it was approximately five years ago when Steve Coast created the OpenStreetMap project, kicking off the wonderful worldwide mapping collaboration we all know and love. To celebrate this approximate anniversary, it was the OpenStreetMap 5th Anniversary party on Saturday. And this year there was cake! There was cake in Japan, cake in Toronto, and cake in London. …and then there were more cakes in London:
All in all, a lot of cake was eaten, and we had a great gathering, with key community figures travelling from afar to be there (There was the small matter of the Foundation AGM too, but clearly most of us were there for the cake) It’s always been a global project, but we’re really starting to feel it now, with a multiligual website, multilingual maps (experimental), and a more international team on the foundation board for the coming year. Clearly it was only natural that we party across several continents on OSM’s 5th birthday, and expressed our global ambitions through the medium of cake!
More photos on the wiki page and Steve has posted a video interview with London cakemakers
August 25th, 2009 - Posted by Harry Wood | 1 Comments
Live OpenStreetMap
Have you ever wanted to know who is editing right now on OpenStreetMap? Now you can! Check out this cool map of the world that shows where anyone is editing in real time anywhere on the planet!
July 14th, 2009 - Posted by Hurricane McEwen | 0 Comments
Steve Coast: An interview in Amsterdam on the way to the pub
While walking to the nearest pub in Amsterdam after the State of the Map conference on Saturday, Steve Coast had a quick interview with DerStandard.at about OpenStreetMap. You can read the German version or the English version.
July 14th, 2009 - Posted by Hurricane McEwen | 0 Comments
Great article on OpenStreetMap from GPS Business News
I just read this great article on OpenStreetMap at GPS Business News by Ludovic Privat. He talks about the State of the Map conference and several common topics folks ask about OpenStreetMap: What about Coverage, Accuracy and Quality? OSM and the public sector? Is it good enough? And the future of OSM!
July 14th, 2009 - Posted by Hurricane McEwen | 0 Comments
Exploring communit[ies] – Pink Iguana
Zoë Blackler, blogging under the title Pink Iguana, has written a nice blog posting (featuring yours truly) about her exploration of communities. She’s doing research for a book about changing communities – in her case, immigrating to a new country. Of course, place is part of her exploration, and thus maps. She has been to my last two mapping parties in the NYC area. But don’t listen to me, go read about it at The Pink Iguana’s Lost and Found posting.
July 11th, 2009 - Posted by Russ Nelson | 0 Comments
Oakland mappers improve the downtown map
June 26, 2009 June 30, 2009
This past weekend’s Oakland Mapping Party showed what a difference a weekend of mapping can make!
On June 27th and 28th, OSM experts and newbies joined together at the Rock, Paper, Scissors Art Collective, to work together to improve the Oakland map. Mappers concentrated on adding details to the downtown map, showcasing where restaurants, galleries, bike parking are located, as well as many other amenities. A couple of mappers focused on improving the cycle map, helping to ensure OpenCycleMap of Oakland is a reliable resource for Oakland cyclists.
A group of mappers also took up the challenge of mapping the local parks, including Lakeside Park (which is almost complete), Washington Park (in Alameda), and the Jack London Square district. There is still more detail needed in the Oakland park system, but our efforts have made a lot of headway.
New mappers learned how to use GPS units, as well as Paper Maps with the Walking-Papers.org project. You can check out some of the paper maps scans here. Paper maps are helpful in mapping dense urban environments, such as downtown Oakland, where there are lots of points-of-interest and addresses to collect.
Between the attendees, there was lively discussion about ways to grow the OSM community, with ideas on sharing GPS units, potential collaborators and new event activities, locations and partners. Overall, the Oakland Mapping community is alive and growing, so please join us for an upcoming event!
A big thank you to the RPS Collective, who were great hosts! We highly recommend attending one of their upcoming events (as well as making a donation) !
June 30th, 2009 - Posted by Sarah Manley | 0 Comments
TIGER data in OSM
TIGER is the USA Census Bureau’s street map dataset. David Hansen imported it into OSM at the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008. Took about five months. Lots of data there. Now, TIGER has a somewhat tattered reputation amongst the geo-cognoscenti and deservedly so. Take a look at this screen capture from a JOSM session northwest of Shippensburg, PA:
Notice how the error vector isn’t constant. It’s not like the data has been misprojected, which would result in it being off in one direction by a constant amount. Instead, the error vector wanders all over the place. It’s … as if the data was truncated at some point to a fixed number of bits or decimal points. So rather than all the points moving in the same direction, they all move to the nearest point representable by the truncation. I haven’t verified that that’s actually what happened, but that’s what it looks like.
Also, note that this is only true for some counties. Shippensburg is split between Cumberland and Franklin Counties. Cumberland is just fine, but Franklin is this horrible mess as pictured above.
June 26th, 2009 - Posted by Russ Nelson | 2 Comments
Kickapoo
You would think that the community ambassadors at CloudMade are full time geeks. And you’d be right! But some of us are geeky in passions beyond programming and gpx.xml formats.
For example, Russ loves to bike. Everyday. I think he should be sponsored by TREK for the miles and publicity he could get them in rural New York! And Dirk, well, this is his favorite time of year! It’s baseball season, yo!
And me, well, I a still discovering what I’m geeky about (dude, I totally worked with code on the terminal yesterday! It was epic) …but I will always admit to an obsession with horses. Once you’ve fallen in love with an equine, it’s in your blood. So let me introduce you to my best bud, Kickapoo. He’s a spoiled rotten (in the best of ways) six year old mutt. No, really, we don’t know his bloodlines for sure, but he’s probably a combination of percheron and quarter horse. i.e. he’s perfect.
Up close and personal with Kickapoo
If you think I don’t map while I’m riding, you’d be wrong. The ranch I am lucky enough to ride at has thousands of acres to explore and I definitely drop bread crumbs so I can find my way back. Yes, it’s true Kickapoo would always be able to find the barn (z.B. they know where the treats are!) but I carry the GPS just incase he decides to leave me up in the hills 
Happy Mapping,
Hurricane and Kickapoo
June 18th, 2009 - Posted by Hurricane McEwen | 1 Comments
Open Source Bridge Conference
Hurricane is heading to Portland, Oregon for the Open Source Bridge Conference. Over the weekend we will be hosting a mapping party at the downtown library in Portland and Sunday, Father’s Day, we’ll be hiking in the famous Forest Park! For details, be sure to visit theCloudMade Calendar and you can always check out the wiki for OpenStreetMap ;)
This is what Hurricane says:
I hear Portland is a great city and I can’t wait to explore! I also hope to meet up with my favorite rafting buddy, Joshua Rafkind. We can laugh and cry about the life changing trip we took last winter– Lava Falls! I’ve been told to visit Pendelton for great wool wear and if there’s time, a jaunt down to Mount St. Helens will be in order. A full report to follow!
June 18th, 2009 - Posted by Hurricane McEwen | 0 Comments
