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

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