[Talk-ca] SOTM 2008: The State of The (Canada) Map

Richard Weait richard at weait.com
Wed Jul 9 03:00:18 BST 2008


On Tue, 2008-07-08 at 19:46 -0600, James Ewen wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 6:41 PM, SteveC <steve at asklater.com> wrote:
> 
> >> We need to find and enlist GPS enabled users currently... I found out
> >> about OSM from the Geocaching community, if I recall correctly. Hmm, I
> >
> > Disagree again - I carry around a pack of 10 GPS units to lend to
> > people at mapping parties.
> 
> Cool, where do I find those 10 packs of GPS units at no cost? I'm
> still using my Garmin GPSII+. I managed to find BSGPS which will log
> my travels so I don't have to stop every 1024 seconds to download my
> track.

When is your party?  I have some GPSes for loan to other OSMers in
Canada.  That goes for other Canadian mappers as well.  Let me know and
we'll work something out.  

> >>We need to spread the
> >> word and build the membership base around here currently.
> >
> >Absolutely wrong. I'm running lots of mapping parties in the US where
> >OSM is totally unknown. I contact the geography departments, hikers,
> >cyclists and so on and the results are good.
> 
> So, do you send these distant groups free GPS units? Do you attend
> these mapping parties? If so, how do you get there at no cost?

I like Alberta.  Let me know when you are planning and perhaps I can
bring the GPSes personally.  Air Canada isn't going to send me for free,
but if I can combine a business trip with some fun mapping; why wouldn't
I?  

> I'm also not sure how you keep the OSM project a secret from these
> people that you get to map out an area for you. It sure seems like you
> would be spreading the word, and bringing more people into the OSM
> community through these activities.

Why would we keep it a secret?  Who's doing that?  It seems silly to try
to keep OSM secret when you are showing people the osm site, the wiki,
sample maps, the svn ...  






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