[Talk-ca] [montreal] Mapping weekend in Montreal

[Nicolas Marchildon]

On 2010-07-07 08:11, Richard Weait wrote:
> Of the many options to meet mappers consider:
>
> OSM Sixth birthday party. OSM turns six in August. Host or attend a
> party to meet other mappers. Talk. Eat cake. Have fun.
>
> Host a local meetup. Welcome newer mappers and those curious. Answer
> questions. Talk. Have fun.

That should be easy to organize. Basically, decide a place and time and 
send out invitations to contributors. I have already done this research 
for the Mapping Party in October. So here's the Facebook event, for 
those interested:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134942336536032

> Host a mapping party. Find a place that needs attention from mappers.
> Divide it up in easily mapped chunks. Map it. Return to base to
> edit it. Enjoy beverages. Talk. Have fun.

How do you define what needs attention? Lots of missing street names? 
Missing addr:housenumbers? That depends on the people that show up, 
which is why I'm thinking of an Open Space kind of Mapping Party, where 
the activities are decided at the beginning and subject to change during 
the course of the event.

And how big should the chunks be? Last time I organized a mapping party, 
the chunks were very large, in retrospect. And we should have spent less 
time mapping, more time editing (and drinking).

> Host a longer event. London, England has hosted hacking weekends to
> solve specific programming challenges. Hacking weekends have
> traditionally been for those more on the programming side.

I don't see the need right now, but that may change after the first 
meetup :)

> Isle of White, England hosted a 10-day mapping party when it was
> completely unmapped.

What motivated them?

> Perhaps something else? What you plan will depend on your interests,
> and on the audience that you expect (or hope) to attract. Same with
> the venue. Do you expect 2000 people? You'll need space for them.
> ;-) Do you expect five?

For comparision, the Ubuntu release parties attract around 30-40 people 
in Montreal. For OpenStreetMap, given that there is  about this number 
of contributors, I'd expect more than five, considering that there will 
also be new mappers.

> Nicolas, Yves can certainly offer you some experience from the
> successful mapping parties that he has organized.

Yes, and he says I need a motivator like you!

> I would be very pleased to travel to Montreal and meet with others in
> the area. So please be sure to keep us posted on your plans.

Originally, I had October 10 in mind, but Alexandre Leroux noted in the 
wiki page that it's Action de Grâce, so I moved the Mapping Party to 
October 2nd. Please let me know if you are available on that date.

Having an experienced OSM contributor like you on board would justify 
reaching out for a larger crowd. I can easily get in contact with people 
interested in Open Source, but I'd need help reaching out professionals 
in the mapping field.

Nicolas