[Talk-us] Announcing the Chattanooga OpenStreetMap Users Group

[Randal Hale]

So I tried to come up with a more interesting 
name...Chattamappers...ChooChoo Cartographers.....Pork Chop and the Def 
MapMakingIdiots......and my favorite: The Barry Manilow Experience.

I ended up just going with the idea and gave up on the name.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/123483951073256?ap=1
Wiki:http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Chattanooga
Business Page: http://www.northrivergeographic.com/open-street-map

     So anyway - I started fooling around with OSM a couple of years ago 
through a weird turn of events. I've been hacking away at the map - 
Actually myself and another mapper T-9 (Tim) have been making a lot of 
edits. I've had a local High school helping.....which has been good and 
bad. Kids have gotten interested in Mapping..Kids make a lot of 
mistakes. I'm cleaning up the kid's mistakes now. Other people have been 
cleaning up my mistakes....it's all one giant learning experience. I've 
helped with the OSM edits in Georgia....not enough I must add. I was 
learning when all that started.
     I've got a pile of college students here in town that want to learn 
about GIS, so we're going to cover a little bit of everything (OSM, 
ArcGIS, QGIS, Data, etc, etc) . I've hooked up with Outdoor Chattanooga 
and hope to spread some of the OSM love with the outdoor community. I 
almost feel like we're a GIS users group instead of OSM...but hey it all 
ties in together.
     One Goal is to reel in the county's GIS department at some point. 
My life as a consultant makes that a bit of a hard sell (Tennessee has 
some backwards ideas about data and data sharing IMHO). Plus we never 
really hit it off - so I'm hoping I can get a different voice to carry 
the same message.
      I'm also trying to connect with these guys - 
http://www.chattanooga3d.com/ .  I think this initiative died a few 
months back. They did get some press out of this - I'll try to get some 
more.
     So anyway - announcements will be made. Food will be eaten. Beer 
will be drunken....drinked....and the map will get better in this area.

Talk to you guys later,
Randy

-- 
Randal Hale, GISP
North River Geographic Systems, Inc.
ESRI Business Partner and Certified Trainer
http://www.northrivergeographic.com
423.653.3611rjhale at northrivergeographic.com