[Talk-us] Increasing the number of US Mappers

[Ed Hillsman]

Back at the beginning of this discussion, there was some mention of getting press coverage. I’d like to suggest two possibilities, both with large numbers of readers, although I have no contacts at either publication.

National Geographic has had several short pieces on crisis mapping but not, as I recollect, anything on local US mapping. If we could work with them to develop an article that showcases good applications (uses, not just “apps”) of OSM data, and discusses the importance of local mapping to make them happen, that might encourage more people to start mapping. Most of these applications will be limited to one or a handful of different localitiesIt would be really great to identify at least one that emphasizes rural areas.

A second market to target, in a somewhat related way, is those of us who have retired, via one of the AARP publications. Again, this should highlight applications that might be of interest to older Americans, emphasize the dependence of these on data and, ideally (to fit in with the way AARP articles are written) highlighting examples of how older Americans have contributed data, pushed for development of the applications, and benefitted from them.

In both cases, the idea is to show things that lead the reader to say “Hey, I’d like to see that sort of thing where I live, and I’d be willing to put in some effort to put in the data for my part of town to make it happen.”

An observation about drop-out mappers. In the Albuquerque area, I’ve notices a number of cases that appear to be students at the University of New Mexico who do a bit of mapping and then, when they graduate, either stop or move out of the area.

Ed Hillsman
Albuquerque, New Mexico USA