[OSM-talk] OSM Southern England events

[Nick Whitelegg]

In an attempt to get the Southern England user group going, I'd like to 
propose a couple of events, one a pub meet and one a mapping with a possibly 
achievable aim if enough people come along: to map all well-used tracks and 
paths in the New Forest. 

Firstly the pub meet: the Crown, Southampton sometime in the second half of 
August, probably week of the 21st to give a gap after the party. One of my 
"locals" but fairly central for the region and accessible by public transport 
so seems a good bet.

On to the mapping event: I have already mapped a significant part of the New 
Forest myself, so it's not a start-from-scratch event, but with a concerted 
OSM effort I think it would be possible to get the whole lot done. Being 
off-road it would be aimed at walkers and cyclists.

I was thinking of two separate events, both probably over a weekend: one in 
September (possibly late August) for the open areas of the Forest (of which 
there are many) and one in early November to do the more wooded areas when 
leaf cover won't cause as big an issue with GPS reception, yet early enough 
for the landscape to still look attractive, before the descent into the 
darkness of midwinter. I wasn't thinking so much of as big an event of the 
IoW: more the sort of event where people from the area (or outside) could 
come down for the day. People would also get a Garmin GPS map of the Forest 
in OSM so far which they could use for navigation and to work out which paths 
need doing.

Let me know if interested...

Nick