[OSM-talk] Is there a How-To for a mapping weekend?

[Tom Chance]

Ahoy,

On Monday 18 September 2006 13:07, Ralf at zimmermann.com wrote:
> As there have been some mapping weekends in the UK already, I thought maybe
> the participants would want to write a How-To on this. I am especially
> interessted in   their experiences:

Put this on the wiki if you want. Some random suggestions:

- Drive/cycle down all the main roads, cutting the area into "cells" that can 
be done in a couple of hours by bicycle, and some smaller ones for those on 
foot. The cells should be bounded by roads that are very obvious if you come 
across them, so without any maps you know you've reached the edge of your 
cell. You can see some unmapped cells in the bottom right of this picture:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Image:Weekend_traces.png

- Have something for everyone. Drivers, cyclists, walkers. Locals, strangers. 
Fit, unfit. Experienced on roads, prefer footpaths. People who prefer to go 
in pairs, people who just want to go off and map as much as possible.

- The more the merrier, just so long as you've prepared enough cells, have 
enough GPS units, enough space at base camp, etc.

- Have a printer ready. Print off the cells diagram (take a screenshot of JOSM 
showing those traces), annotate it with road names and landmarks to help 
people, and give them out. Then it can be handy to print off additional JOSM 
screenshots showing traces as they're collected, especially if people only 
half complete their cell.

- Have plenty of space on your dictaphone/camera for the weekend :o)

- There's no *need* to draw&tag anything during the weekend, but it's 
something to do in quiet moments. You can get by with traces in JOSM.

- Exchange phone numbers, and either arrange for access to the base camp, or 
make sure you have a time to meet back and have the person with keys get 
there a little earlier.

- Get lots of refreshments in and a comfortable space to lounge around. Take 
the opportunity to *enjoy* yourselves, meet new people, etc. Being there in 
person makes it much easier to teach people how to map well (as opposed to 
getting terrible traces and doing a bad job of marking it all up). Mapping 
weekends can actually be more successful at recruiting people than at 
mapping.

- Take a nice group photo :)

Good luck,
Tom

-- 
The struggle against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting
 - Kundera