He was mapping for a project at college. I had a short talk with him. The students in his class are spread all over town and researching the change that happens when small alleyways close. If I understood it correctly. Why aren’t the universities and colleges support their students in contributing to Open Street Maps? He said they gather all this data. And then nothing. It just sits at their homes and does nothing. I really hope he will check OSM out and will find it a satisfying way to share the data.

We have been on a very nice trip to the beach at Crosshaven. I brought my field map with me to map a bit. In the end we went a completely different way because we had a local with us to guide us. It was beautiful. But now I’m not sure if I should map the path we took. Locals wouldn’t show these ways even to new residents. But one thing is so important I would like to map it. But don’t know how to tag it. It’s an open well in the middle of what is now a sweet corn field. Basically it’s an uncovered maybe 6 meter deep hole. Any suggestions?

My 5 year old one wants to “count houses” every day now. I’m not fast enough with scribbling it down on my field notes, though. And I want to fill the information into OSM first before I collect more and more. For half an hour outside mapping I need 2 days mapping in front of the computer. I couldn’t get the others to be so keen on it. I think it would have been a great opportunity for my Teenagers to learn something about community, do something meaningful with the family, get to know the area in more detail and get mapping/computer knowledge the same time. We will see if I can get them on board over time.

Today I learned that every time I safe during an edit session I have to keep the message(s) I made the last time I safed. Otherwise only my last comment will be kept. And I safed quite often with detailed information why I did what. Until I discovered my mistake. That is frustrating. Encouraging is that others have small questions as well and get detailed answers.