Hello! My name is Ian Dees and I’m running for one of the five OpenStreetMap US, Inc. board member positions.

As a member of the 2010 board I solicited hardware donations that gave OpenStreetMap US it’s first web presence and provided utility to the community. Later on I purchased and configured the hardware used to host numerous helpful tile layers and data for the community.

Outside of the OSM US board, I’ve contributed hundreds of hours of my time to improve the map: I’ve run several mapping parties (in Chicago and Minneapolis), talked about OpenStreetMap at several conferences around the country, guest lectured in University classes on OSM, and contributed code to the project (jxapi, JOSM notes, fieldpapers, and mbtiles plugins to name a few). I’ve also committed tons of data to OSM: the city of Chicago has very nearly complete address coverage due to my year-long work to get the city to release its buildings data with a free license.

As a future board member of OpenStreetMap US, I will continue to work diligently to improve the map while advocating for its use wherever I can. Specifically, I will:

• Push for using organization resources to collect, collate and properly license address data from as many municipalities as possible in the US
• Work to increase visibility and diversity of the OpenStreetMap project in the US by reaching out to organizations like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sierra Club, and local student organizations
• Make it easier for those with questions about OpenStreetMap to get answers from a knowledgable, friendly person in a structured manner (advertising a phone number, e-mail address, or using something like UserVoice)
• Improve communication with our community: an e-mail newsletter pointing out great events, particularly well-mapped areas of the map, and community-contributed writing about OSM.

OpenStreetMap in the US has improved by leaps and bounds since I last sat on the board and I hope to have your vote so I can help it continue it’s stellar growth.