I’m a mapper located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, USA. I enjoy improving the accuracy of road, trail, and stream locations. I use OSM as an antidote to social media, instead of doomscrolling, I improve the map.

I usually work using high resolution lidar elevation data displayed as shaded terrain, to discern features that are hidden under dense forest canopy. Sometimes I refer to the data housed at https://apps.nationalmap.gov/3depdem/ which provides multi-directional shading as well as contour lines to help visualize confusing terrain features.

I also refer to other sources off OSM to improve the map, such as the Strava heat map, which shows GPS traces from athletes such as trail runners and mountain bikers. I frequently refer to the publicly available GIS data from the county, and sometimes use Google street view, particularly when mapping driveway locations for rural homes.

I have an interest in public safety, disaster response, firefighting, and search and rescue. I map swimming pools and water tanks that are visible on aerial imagery, and forest access routes in wildfire hazard areas.

I hope you or a loved one are never lost in the woods, ordered to evacuate, or stuck behind landslides or tree falls. I encourage you to know at least two ways out of every room, and at least three ways out of your location in the event of earthquake, tsunami, debris flow, or wildfire. Be safe.

You can see the areas where I’ve been mapping on my OSM heatmap https://yosmhm.neis-one.org/?agrifolia