User:Harry Wood
From OpenStreetMap
I'm an IT Consultant based in London.
Contents |
Harry Wood Homepage
Including blog category 'maps' although I'm planning to make more use of...
my OSM 'user diary'
My mapping
I've done bits and bobs of OSM mapping around Central London. Most of my contributions so far have been done using Yahoo! Aerial Imagery (YWMS plugin or Potlatch, previously the Java Applet), however I do now own a GPS Receiver. I was given a NaviGPS GT-11 for Christmas (2007), so now I'm finally learning what all this GPX file malarkey is all about. I don't have a car, and so I'm mapping on foot, trying to note down some details like post boxes and pubs as I go. I recently pioneered the new approach of roller-mapping (on roller-blades) at the ShoHo Mapping Party.
I've also been sketching in road layouts over the Yahoo! Aerial Imagery, in large areas where I am not necesarily planning to complete the mapping myself. See my thoughts on two-phase mapping below.
Locations
Various bits of mapping around Central London
I live near Archway, and normally work by Barbican tube, but I also spend a lot of time in Kilburn Park. I also get sent as a consultant to work in different places sometimes. I did a bit of mapping in Ealing Broadway for example. And then there's always the chance of a spot of mapping in between various social outings / weekend walks around London.
I've been doing a bit of GPS mapping around my home town of Holmfirth in West Yorkshire, while back home visiting my parents.
Wiki
I'm a wiki enthusiast. my fiddling with this wiki has probably been my main contribution actually. Still lots more work to do though: WikiProject Cleanup
I'm a contributor to WikiTravel.org (user 'Nojer2'). The wikitravel mapmaking ideas set my mind wondering about this kind of editable map system a long time ago.
I'd like to see OSM map editing features starting to emulate wiki-like features a little more. Change monitoring and Change rollback. It will be a bit tricky, but we should think about how we can present a 'history' page and a 'my contributions' page showing changes to a map (graphical).
Coding
I made a noddy little OpenStreetMap MediaWiki Extension. Apart from that I haven't done any coding for OSM. I might be able to help perhaps. I know a lot of java and a little php. Not sure where to start though really.
Two-phase mapping workflow
I think a two-phase workflow could work well in areas where we have Yahoo coverage, and it's something I have been pushing for, not just in terms of allowing people to do it, but actually encouraging people to do it. This is somewhat reliant upon support within editors and renderers, for "sketched" roads. Sketching used to be facilitated quite elegantly by unwayed segments, particularly as they showed up as sketchy looking grey lines in the osmarender layer. This was exactly the behaviour we needed. We need some indication of sketched in roads, but not making the areas look complete to the same degree as the fully surveyed areas (Note that I never want to suggest that phase two surveying is not necessary) Unwayed segments are now going out of fashion, for other reasons (actually the whole 'segment' concept is going away) but developers of renderers and editors should consider what mechanism can be provided to support phase one sketching, for example untagged ways could be rendered in the same way unwayed segments used to be.
