Project of the week/2010/Oct 20
Shopping malls
They aren't glamorous. They might not be pretty. They can be useful, but there is one seldom-spoken benefit to mapping a local shopping mall. It is so satisfying.
What is so satisfying about mapping a local mall, or cluster of shops? It's a mapping project of Just The Right Size. More substantial than adding a single POI, faster than adding a village. Mapping a mall is a nice meal; more than a snack, less than a feast. But perhaps best of all, mapping a mall is a task that can be completed. Mapping a mall can be a perfect 30-minute mapping project including survey and tagging.
This Project of the Week was inspired by a discussion at a recent Toronto OSM Mappy Hour, where some mappers[1] confessed that their guilty mapping pleasure was mapping a shopping plaza. Not ambitious, not socially significant, not innovative. Just a solid bit of mapping with immediate gratification.
[1] Mappers names removed to protect the innocent.
Tagging suggestions
Include the building with an address.
Tagging industrial malls
How about commercial / light-industrial malls. These are collections of businesses that may sell to other businesses, rather than consumers, or for periodic consumer purchases rather than every-day items.
Industrial supplies like welding gases, fasteners, industrial chemicals and lubricants
Light manufacturing like a machine shop, custom cabinetry, engraving, coating, cutting and forming
Tagging retail malls
A bank with an atm
A diner
A convenience store
A laundromat