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ZeLonewolf

Mapper

Account aangemaakt op 15-1-2010

ZeLonewolf

🍿 Keep OSM weird and fun 🍿

From 2022-2024, I served on the OpenStreetMap US Board of Directors.

I am a hobbyist (I don't work in GIS/mapping), and open mapping advocate.

I created StreetFerret, which is an OSM-based completeness tracker for runners attempting to run every street in their city. I contribute to the OpenMapTiles project, and founded the OpenStreetMap Americana map style.

I am a US-based mapper with local knowledge of Rhode Island and Hawaii. My mapping interests include boundaries, protected areas / hiking trails, and water features.

I am active on the OpenStreetMap Wiki, US Slack, and World Discord.

My OSM values are as follows:

  1. OSM thrives when the community thrives, with a global perspective that embraces different cultures and languages. Local and national mapping communities should be allowed the autonomy to embrace local customs, conventions, and governance while working to achieve data consistency with international peers. Conversely, it is important to remain vigilant that we are not imposing our own values on others from afar, and to work collaboratively in a global sphere.

  2. Mappers should have the freedom to innovate and invent new ways to map, and create new services with map data. The map can and must evolve over time as technology advances and data needs change. Gatekeeping behaviors in all forms should be discouraged.

  3. We should strive to work together to consolidate duplicate or redundant tagging schemes, and improve upon schemes which no longer support the level of detail that mappers wish to record. The need for higher specificity in the database will only grow over time. Having multiple ways to map the same thing is bad for mappers, bad for data consumers, and promotes unnecessary conflict between individual mappers earnestly striving to improve the map.

  4. I support the inclusion of high-quality geodata from external open sources. The power of OSM is deeply rooted in our ability to artfully blend both bulk external and human-curated "craft mapped" data. Neither approach is sufficient on its own to satisfy the global demand for high-quality open map data on a global scale. New data will continue growing at an increasing rate indefinitely. We must embrace the technical challenges of an expanding data set, and ensure that our core infrastructure is capable of managing an increasingly voluminous representation of the world, for years to come.

  5. I support large scale efforts to improve data quality and tagging consistency. OSM cannot succeed solely on the basis of individual mappers inspecting individual features. Automation, artificial intelligence, and mechanical techniques must be embraced. We must not waste the valuable time of human volunteers to perform tasks that a computer could do at an equal or greater degree of accuracy.

If you believe that I have made an error while editing the map, please comment on the problem changeset, and I would be happy to fix anything that is wrong.

Other related accounts:

I am active on the OpenStreetMap Wiki, US Slack, Community Forums, and World Discord.

"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those that are doing it." -Author disuputed