[dorkbotdc-blabber] OpenStreetMap Mapping Party

[Serge Wroclawski]

Dorkbot folks,

I was at your last meeting and one guy (Tom) got up and talked about the 
DC Metro possibly offering its data in Google Transit Feed format, so I 
thought this might be of interest to people on the list.

The OpenStreetMap Project (www.openstreetmap.org) is having a mapping 
party next week, November 1st and 2nd.

OpenStreetMap is a Free (as in speech) map. The difference between it, 
and say Google Maps is that Google gives you an API, and OpenStreetMap 
gives you the actual data.

At the core of OpenStreetMap are people adding and correcting the 
database (much like Wikipedia), so there's need to get people trained in 
how to do that. I heard the event organizer last week discussing this 
and he said that these mapping parties offer a way to learn the tools 
and work on maps in an informal atmosphere.

Anyway, I've just learned about the project two weeks ago and am going 
there to learn myself.

The URL for the event is in the middle of this page:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Washington_DC

and there's a link there on where to RSVP.

The DC Talk page mentions things in DC that are in need of mapping 
(public transportation, points of interest, landmarks, etc.)

So if you're interested, please show up!

Thanks,

- Serge