OpenStreetMap US

November 11–12, 2022

OpenStreetMap US’s third annual virtual conference was hosted jointly with Wiki Conference North America. The event included a Mappy Hour on Thursday, a half day of talks on Friday, and a day of workshops, birds of a feather sessions, mapathons, and the Local Chapters & Communities Congress on Saturday.

Schedule

Times are given in Eastern Standard Time.


Friday, November 11
Time Session
2:00 PM EST

Welcome to Mapping USA + WikiConference North America 2022!

Maggie Cawley and Kevin Payravi

Welcome session for Mapping USA + WikiConference North America 2022, featuring Maggie Cawley (OSM US) and Kevin Payravi (WCNA).

2:10 PM EST

Keynote: The Case for Sister Projects

Minh Nguyễn

Sister projects are the unsung heroes of Wikipedia’s success. Disputes between inclusionists and deletionists led to the creation of Wiktionary, Wikibooks, and more, fueling new contributions to the sum of human knowledge while reinforcing Wikipedia’s culture. OpenStreetMap is no stranger to deletion debates. Nascent sister projects like OpenHistoricalMap offer an outlet for more mapping, creating a more vibrant community than a fork ever could....

2:25 PM EST

Break

2:30 PM EST

At 18 years old, is OpenStreetMap entering adulthood?

Jennings Anderson and Martijn van Exel

OpenStreetMap started 18 years ago with a blank canvas and the ambition to become the best map of the world. All we could do in the beginning was create: draw all the roads, houses, businesses, lakes and forests. Now, 18 years in, OSM looks “done” in a lot of places. Our responsibility now shifts from creating to maintaining—but not everywhere at once, or at...

2:40 PM EST

Linking Wikimedia and OpenStreetMap

Richard Welty

This session will cover the mechanisms that exist for specifying cross connections between various Wikimedia projects (Commons, Wikidata, Wikipedia) and OpenStreetMap and OpenHistoricalMap. There are connectivity mechanisms in existence that can significantly enhance both projects.

3:00 PM EST

Break

3:15 PM EST

Intro to Public Domain Map

Quincy Morgan

It’s easy to see how OpenStreetMap can be leveraged to improve the completeness and freshness of government geospatial datasets. However, licensing has prevented federal agencies from using the data to its full benefit. Public Domain Map aims to resolve this (and other challenges) by providing a workflow that allows crowdsourcing contributions to be used in both OpenStreetMap and public domain US Government databases. We...

3:20 PM EST

Tips & Tricks for the Programs & Events Dashboard

Sage Ross

In this lightning talk, Wiki Education’s Sage Ross will give a quick overview of the Programs & Events Dashboard, offering tips and tricks that can help novices, power users, and everyone in between. We’ll cover: How to use this tool for editing events for all Wikimedia projects Showcasing new Wikidata detailed stats What the technical roadmap looks like Potential connections for the Dashboard and...

3:25 PM EST

Mall Mapping with Every Door

Martijn van Exel

OpenStreetMap Utah mappers went to two different malls and mapped them using the new app Every Door. Martijn will share experiences and share some tips and tricks!

3:30 PM EST

Diversifying Wikipedia's biographies

Ian Ramjohn

Since 2018 Wiki Education’s Scholars & Scientists Program has worked taught faculty, graduate students and professionals to become Wikipedians. The program has trained over 1,000 participants and contributed over 1.6 million words to over 3,500 articles. Fees from participants and sponsors have funded a substantial portion of the operational costs of the program. In this session, we will discuss the contributions of recent courses...

3:35 PM EST

Wikimedia Sound Logo

Rae Adimer

The Wikimedia Sound Logo contest has had stellar results–global participation surpassing even our best projections– and I would love to briefly share some of our learnings and most interestingly, play some compilations of sounds. Lean back, listen in. The sound logo team is taking the submissions around the world. Wikimedians will surely love the richness of sounds and the diversity of participation. This is...

3:40 PM EST

Building OpenStreetMap Into the Elementary Classroom

Mike Jabot

In this session I will share how I am attempting to build OSM into the classroom work of teachers in grades 3-8. My work focuses in particular on how we can use OSM as a platform for students to understand their communities and the world around them in general.

3:45 PM EST

Break

3:50 PM EST

Mapping the Virtual Border Wall with Public Records, Satellite Imagery, and Virtual Reality

Dave Maass

EFF Director of Investigations demonstrates how his team is combining public records, satellite imagery, and virtual reality to reveal the locations of Customs & Border Protections surveillance towers.

4:00 PM EST

OpenStreetMap US Trails Initiative

Jake Low and Diane Fritz

Jake Low & Diane Fritz provide an update on the Trails Stewardship Initiative at the OSM US annual conference Mapping USA.

4:05 PM EST

Data Modeling the Person

Lloyd Alimboyao Sy

WikiProject Biography seeks to discuss social and ethical issues concerning the biographies of people on Wikipedia and Wikidata. As part of the WikiProject, our team created a data model capturing the various “essential” qualities of human beings. This presentation discusses the model we created. We go over which properties were chosen, how that process occurred, and, especially, how we picked “examples” for each property,...

4:10 PM EST

You can help us fix it: Learning new skills at the Philadelphia WikiSalon

Mary Mark Ockerbloom and Doreva Belfiore

In this lightning talk, Mary Mark Ockerbloom and Doreva Belfiore will introduce the work of the Philadelphia WikiSalon, a Wikipedia Meetup that focuses on creating community while helping build Wiki skills among people of diverse interests and levels of expertise. We provide: Alternating monthly format of demonstrations followed by practice review and reflection to maximize skill retention Concise, no-frills format for presentations and demonstrations...

4:20 PM EST

Fostering open knowledge by providing effective support to volunteers: an introduction to Wikimedia Foundation's Committee Support Team

Jack Glover

This lightning talk will introduce the Wikimedia Foundation Committee Support Team. This team is part of the Legal Department and supports movement governance and health. The team provides essential staff support to several volunteer committees including the Affiliations Committee, Ombuds Commission, Arbitration Committees, and the Case Review Committee, among others.

4:25 PM EST

Tools for linking Wikidata and OpenStreetMap

Edward Betts

I describe an editing tool for adding links from OpenStreetMap objects to the corresponding Wikidata items (https://osm.wikidata.link). Mappers use the tool by searching for a place they are familiar with. The software downloads the details of Wikidata items within the bounds of the place and find matching objects in OpenStreetMap. The matcher compares places based on names, addresses and the type of object. The...

4:30 PM EST

Break

4:40 PM EST

Come Here or Go Away?: Identifying Challenges to Scholarly Wikipedia Editing

Savannah Cragin and Jennifer Johnson

This talk investigates the challenges of establishing pathways for academic contributors to edit Wikipedia. While there is powerful alignment in the educational missions of the Wikimedia Foundation with those of the academic humanities, tensions still exist between the Wikipedia and scholarly community, fostering distrust and burnout from scholars. This talk will investigate the contextual background of these tensions as understood by the CCCC Wikipedia...

4:50 PM EST

Parks, Spawns, Nests & Pikachu: OpenStreetMap & Pokémon GO players

Christopher Greene-Szmadzinski

In October 2022, Niantic publicly announced using OpenStreetMap to update its popular mobile game, Pokémon GO! The use of OSM data for PoGO has long been known by players and OSM contributors alike. In the past, this has meant accidental (or intentional) vandalism by well-meaning (and sometimes not so well-meaning) players. Let’s look at how PoGO is using OSM data and ways to turn...

5:00 PM EST

Print an OpenStreetMap Extract: Trailheads maps from OpenStreetMap

Rob Chohan

Non-Profit land trusts have map needs. Docents want to lead a hike and describe where to meet for the monthly wildlife talk. Land trusts want to raise awareness via social media or for public presentations. Local educators want to get more students in the outdoors. A decent map stack & architecture for web, print & mobile can help solve all of these needs. We...

5:10 PM EST

Collaborative Corridors to Address OpenStreetMap Underrepresentation

Bill Wetherholt

US Highway corridors provide a collaborative springboard to connect vested OSM interests across underrepresented regions. US-40 offered a link between Fall 2022 mapping courses in the Department of Geography at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland and the Department of Computer Science, Information Systems and Engineering Technology at PennWest California in California, Pennsylvania. This talk explores filling in the map along the seventy miles...

5:20 PM EST

Break

5:30 PM EST

Wikimedia New York City, Sure We Can

Wil540 art

I will give an informal 5 minute lightning talk about editing Wikipedia and how a Pear Tree inspired the Cartography of New York City article. I will go over the history of this article, which I started relatively recently in May 2021 and ask for comments.

5:36 PM EST

Magic Wand: A Plugin for JOSM

Junior Flores

This plugin created for the JOSM tool allows you to create geometries from selected areas. The areas are selected according to the uniformity of the colors. It is also possible to add and subtract selected areas.

5:42 PM EST

Swiping into a love of OSM

Dan Joseph

Learn how the open source MapSwipe app fits into the toolkit of ways that the American Red Cross engages volunteers and partners in learning to love OSM.

5:48 PM EST

WikiCred 2022 Grant Cycle Overview

Ariel Cetrone

The WikiCredibility Grants Initiative (WikiCred), a project of Hacks/Hackers, is pleased to announce the launch of its 2022-2023 grant cycle. Applicants are invited to submit proposals seeking funding for tools, projects, initiatives, or events that explore ways to improve the credibility of Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia DC is assisting with the administration of this grant program.

5:54 PM EST

Future of North American Wikimedia affiliates

Peter B. Meyer

I’ll describe briefly some of the administrative aspects of running a Wikimedia affiliate, based on my experience as an officer of Wikimedia DC and consultation with others. The lightning talk will highlight local North American affiliates and some potential growth opportunities, including forming larger organizations, called Hubs.

6:00 PM EST

Closing Remarks

Announcements from OpenStreetMap US & WikConference North America

6:15 PM EST

Open Socializing

Use this time to socialize virtually, ask questions of speakers.

7:00 PM EST

End of Friday

News

Mapping USA 2022 - Call for Proposals is Now Open!

Sep 26, 2022 · OpenStreetMap US Staff

Mark Your Calendars for November 11 & 12, 2022! OpenStreetMap US is thrilled to announce the return of Mapping USA in November - this year in partnership with WikiConference North America. Join...