Internship Blog 4: GIS Day -- MapRVA

For my GIS Day event, I attended a meeting for a local OpenStreetMap group called MapRVA that is working on mapping the sidewalk network in Richmond. (Here is a link to their project: https://tasks.openstreetmap.us/projects/438 ). We didn't actually do any mapping, since this was an informal social meetup at a brewery instead of a mapping session. There were four other people there with various backgrounds in GIS and mapping and various OSM projects they were working on. One of the regular members was working on mapping bike trails in addition to the group sidewalk project. Another member worked in traffic engineering and contracted with the city to design some sidewalk projects, so it was interesting to compare notes with him about working on city sidewalk projects from a different organization and with different methods, funding, and goals. We talked about comparing city-owned sidewalk maps with the OSM map they're creating, and I'm trying to figure out if there is a way for non-city employees to access some of the ArcGIS Online maps and dashboards I use at work. 

MapRVA's progress on where in the city they've mapped sidewalks


It was fascinating to meet people with the same interest in sidewalks and maps and to see how the city's methods for sidewalk mapping differ from their collaborative, open-source project. The people in MapRVA are motivated by personal interest and a desire to make maps that serve ordinary citizens who want to walk around the city, and it seemed like they put a lot of thought into the mapping process and decisions about what counts as a a sidewalk with regard to how pedestrians could use OSM for navigation. I'd like to come to one of their mapping sessions and learn more about their project, since I have no experience with OSM and I'd like to get a clearer idea of what they do.

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