User:James.tait

I'm James Tait and I've been mapping around Derby and Mansfield, UK, since around August 2008. I am an advocate of Free Culture in general, having first got hooked on Linux in the mid-90's. I came across the OpenStreetMap project some time over the last year and thought it sounded cool, but that I wouldn't have the time and I didn't have a GPS receiver. Then I attended LUGRadio Live UK 2008 and saw a very interesting session about OSM and I've been contributing since shortly thereafter.

My Setup

I began cutting my OSM teeth on Potlatch, tracing the NPE images around where I live. The intention was always to get a GPS receiver and when I discovered my brother had an old Dell BT-309 he was no longer using, I offered to relieve him of it for a small sum. I use it with GpsMid on a Nokia 6280 for routing and tracking. The setup has its limitations, for example GpsMid logs to a native Java store, which I then have to export to GPX and transfer to my PC for editing in JOSM, all of which is a bit clunky. The Java stores have a maximum size that I don't yet know, so I've lost a couple of good long tracks due to that. And GpsMid crashes on startup on my phone if I try to use an external data file for the map, so I have to keep creating new bundles after each mapping session to get the new ways.

Active Areas

I started out mapping the back streets around where I live, but oddly that got put on the back burner while I completed other areas. The Sunnyhill area of Derby between Stenson Road, the A5111 and Sinfin Lane is mostly mapped now. The majority of Littleover is done, as well as the North side of Mickleover. There are details still to add like place names, parks, bus stops, phones and post boxes, but I can add them as I go and others can contribute -- it's difficult to take in the street names while you're driving and even more difficult to write them down! I'm making the most of what opportunities I get, so some tracks around Willington and Stenson Lock are likely too. Mansfield is my new big project though and I'm hoping to get more people involved to bring that along quickly.