User:Jimmyrocks/Manifesto
OSM US Nomination Manifesto
A Little About Myself
I am Jim McAndew. I have been mapping for a number of years, and am interested in promoting OpenStreetMap whenever possible. I am currently living in Denver, Colorado. I work as a web programmer on GIS projects, and slowly working toward a masters degree in Geography. For my final project in the Masters Program, I am working with the USGS National Map Corps to help create a crowdsourced geographic dataset that is licensed under public domain. This ties in with OSM, because once the data is submitted into the public domain, it can be directly added to OpenStreetMap.
Why I Am Running
I have been involved with OpenStreetMap for a number of years, and have been active in event planning, and teaching people how to map. I have worked closely with much of the current board on projects, and have been running the GeoBus project. I appreciate all the great work the current board has done, and if elected, I plan to maintain that momentum.
My Intentions & Focus Areas on the US Board
The US chapter is split up into the following groups:
- Technical and Imports Working Group
- Marketing and Communication Working Group
- Education and Student Outreach Working Group
- Community Events and Mapping Party Working Group
- US Tagging Working Group
I am most interested in the Community Events & Mapping Party Working Group as well as the Education and Student Outreach Working Group. I want to get rural and tourist areas of the country mapped, and I want to teach more people how to describe their section of the world.
In the past year, I have focused mostly locally on running and helping to run Colorado Mapping Parties. These parties occur once a month, and are focused on getting new members to learn how to easily and quickly add good data to the map. Current focus is on adding buildings, businesses, and their addresses.