The goal of our mapathon is two-fold: introduce participants to mapping and its impact on communities and teach them how they can get involved (without any previous mapping or GIS skills). We are researching locations of local farmers markets before the event, as well as scraping information as to where the food comes from. People will work in groups and get all of this information into OSM.
We will start with an overview of OSM and MapGive and their relationship to humanitarian projects. We will then introduce our mapathon map project. We will help folks without OSM accounts set them up and give them a tutorial on how to add information to OSM. We would also like to show participants how “field papers” work in hopes that we could expand this project or use for future projects. There will be a break from 10:30-11:00am. This will be followed by one hour of mapping. Then at noon people will gather for pizza and we will present and the mapathon will conclude.
Location: NOVA Reston Center 1831 Wiehle Ave., 3rd Floor Reston, VA 20190 We have access to several computer labs. Participants will have the option to work in teams of two.
Audience: Public is invited. We will invite Fairfax and Loudoun Geo Systems teachers, especially those who teach Spatial Semester through JMU. NOVA/GMU students will also be in attendance.
Interested in participating? Email osmgeoweek@gmail.com to learn more.