On August 6, 2013, in the Map Room of University of Toronto’s Hart House, intern and OCAD Masters student, Stephen Surlin, hosted an informative and interactive workshop on open-source mapping.
Participants learned about the open-source mapping engine, OpenStreetMap, a free user-created world map where anyone can add content and data based on their observations of the world around them.
By downloading the My Tracks application by Google onto their smartphone, workshop participants were able to traverse the UofT campus while the app plotted their individual routes along the way. Participants noted various points of interest, for example some of Dig In’s garden plots, and our composter, by dropping pins along their route.
The individual routes were uploaded as .gpx files, and then uploaded to OpenStreetMap.org. As a group we added our own data to the collaborative OpenStreetMap site: All of the Dig In! garden plots were outlined and named for the world to see!
There are many possibilities for routes and mapping criteria, and the graphic possibilities for use of the visual route outcomes are endless, as Stephen emphasized. Imagine a comprehensive map of all of the edible fruit trees on campus?
Projects for further investigation!
Thanks to Stephen Surlin for hosting this inspiring workshop with us!
To check out Stephen Surlin’s work please visit:
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