Part of my series featuring an OSM-PH mapper.
This week is Ian (aka ianlopez1115 ). He joined OSM more than a year ago. I have seen Ian’s great progress around his hometown even without the aid of high-res imagery or even a GPS!. While he’s one of the youngest Pinoy OSmer I’ve met, he is probably one of the most prolific.
Who is ianlopez1115?
I’m now an incoming freshman (studying in University of the Philippines – Los Baños by October 2009) who is interested in many things – family history, music (Hip-Hop, RnB, Slow Jams), history, and others. Though I infrequently travel, traveling is one of my favorite activities, other than exercise. I maintain a blog, but I seldom update it.
How did you discovered openstreetmap?
I discovered it while browsing through the English Wikipedia. I was curious at that time, and there were no accurate (online) maps of San Pablo City when I first edited a year ago.
What is your mapping rig (equipment) and how do you gather map data?
A GT-31 (thanks to GPStogo), and either a paper notebook or a piece of paper. I do my mapping exploits on foot, car, bicycle, trolley (a small vehicle that travels on train tracks) and recently on motorcycle. Before GPStogo, I had to make guesswork (lots of it) in areas not covered by Yahoo’s aerial imagery. When I go to Manila, I take down notes of certain places and amenities, and try to align them with the aerial images.
What’s is your OSM purity self-test score?
0.875. Honestly, I tweaked a few questions (especially about Steve Coast, moose tracking, new tags, level of detail, and level of frustration) and the questionnaire needs more new and updated questions.
Tell us some weird/strange/funny incident you encountered during mapping.
Actually, there are a few.
First, I’ve recently mapped a good chunk of Los Baños and I passed by a carinderia (editor’s note: amenity=fastfood; cuisine=filipino). I asked them “what is the name of the dormitory?” (since I’m now taking down notes on dormitories, though not rendered) They told me which name it is, and they asked me why? I told them that it is for mapping purposes. I recalled that one of them said regarding GPS. Maybe they have heard of OpenStreetMap before.
There was a similar story, only you replace the persons from the carinderia with at least one local and two recycling facility (editor’s note: shop=junk). They asked me similar questions, but it has a bit of politics in it, since one asked me if I was mapping to make sure that the politicians don’t get lost in the future sorties. I told them that I’m not doing it for them (referring to the politicians), I was just mapping the place so that no one can get lost.
Speaking of getting lost, some of my co-employees in Los Baños (at that time) were concerned since I didn’t respond to their phone calls and text messages (SMS), and my mobile phone’s keypad didn’t work at that time. Anyway, I succeeded to map two “subdivisions” (editor’s note: place=hamlet), but with some consequences.
Another one is when I mapped a footway (in my home city) and stumbled upon a railway (which will be revived in 2011), (editor’s note: railway=rail; disused=yes or used=local?). During that time, it was raining and I tried my best not to get the GPS device wet. The place was full of houses and you don’t know which footway (along the tracks) leads to a house or to a cluster of houses. I also managed to slip in a few more housenumbers and got home safe and avoid a slip that could have led to a hard fall on the muddy footway.
I could have included that incident in Tagaytay, but Eugene has already beaten me in telling that story.
What is it that you HATE most about OSM (we all love OSM, some things just needs improvement)?
Not hate, but I’m disappointed by the lack of Yahoo’s aerial coverage in Metro Manila (even though Yahoo and Google probably have the same supplier of satellite imagery), and the lack of media exposure.
Why is openstreetmap important to you and the Philippines?
It is very important to me, since it has (in my opinion) a good if not a very comprehensive coverage of the Philippines and its accuracy cannot be questioned in most places (San Pablo City, Los Baños, and Eastwood City, Makati CBD, Bonifacio Global City, UP Diliman, and Marikina for example). It is important to the Philippines as it can complement the efforts of NAMRIA, and the Philippines lacks good sites regarding online maps (especially ones that support routing, which OSM has).
How can OSM-PH expand its coverage to other parts of the Philippines?
It can expand its coverage by having more media coverage (or a high profile celebrity endorsement, though the latter suggestion may not be helpful for established and/or long time OSM contributors due to various strains of fanboyism that are attached to their fans), more meetings, talks and consultations with local (and national) media organizations and entities, nonprofit organizations, companies, schools (and school organizations), government entities and local government units and others who would like to help us by using, contributing and endorsing the free wiki world map.
Salamat Ian, college life in “Elbi” is always memorable!
One last question, how should we tag the famous tree in Elbi? :D
Posted by maning 
Posted by maning 
Posted by maning 
