Something that you missed out?

You added the local names of nearby streets, added buildings and various points of interest, got busted for trespassing or attempting robbery (for mapping a “secret path” or a bunch of housenumbers, and stayed in the hospital for a while because you got mauled by stray cats or jejemons. Or got hit by a car while tracing a path that locals know. And after months of  walking, driving, tracking and running, you decided that there is nothing to map. But is there something that you missed out?

Sure, you already added shops, streets and even your previous girlfriend’s  house on the map but that shouldn’t stop you from mapping more areas. But they are too far or someone in authority won’t let you. So, what are you going to do?

From my two years of experience, I have realized that the typical OSMer needs to have some sort of obsessive-compulsive tendency for him not to lose interest. He or she must look for tags in the OpenStreetMap Wiki and check if that person used it while editing in Potlatch, JOSM, Merkaartor or Mapzen. If you realize that your city is the only city that doesn’t have maxspeed, lit or postal_code tags, then you should go outside, check out the area and take down notes, then make edits. He or she should look out for new shops and construction sites, places that have closed down, new roads, barricaded roads, and all that. A planned month-long road closure? Put it on the map. A place that burned down and collapsed? “landuse=brownfield” and “description=place was gutted by fire last June 23″. Found a quaint place were you can plant root crops, vegetables and herbs? Go ahead, no one’s stopping you. Fire hydrants? The Germans are doing it and you gotta keep up with them. Street names in Na’vi? If you really know the language, then go. Otherwise, concentrate on roads that are lit at night, speed limits, fire hydrants and the occasional paths.

So, there. You have some reasons why you need to stick around – to keep the map fresh, detailed and more comprehensive than those maps. Oh, and get yourself some anti-rabies shots and enroll in self-defense classes – not for your sake, but for the rest of them map fiends.

Another week, another chunk done

Another week has passed and I added a bunch of POI’s along my way to the CEM Function Hall.  After an hour or so in that place, I had to move on and get more POI’s near the Los Baños Islamic Center area. Sooner or later, I’m going to make serious traces and mark down more POI’s that I missed in the >1 year of mapping. Sure, I met a person who didn’t like his number on the map, nearly got bitten by a team of dogs in a nearby village, soaked hundreds of clothes with sweat and all that, but there is nothing that can get in my goal – “having a concise map of the UPLB Campus and nearby areas (Grove, Raymundo, Umali, Demarses, Santa Fe, Agapita, El Danda, Forestry, Jamboree)that anyone can use with minimal copyright restrictions”.

And my goal for this week is to add more Points of Interests in most of those areas. And here’s the catch: I’m going to upload the data either on Friday night or on Saturday morning. The recent changeset was a sample of the edits that I will undertake either today or tomorrow. Tomorrow, I’ll be “visiting” more areas (Lopez Avenue, Central and northeastern parts of Umali Subdivision, a bit of a residential are near the Forestry area and some buildings south of the Fertility tree) between 1 and 2 in the afternoon and take notes on important places of interests – apartments, mom-and-pop convenience stores, restaurants, and housenumbers.

Anticipating the “slaughterfest”, I added those quaint red circles with a white X in the middle in this site. How cute. Oh, and we have the building outline for the newly-opened UPLB Gym, also known as the Edwin B. Copeland Gym, aptly named after the founder of the institution that is now known as the University of the Philippines Los Baños. (unlike MapMaker, which describes the gym as “under construction”). Plus, I was able to go to the Agronomy/Agricultural Sciences Cluster and CEAT areas and trace a handful of service roads, something that the MapMakers missed out (deliberately or otherwise).

We sometimes consider walking as a form of exercise. Add a GPS, and either a pen and notepad or a mobile phone, and you’re able to lose weight (I lost 469 calories in 3 mapping sessions – One was fueled by Boston Cafe’s Frosh since one mapping session happened in the middle of the day) while gaining kilobytes of needed information to the planet (dot) osm file/s. A typical win-win situation, in short. Anyway, other good things happen to you while you map – you meet an ex-classmate of yours, a son of a bitch I mean a dog moves away from your presence since he is too tired to harass you, you hear a group of college girls singing “That’s What You get” by Paramore at the corner of Francisco O. Santos and Diamond streets, you try to outsmart one of your instructors in university… and so on, and it goes on forever.

Let’s end this on a high note – I will cap this week’s efforts by completing this area – between the “high enough” Forestry area and the extremely hot Freedom Park area. Gotta map my dreams – someone wants it rendered in the Hike and Bike style!

Something out of nothing

It’s another school year. Guess what kind of controversy that I will stir up?

I posted something before Valentines’ Day, I got a letter. I took it down.

I posted something from the Overheard at UP Facebook page, original poster did not like it. I had to take it down, for various reasons.

A few weeks back, I mentioned those details while introducing myself in Humanities 1. Plus, I mentioned something that will make some students from a flood-prone university uncomfortable. And my professor in Humanities 1 doesn’t want to be “interpolated” in my blog. At least he said it in advance. And in front of over 160 of his students. I just hope that this class will not lose the momentum that it has in the past two weeks or so.

Speaking of something out of nothing, my classmate in Math 17 had her picture posted on the “Prettiest faces in UPLB” Facebook page. According to her, a blockmate of hers posted the pic. I don’t want to comment on it – because it’s too taxing for me to talk about it. My Humanities 2 instructor was featured in the same page. Personally, I thought that she was on her 3rd or 4th year as an UP Los Baños student.

Moving on to the Speech Communication department, and we held an activity during recit class. One of my classmates wrote a flamboyant description of the SpeechCom instructor on the concept map. (I hope he does not see that)

Political Science 1 is not for persons with weak hearts and/or short fuses. And last Friday’s activity was a taste of politics IRL. The instructor wanted her pupils to split into groups of ten, choose a group leader, and choose five persons that will join him in some sort of warehouse concocting stuff that will propel them back into the 21st century (in terms of technology) since the teams were supposedly acting out as survivors in a post-Apocalyptic world. It’s a tough choice, but hey – someone has to become the leader and drag five chosen persons to the days before December 25, 2009.

History 2 was interesting on my part. I listened to Sex Advice with Grace Lee on Good Times with Mo, Mojo, Grace and Angelika while my instructor discussed a bit of the Kama Sutra. According to her, it is not just about sex. It’s about pleasure (eating chocolate, traveling to certain places, etc.), according to my interpretation of that event.

English 2 is different. And it is more on writing, unlike English 1, which concentrates on grammar. Since I have good writing skills, maybe I could have a GWA that is close to the elusive 1. Maybe I should get off the computer and write more often.

Since this is college life, I should expect a lot of surprises, moves and motives from practically everyone inside and outside campus. Especially invitations, gatherings and other stuff.

New everything

I’m now on my 2nd week as an old freshman in UPLB. Plus, we have “large lecture classes”. We hate it, but we have to make sure that we don’t end up trapped in the vicious cycle early in life. Plus, we don’t have to suffer that much since some of the professors and instructors that we love and learn to respect are still here. For those who did not abandon the university in times of crisis, I salute you. (And for the wonderful and brave professor who used those words during History 2.)

And the first week is enough to shake my bones and claw my ass away from disappointments and screw-ups that I made a few months back. Especially Humanities 1, History 2, Speech Communication 1, and Political Science 1. (BTW, the last 2 were “overheard”.) Humanities 2 and English 2 deserve special mention, since they are crucial to my academic performance.

For this semester, no more graphs. No more Boolean Algebra. I don’t have to go under extreme Physical Stress. I’m at the Commanding Heights of my college life. Starting now. You heard me. By the way, I need to finish this lest I am marked down as late in my Humanities 1 class that will happen in less than 11 hours.