Fort Collins, Colorado

V・T・E Fort Collins, Colorado

latitude: 40.559167, longitude: -105.078056

Browse map of Fort Collins 40°33′33.00″ N, 105°04′41.00″ W

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Users in Fort Collins GPS traces Geohack for OSM with more maps

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Fort Collins is a city in Colorado at latitude 40°33′33.00″ North, longitude 105°04′41.00″ West.

Future Events

2022-11-16 CSU GIS Days Humanitarian Mapathon

Past Events

2017-11-16 CSU Ger Community Mapping Center Mapathon
2017-04-19 CSU Humanitarian Mapathon
2016-11-29 OSM Brown Bag Lunch Talk
2016-11-17 CSU Geoweek Mapathon
2016-11-14 Mapathon for Mongolia
2016-10-27 CSU Humanitarian Mapathon
2016-02-24 CSU Humanitarian Mapathon
2016-01-27 CSU Humanitarian Mapathon
2015-11-18 OSMGeoWeek CSU Humanitarian Mapathon
OSMGeoWeek Mapping Food in Fort Fun 2015
2015-04-27 OSM Basics @ Colorado State University

Mapathon Ideas

This is a compilation of "ideas" for things to do when running a mapathon. Some of these are specific to Fort Collins (or even more specific to CSU), but others can be applied to any mapathon.

Before Event

• Date and time. Try and ensure that it doesn't conflict with other events. For example, if held at the University, make sure it isn't finals week. Middle of the week seems to work well. Don't plan the event before 5pm otherwise community members who have a job will not be able to attend. Two hours length seems to be appropriate.
• Venue
  • We have found that pubs or breweries work well. People are feel free to socialize in such environments, and food and beer are available for purchase. The disadvantage is that everyone has to supply their own laptop and the venue will be shared with other customers.
    • The Ramskeller has worked well for us in the past.
  • Assure that public/customer wifi access in the venue is adequate. Take a laptop into the venue ahead of time and try editing OSM.
  • Assure that power outlets are available in the venue. Laptop batteries die
  • Ask venue manager if we can post signs banners during the event. If the event is in a pub with lots of other people it may be intimidating for people trying to find the mapathon.
• Publicity
  • Press Release
    • Work with University PR
    • Example
  • Compose a short announcement for distribution via email and posting to online calendars
    • Date and time
    • Location
    • Parking
    • What to bring
    • Laptop computer
    • External mouse
    • "No experience necessary - fun and easy"
    • Why - who are you helping and how are you helping them?
    • "May count towards GISP certification" (if notice is going out to GIS professionals)
    • Example
  • Extend personal invitations to people whom you know and who are involved in OSM, GIS, humanitarian efforts, or may otherwise be interested in being involved.
  • Personal invitations are very powerful and effective. Each co-organizer should reach out to his or her circle of contacts. This should extend beyond the GIS discipline. Editing OSM is easy and many different types of people will be interested in contributing.
  • Post event to talk-us@openstreetmap.org
    • You need to be a subscriber before you can post, become a subscriber at: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
  • Post event on GISUser.com
  • Post event on the Missing Maps Event Calendar
    • To get the event posted, fill out this form
  • Post event on OSM Event Calendar
    • You need to have an account on the wiki to edit the calendar.
    • Go to https://osmcal.org
  • Post the event on the OSM Colorado Meetup Group]
  • Post the event to: list@giscolorado.org
  • Post the event to geospatial@colostate.edu
  • Write a linkedin post about the event
  • Tweet about the event
    • Include @TheMissingMaps @hotosm @ColoradoStateU @openstreetmap
      • If you include @TheMissingMaps they will probably retweet your message so it will be seen by a much wider audience
  • Get University PR to promote the event, especially through social media (they probably have a lot more twitter followers than you do)
  • Invite other OSM Mappers who are active in the area
    • Find Mappers here
    • Concentrate on those that have made lots of edits (the above map is color coded by number of edits)
    • Contact mapper by going to http://www.openstreetmap.org/message/new/<their username>
  • Get local businesses who are involved with GIS to promote to their employees.
    • Digital Globe - has done this in the past for us.
    • CACI
    • Schneider Electric
    • ESC Engineering
  • Post to local event calendars
    • Fort Collins Coloradoan
    • Loveland Reporter Herald
    • Greeley Tribune
    • Longmont Times Caller
  • Invite campus media to event.
  • See if the local Red Cross chapter would help get the word out. The Red Cross is part of Missing Maps.
  • Invite outside / local media to event. We have never had any success with this, but we were probably not going about it in the right way.
• Other before event logistics
  • Select a project from the Tasking Manager.
    • Medium or low priority is some assurance that the project will not be completed by other mappers before the event. Projects can not be reserved.
    • Projects that are part of a series of projects, e.g. #1544 - Missing Maps: Dar es Salaam - Ramani Huria1, #1544 - Missing Maps: Dar es Salaam - Ramani Huria2,... as at the last minute you can switch to a new project, but one that has the same instructions as the one for which you prepared. Email hot@openstreetmap.org before selecting a series of projects to insure that there are more in the pipeline should that be necessary, and also email the same address if the day before you discover your selected project is already close to being done and ask them to create the next project in the series in the Task Manager.
    • Projects that only involve buildings are ideal for new mappers.
  • Create a "Quick Start" guide. Make sure to explain how to connect to wifi (e.g. do they have to accept terms of service). For experienced mappers, highlight the things they have to know: the HOT project you are working on, and the hashtag for the event for them to enter into the change set comments. Some people want to take the quick start guide home so they can continue mapping. This is fantastic, encourage them, and include the contact info of a experienced OSM person on the guide.
    • Example
  • Procure power strips and extension cords to power laptops whose batteries have died, also duct tape to tape extension cords to the floor may be needed for safety reasons.
  • Make a signup sheet. You will want to have names and email addresses to thank people after the event, and to contact about future events.
  • If swag is going to be available (not likely - but one time we had some stuff from the Missing Maps organization) have some fair way of handing it out, such as a random drawing.

  Immediately Before and During Event

  • Arrive at least 15 minutes early to insure there are no last minute problems at the venue, and to welcome any people that come early.
  • Post banners / signs at the event (if venue management allows). This will help people find the event within the larger venue, and is additional publicity.
  • Have people sign in (name and email address).
  • Hand out your "Quick Start Guide" to people as they arrive and point out some of the experienced OSM'ers whom can answer questions.
  • Have one or more experienced OSM'ers check in with each mapper from time to time to see if they have questions or problems.
  • Take pictures of the event. This is good for post event publicity.
  • If a large screen is available, and you have an extra laptop, display edits in real time. The following services are available to do this.
    • https://osmlab.github.io/show-me-the-way/
      • You can build a bounding box over your HOT project here: http://osmlab.github.io/show-me-the-way/bbox.html
    • http://live.openstreetmap.fr/
    • http://osmgeoweek.org/metrics

  After the Event

  • Compile Statistics about how many mappers participated and how many features were mapped
    • Map of everything that was added, changed or deleted during mapathon
      • http://overpass-api.de/achavi/
      • Zoom to area of mapathon
      • Enter date/time rate in local time. Local time = where you are, not where data is.
      • Click "load"
      • Send thank you email to those participating. Include:
        • Statistics
        • Link to meetup should they want to hear about future events
        • Encouragement to continue mapping on their own
      • Rate event on Meetup
      • Post event pictures on Meetup and the OSM Wiki