“The OpenStreetMap Community is at a crossroads, with some important choices on where it might choose to head next,” wrote Michal Migurski last month. Identifying three types of map contributors—robot mappers using third party data, crisis mappers responding to a disaster like the Haiti earthquake, and so-called “local craft mappers” (i.e., the original OSM userbase that edits the map at the community level, using GPS tracks and local knowledge), Michal ruffled many feathers by saying that “[t]he first two represent an exciting future for OSM, while the third could doom it to irrelevance.” That’s largely because, in his view, the craft mappers’ passivity and complacency, and their entrenched position in the OSM hierarchy, are impeding the efforts of the other two groups.
Category: Industry
“We made significant changes to all of our development processes because of it,” says Cue, who now oversees Maps. “To all of us living in Cupertino, the maps for here were pretty darn good. Right? So [the problem] wasn’t obvious to us. We were never able to take it out to a large number of users to get that feedback. Now we do.”
Apple senior vice president Eddie Cue, quoted in this Fast Company profile of Apple, on how the Apple Maps debacle changed Apple’s famously insular culture, opening things up to the point that they now have a public beta program. [James Fee]
A-Z at 80
The Geographers’ A-Z Map Company, which produces the iconic A-Z Maps line, is marking its 80th anniversary this year by posting a series of photos of company memorabilia—they plan 80 photos over 80 days. So far I’m particularly fascinated by the mapmaking tools and processes, like this scribing tool, this type layer and these negatives—all from the time when maps were photo typeset (only three decades ago!). [WMS]
New World Cartography
New World Cartography, a South Carolina firm that produces maps that are produced with a computer but coloured by hand, gets a brief profile in Garden and Gun magazine.
Fast Company Profiles Ed Parsons
Fast Company profiles Google’s geospatial technologist Ed Parsons, whose name should be familiar to longtime Map Room readers. (I first encountered his work when he was still at the Ordnance Survey; he joined Google in 2007.) In some way the profile uses Ed to understand Google’s mapping ambitions, which Ed discusses at length. Understanding the corporate via the personal, as it were. (Parsons was also the subject of a similar profile in The Independent in 2014.) [Owen Boswarva]
The Newberry Library’s Rand McNally Photos
The Newberry Library has uploaded some 400 photographs from their Rand McNally and Company collection. The photos, most of which date from the mid-20th century, chronicle various aspects of the company’s mapmaking business. [WMS]
Whither Here Maps?
Last August Nokia sold its Here map service to a consortium of German automakers for roughly half what it paid for it (when it was Navteq) in 2007. What has Here been up to since? This interview with a Here vice-president doesn’t really offer much in the way of specifics, and rather a lot about data and business partnerships rather than consumer product.
Atlas Obscura Profiles Peter Bellerby
Luxury globemaker Peter Bellerby gets another profile, this one in Atlas Obscura.
Previously: Globemaker Peter Bellerby Interviewed; Bellerby’s Hand-Painted Globes.
It’s ‘Too Early’ to Announce the Fate of the Maine Atlas
It’s been three months since Garmin announced its purchase of DeLorme, and there’s still no word on the future of DeLorme’s Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, at least if this item in the May 2016 issue of Down East is any indication.
As of press time, Garmin hasn’t committed either to keeping or killing the Gazetteer, but the PR mumbo jumbo doesn’t sound good: “We’re currently evaluating the DeLorme product roadmap, but it’s too early to make any official announcements on our plan going forward,” one press rep told us. “We are still continuing to sell [Gazetteers] and we don’t expect that to change, um, right away,” said another.
The article also notes that, unlike the atlas, Google Maps and GPS don’t indicate road quality—which in rural Maine is very much a thing. [MAPS-L]
Previously: Mainers Speak Out on the DeLorme Atlas; ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Gazetteer’; Maine Reacts to DeLorme’s Acquisition by Garmin; Garmin Is Buying DeLorme.
Herb Lester, Travel Guide Publisher
Gear Patrol interviews Ben Olins and Jane Smillie, the founders of travel guide publisher Herb Lester Associates. “[A]fter designing three unique maps in three major cities, they realized there was something to the idea of curating small guides (nothing too expensive, or too ordinary) accompanied by hand-drawn maps. As the company celebrates its sixth birthday this month, we caught up with the founders to chat about maps with personality, curating entire cities and the pitfalls of travel.” Amazon [NLS Maps]
Andy Woodruff Q&A
A Q&A with mapmaker Andy Woodruff, whose work has been featured here from time to time (Beyond the Sea, Islands of Boston). [Alex Chaucer]
Human-Annotated Maps for Self-Driving Cars
Self-driving cars need extremely detailed and comprehensive maps in order to work—far more detailed than what’s usually available. Paradoxically, Vox’s Timothy B. Lee reports, that’s going to require significant human labour, in the form of human analysts annotating the map. “As Google and its competitors expand their self-driving vehicle programs nationwide, they’re going to have to hire thousands of human analysts to produce the detailed maps that enable cars to drive safely.” [MAPS-L]
Sanborn’s 150th Anniversary
Monday was apparently Sanborn’s 150th anniversary. Known for its detailed fire insurance maps during the late 19th and early/mid 20th centuries—a treasure trove for historians—Sanborn has since diversified into a geospatial company, though fire insurance maps are still one of their business lines. [WMS]
Sexism in the GIS Workplace
Is Sexism a Problem in GIS? Caitlin Dempsey Morais of GIS Lounge grapples with a thorny subject. “Over a two week period in September of 2015, I opened a survey on GIS Lounge to those working in the geospatial industry in order to take a look at the question of, ‘is sexism in the workplace an issue for women (and men) working in GIS?’ This article reports back on the results from that survey.”
The Atlantic on Tom Harrison
The Atlantic interviews Tom Harrison, an independent cartographer based in San Rafael, California who produces maps of California parks and wilderness areas for hikers and mountain bikers, about his individualistic mapmaking process. (Tom Harrison Maps at Amazon.) [via]