Bio

Freelance software engineer in Mount Olive, NJ. I wanted to use OSM for a work project and was a bit depressed when I saw how neglected my area of the map was. So I decided to bring my area up to date.

Well it’s up to speed, so I spend a lot of time fixing random notes around the US.

Strategy

I try to focus on improving what annoys people and giving large landmark buildings. I mainly work on roads and map some large buildings.

Utility

I spend a lot of time making map more useful for GPS Navigation. I often seek out mapping turn restrictions, access restrictions, turn lanes and speed limits.

Efficiency

For efficiency sake, I am batching a lot of large edits together. I tend to keep most of the changes to local areas, but I often scroll around the map randomly improving alignment to the aerial maps.

Aesthetics

Lastly I do try to make the map aesthetically pleasing. There is a beauty to consistent abstraction of an area.

New Jersey

This state is absolutely maddening to try to figure out. It’s like a giant small city, so streets love to change names where they grew together. There’s also many large trees in my area it’s difficult to map a lot of features from the aerial views, but I am still trying my best.

Splines

Nothing in NJ is straight for long, so I really wish I had splines at times. I found out JOSM has splines, but they’re a bit awkward to use.

Nail Salons

Why are there so many nail salons in my city?

Cartography

I find weird timeless connection to history by contributing to this map. Maps have been so important to understanding history, so I wonder if my changes will help future generations understand my time.