Maptime Has a New Website!
Maptime is proud to announce the release of our new website! We recently migrated from WordPress to the dynamic duo of Jekyll and GitHub Pages. Getting involved and contributing ideas to Maptime is now easier than ever.
Static website generators like Jekyll are great. They strip out a lot of complexity of traditional Content Management Systems like configuring databases, security, and servers. Now-a-days putting together a website with Jekyll and serving it for free with GitHub Pages is a snap. This combination of tools for hackers, tinkerers, and learners has been a perfect match for Maptime. Since we’re built on top of the GitHub ecosystem it’s easy for folks to let us know about any problems they might run in to, suggest new features, or get involved in other ways.
Here’s a quick tour of some of the newest features:
Maptime Is Growing Up
by Beth
When we started Maptime back in June 2013, it never really occurred to me that this little meeting would grow so quickly. As of today, we have more than 25 active chapters spread across North America and we are beginning to pepper Europe. While chapters all over have gotten going successfully – many thanks to Lyzi Diamond and Alan McConchie for their amazing work on that front – the community still has lots of questions about the organization itself. What kind of entity will Maptime become? How can Maptime take donations? What will Maptime do with the donations once we get them?
We’ve been working through the answers as we create our bylaws and work with our friendly neighborhood legal advisors. In the meantime – and in the interest of transparency and communicating in non-legalese – below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about our budding organization and where it is going.
OpenStreetMap and the Ada Initiative
At Maptime we love OpenStreetMap. It is an amazing project where average people around the world can participate in mapping the world around them. But, like most open source projects, it has a serious problem with diversity. That’s one of the reasons we started Maptime: to open the doors of map-making to all kinds of people, including women, minorities, and other groups who have traditionally been underrepresented in the world of map-making.
The Ada Initiative is a group with a similar mission: to support women in open technology and culture. Maptime loves Ada, too, and we hope to foster more connections between OpenStreetMap and Ada.
Maptime at NACIS
The NACIS annual meeting is this week, and Maptime will be representing in full force! If you’re going to be in Pittsburgh next week as well, be sure to come up and say hi to us at one of the many following events and talks:
Practical Cartography Day
Wednesday, October 8th, all day
Pittsburgh Marriot City Center, Marquis A + B
OpenStreetMap and the Ada Initiative
by Alan
At Maptime we love OpenStreetMap. It is an amazing project where average people around the world can participate in mapping the world around them. But, like most open source projects, it has a serious problem with diversity. That’s one of the reasons we started Maptime: to open the doors of map-making to all kinds of people, including women, minorities, and other groups who have traditionally been underrepresented in the world of map-making.
The Ada Initiative is a group with a similar mission: to support women in open technology and culture. Maptime loves Ada, too, and we hope to foster more connections between OpenStreetMap and Ada.
Right now the Ada Initiative is raising money to fund their work for the next year. Thanks to Kathleen Danielson, there is now an OpenStreetMap campaign to donate to Ada before their fundraising deadline on October 8th.
To donate to the #osm4ada campaign, click here.
Thanks! <3 <3 <3
