The helpful webstats that are provided by Pascal Neis measure map contributions per sovereign territory. In Ireland we still have a relatively small community, and would seldom have over 400 mappers appearing in his ‘kinda random’ 60 day view of the mapping contributions. It would also be rare to have over 100 map changes recorded by more than 100 of those who make it on to the chart. The pascal records these excludes Northern Ireland, who are part of our community, and where our active mappers also map a good deal.

Anyway, a few weeks ago myself and my fellow Traveller, AK challenged each other to get to the 200K mark. AK has been to that summit before, and me never, though it wouldn’t be uncommon for me to have 100K map changes. I am so thankful to have her comradeship and support. It became less of a race, and more of us egging one another on to map every day for the 60 days, which we duely did, and here is the proof.

What I have learned from this is that mapping is too often an isolated activity. Someone mapping alongside you is a lot more challenging, a lot more fun and certainly leads to more map completeness. The only difference in experience in mapping between myself and AK was she mapped Laois and Offaly, which are mainly rural, whereas I mapped urban North Dublin. I managed to make good contact with 2 or 3 mappers around the city who I didn’t know existed, but we ended up chatting over changesets.

What next? A rest, but back to my more customary 50-100K changes every 60 days. That would be Neis indeed.