Hi my name Tuan (Tony) and I am part-time cartographer and a mapping nerd.

I live in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and work as a marketing assistant at a local Vietnamese newspaper. Work involves understanding the local marketing, so I can apply a bit of my mapping skills into my tasks and make it easier.

I have been an OSM contributor for 7 years and I am a crazy mapper.

Why do I love OSM and mapping?

• I have a passion for maps since my childhood, and I could spend hours “reading” a map. Printed maps and large heavy atlas books were my close friends at home.

• I came to OSM in 2012, after a few weeks of contributing to Google maps in its Mapmaker project. I was pissed off my the negative attitude of moderators in the Vietnam group. OSM was different and welcoming, and contributor-friendly.

• Thanks to Potlatch 2 and OSM Wiki, I have learned more about the mapping language and basics of it.

• an OSM Mapper in Melbourne recommended JOSM to me in 2013, and since then I have used it more than iD.

• Since I began mapping particular localities (by enriching the area’s map), I had to browse through various books and historical resources to gain understanding of the area. Therefore I have a chance to learn the region’s history and cultures.

Mapping activities:

• I contribute to OpenStreetMap in my free time, usually when I am home or at weekends.

• Sometimes I go out to do survey where I add points of interests (POIs) into the map.

• Other times, I stay home or in library, drawing roads and adding facilities into the maps.

Main objectives:

• Never leave a town, city or place without streets

• Drawing streets is not enough, make it “living” by enriching it

• Mapping is art and passion and a hobby.

• Mapping helps save the world, as HOTOSM.org has shown.

• A cartographer is a person who makes rich and beautiful maps which can be applied by many people to gain knowledge and benefit their lives and work.

Main tasks in ENRICHING a map:

I believe a map with streets is not enough. It should be enriched in the following way:

• adding amenities : schools, hospitals, city council or local government offices,

• natural features : parks, mountains, and lakes and rivers

• draw buildings for main facilities : hospitals, schools and government councils and public buildings.

• draw administrative boundaries.

• Name everything you draw.

Current concentration:

• Hà Nội : adding amenities and buildings around the urban districts (the core urban districts) of Hà Nội, Government Centre, Hanoi Old Citadel, Old Quarters and surrounding districts

• adding multilingual names localities, amenities and roads in Chinese, Indonesian and Russian (when I cannot use a computer).

Past concentrations:

VIETNAM

• Vũng Tàu city and Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu province

• Ho Chi Minh City: several districts, mainlyDistrict 4 (where I lived), and the city centre around Nguyen Hue Street

• Huế : mainly the Imperial Citadel and the southern bank of Hương river.

• Hà Nội : edited Yên Viên town and surrounding villages and amenities. Cổ Nhuế ward

• Bắc Ninh province : edited the town of TỪ SƠN including: town centre, Đình Bảng old village, Đồng Kỵ, Tam Sơn and surrounding villages (too many of them!)

• Hải Dương province: edited xã Quyết Thắng of Thanh Hà district (my father’s homeland), added city of CHÍ LINH

• Quảng Ninh : edited HẠ LONG City (in full) including the new Library and 30-10 square, Sun Group theme park, Hà Lầm ward, CẨM PHẢ City, MÓNG CÁI City (major wards only)

• Điện Biên province : added Mường Lay town and surroundings

• Lai Châu province : added several small villages near border, such as xã Ma Ly Pho

• Lào Cai province : added several new subdistricts of Lào Cai city.

• Lạng Sơn province : added the town of Đồng Đăng before Kim Jong-un’ arrival.

• Kiên Giang: added the city of Rach Gia (in full) and some villages nearby.

• Sóc Trăng province: added places in Soc Trang City, Mỹ Xuyên town of My Xuyen district, Vinh Chau town, and Tran De district.

AUSTRALIA

• Melbourne metro area : adding POIs and buildings in suburbs: Springvale, Clayton, Noble Park, DANDENONG, Murrumbeena, Carnegie.. to be UPDATED….

• Bundaberg, QLD: adding POIs, boundaries and landuse.

Platforms:

• JOSM: mainly.
• Go Map!!
• iD: rarely do I use it.
• OSMAND : for viewing map in many languages and seeing contours.

Rankings:

• How did I contribute to OSM: https://hdyc.neis-one.org/?TuanIfan
• Heat Map: https://yosmhm.neis-one.org/?TuanIfan

Education

• I have a master’s degree at The University of Melbourne
• Major : International Relations
• Additional language study : Bahasa Indonesia

Location & Contact

Feel free to connect with me, and catch up for a beer or coffee anywhere. And yes, add my Facebook for better communication.

• Current address : Melbourne, VIC, Australia
• Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/vutuan202
• Email : vutuan202@gmail.com