About Me

Hey folks! I’m Gregory Power (they/them) and I’ve been a part of the map since November 2023. I am currently a Data Scientist (Contractor) for Cary, North Carolina—where I manage Cary’s Open Data Portal and other analytics infrastructure. In my spare time I enjoy learning about urban planning and equitable, multimodal infrastructure. I’m also involved with the Pedestrian Working Group, Government Working Group, and my community’s Strong Towns chapter. I enjoy contributing to the open source geospatial software community, with a soft spot for GDAL, QGIS, GRASS GIS, and DuckDB—so everyone can have the tools to understand the world around them. Even though there’s a great set of tools for us to use, it’s nothing without having an open ecosystem of data.

My Mapping

My first project in OpenStreetMap was tracing plans for Cary’s Downtown Park into OpenStreetMap. With the updated layout, Cary’s Integration and Development Team could have a basemap to put our sensor data on. Once I realized OpenStreetMap data was used by all of our applications across the town and beyond, I was hooked. I enjoy mapping multimodal transportation infrastructure, handicapped parking, and restaurants. I’ve trained team members on conducting field surveys with StreetComplete and captured street imagery with Mapillary.

As a Board Member

It’s important that communities have access to data and the ability to make changes to increase the fidelity of the data. These are the objectives I’d prioritize:

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Mapping Cary’s Downtown Park

First Contribution

This was my first attempt at trying to map out a public park from the original CAD drawings attempting to draw out this map by hand using JOSM. If there’s a way that I could trace polygons from QGIS and be able to save them, I’ll probably end up trying to go that route.

What I Learned

1. AutoCAD files aren’t always geocoded
2. GeoParquet files are your friend
3. Geodatabases are your best friend
4. Don’t trust Aerial Imagery, field surveys