A mapping and OS enthusiast, I enjoy contributing to OSM because I can put my experience of my surroundings to a practical use.

The idea that I can “put places on the map” appeals to me. There’s a certain pride in the idea that my area is accurately mapped or that my familiar local amenities be there for others to see and use.

I also find the idea that my contributions are reusable rewarding: I might be participating in a future study in which the author will happily discover much spadework has already been done and they can focus on analysis.

Further down the line, I aim to do some analysis of my own and make some thematic maps using OSM data. I am particularly interested in mobility, accessibility of resources but also in the spatial dimension of socio-economic and cultural make-up of cities.