Hello All!

I made my first edit to the map in 2016 when I discovered OpenStreetMap through a Maptime group which I now organize. I guiltily admit I was unaware membership was an option for some time and didn’t officially join until a little over a year ago. Although I have few changesets to my name (most come from demos while I’m teaching others), I’m an enthusiastic supporter of OSM because I understand the immense potential of this project.

I work in an academic library on an urban campus as geospatial support for students and faculty. Through my position at the University of Colorado Denver, and through the MaptimeMileHigh meetup group I run, I spend much of my time introducing OpenStreetMap to interested mappers and data users. I have led HOTOSM mapathons for students and the community at large to introduce the humanitarian value of this unique crowd-sourced information. I enjoy seeing traditional GIS students get excited when they realize there is an entire world of the geospatial technology they’ve been missing.

Serving on the OpenStreetMap-US board, I hope to expand the awareness of OSM to students, faculty and community leaders as they work together using public data for public good. Through academic frameworks such as the Data to Policy Project (d2p), for which I’m the student and faculty liaison, OSM can shine as support for policy development. With more diverse contributors to the map recruited via community outreach and academic programs similar to d2p, OSM can be better used for research and evidence-based advocacy. With more people from different sectors of society understanding they can contribute data to the global dataset that is OSM, the more representative and complete that dataset will be.

I recognize the OpenStreetMap community is evolving quickly. Growing the community even more will require a solid organization and OSMUS seems to be on the right track. I am impressed with the work prior board members and our executive director, Maggie, have done in terms of transparency, finances, and norms. I look forward to supporting these efforts.

I am a scientist and outdoorsperson at heart. I have a degree in earth sciences, which led me to GIS hydrology projects, which then led to my geospatial career. As I mentioned, I’m now at an urban campus and my work is more human-centered than before. I’m excited to bring this background to help guide the U.S. chapter of the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

I’m happy to discuss anything that comes to your mind after reading my statement. Thanks for considering me!

OSMUS Slack: @fritz

Twitter: @fritzgis

Other links of interest: SOTMUS 2019 talk, OSMUS Mappy Hour 2020 talk