Mapping with the kids
I took my children to a mapping party last weekend in Milton Keynes (UK). My daughters are 4, 6 and 8 years old. We had three GPSs, three scooters, 2 cameras and a pad of paper.
My girls had mapped with me before near our home, but always incidental mapping (i.e. we were going on a bike ride or walk and did a bit of mapping). This was the first time we would have an assigned area to look at.
So, for those of you who want to map and have kids you don’t want to neglect, here is what I learned:
- Bring some toys (in my case each girl had a back pack and a nintendo and/or ipod). The times you spend talking to other adults and/or working on the computer are pretty dull to watch.
- Bring a GPS for each person… The kids love mapping and will happily run down that trail you want mapped and back (when your legs are too tired). Each kid wants to hold a GPS and they make you alot more effective with limitless energy.
[Note to tools developers, the ability to overlay multiple traces would be very useful... ] - Map something they can enjoy… So, we got to do Campbell park in Milton Keynes… They could play, run, have fun… Sitting in a car while daddy did the parking lots and bus stops on the way over was not much fun for them…
- Two 2 hour sessions is alot of mapping for a kid… mine managed two ninety minute sessions with a longish lunch in the middle. Plan for more down time
- The kids will notice things that should be mapped that you might not… Mapping stuff kids find important, means making a map that is meaningful to families…
- Finally: Mappers are very nice to kids
Everyone seemed a bit suprised, but pleased to see them…
Overall, if you map and have kids… Take them to a party. They will love it, you will see new things to map through their eyes and they can make you more effective while on foot (in particular).
Mapping with kids in Milton Keynes
May 19th, 2009 - Posted by Jim Brown in Uncategorized | | 10 Comments
on May 19th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Very useful blog post (even though I’m far from having kids).
The recent Sunderland Mapping Party had a small turn out of just dedicated mappers, but two of them brought along young kids. Happy to have them along but it was clear the parents have to think about things like saving the computer editing/upload time till they’re at home and the kids in bed.
JOSM is good for opening several GPS tracks on different layers. Then right click on a layer and change the colour (or toggle visibility). for just display it might be funny to put the tracks into the phyton party renderer and see each of the tracks played back on top of each other.
At Sunderland we went outside on the sea front for a photo shoot with the OSM banner. Most of us had OSM high-vis jackets on including two kids (they loved them) hangiing down to their ankles. A council (collecting rubbish?) truck drove alongside and asked if we were doing training. Andy Robinson replied brilliantly with “Errr, well yes we’re training these two up”, before explaining what OpenStreetMap was.
on May 19th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Hi Gregory…. Yep the vests came in handy…. They loved them also
on May 22nd, 2009 at 11:20 am
Hi,
>Bring a GPS for each person…
I think so.
It is important.
Sometime,I take a mapping party with children or my family.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28698126@N02/sets/72157608765684307/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28698126@N02/sets/72157608761341900/
JOSM is good.But my children loves Potlatch.
on May 26th, 2009 at 12:39 am
We has just discussed this at WhereCamp 2009 with Steve Coast in meeting “How to make your grandma mapping?”
on May 27th, 2009 at 11:22 am
“they will happily run down that trail you want mapped and back (when your legs are too tired)”. Very cunning Jim!
I mapped this residential area on the Sunday. Could’ve done with some little nippers to go and run to the end of each cul-de-sac!
Here’s my my diary entry. Also check out the Milton Keynes mapping party animation
on June 1st, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Hi, love the post, it is a great idea!
>[Note to tools developers, the ability to overlay multiple traces would be very useful... ]
So, there is a way to do this. First download all the traces, then when you click edit on one, look at the bottom of the screen. There will be an icon that is supposed to be a GPS device but looks mroe like an eraser to me. Click on that and it will show you all the other GPS traces that were publicly downloaded in that area. This should show all the other kids’ traces!
Good luck and have fun!
on June 6th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
[...] went along to the Milton Keynes mapping party on the 19th May. He wrote a great post on his personal tips for mapping with the young kids. I don’t have any of my own, but I might now try and borrow some for cul-de-sac estates. In [...]
on June 6th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
That’s a very clever plan, and I’m glad it worked out so well for you!
I’m not sure I would recommend this to everyone, though, not all kids have the patience and energy required to avoid becoming a real nuisance to their surroundings after the novelty wears off.
Definitely make it fun for them if you’re mapping with other people, the last thing anybody wants (especially someone who has intentionally avoided having kids) is an upset child around!
on July 11th, 2009 at 4:02 am
Our last mapping party in Canberra was a combination of Mapping party, Birthday party and Geocaching – it was great fun http://bit.ly/UiebA
on February 21st, 2010 at 8:15 am
Great post. Scrunch socks are awesome for every day fashion.