I’m Harrison, a hobbyist mapper based in Brooklyn, New York. I’ve been a map lover for as long as I can remember. Over the last few years I have gotten more involved in OpenStreetMap including my first trip to State of the Map US last year.

Mapping Projects

My ongoing “forever” project is mapping sidewalks in Brooklyn. With about 1,600 miles of roads there’s a long way to go! Beyond just mapping sidewalks I am working on adding curbs with accessibility details.

My most interesting mapping project has been working on the map at Train Mountain Railroad, the world’s largest miniature railroad. This started out as armchair mapping from home, then when I visited this last summer I worked on Mapillary “rail-level” imagery and other detailed mapping. The most exciting part has been the engagement from the community at the railroad getting engaged. The improved map has been immediately useful in the Train Game, and is being incorporated into a new track guide. This project has been fantastic as a complete study from all kinds of mapping to end data users.

As an extension of my miniature railway mapping, when Carto started rendering roller coasters there was an opportunity to clean up many of them that were mistagged as railways. Working with watmildon we cleaned up a variety of roller coasters around the world by removing lots of light rail, narrow gauge, and miniature railway tags.

Board Related Experience

Professionally, I work in non-profit accounting helping organizations to manage their whole financial picture. In this work my favorite part is reviewing finances with my client’s board and planning for their future.

Recently I have joined the OSMF’s Finance Committee to help with their financial management. In this capacity I have been able to lend my experience to their budgeting process and lay groundwork for financial reporting and enhanced finance policies.

Board Goals

My primary focus as a board member will be to review and enhance financial reporting. Based upon that reporting I want to guide strategy towards building financial reserves and securing the long term future of OSM US.

Aside from financial reporting itself, I will review the organization’s finance policies and procedures. With an eye towards implementing any missing best practices.

Looking towards the far future, I intend to encode my non-profit finance expertise into organizational knowledge so it will remain impactful far beyond my board tenure.

I’m Harrison Devine, and I am running for the OpenStreetMap US board. I edit on OSM and OHM as hdevine825. I have come to OSM through a confluence of my love of maps and open projects.

I got my first start in OSM contributing a few changesets to a HOT project in 2014. I never engaged with the community during this brief stint, and I think that is one reason I did not get more involved. Fast forward to 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, I dove into editing Wikipedia. As I got into Wikipedia, I discovered a passion for cataloging information and contributing to open projects. Then in late 2021 I got back into editing OSM and quickly got involved with the local mapping community.

I’m located in Brooklyn, NY where the map is already densely populated. That has led me to mapping smaller details of sidewalks, tactile paving on curbs, and benches in parks. My largest contributions have been in mapping sidewalks around Brooklyn. I also work on welcoming new mappers and connecting them to the community through the OSM US Slack and giving feedback and resources for their mapping.

Professionally, I work in non-profit accounting. In this role, I work with multiple organizations overseeing their finance function. Often I am the person presenting financial statements to the non-profits’ boards. This has given me considerable experience with compliance and best practices that I hope to contribute to OSM US.

OSM US has taken a lead in building the OSM community. Creating or supporting projects such as TeachOSM, OpenHistoricalMap, and now OSMCha help grow the community and actively support existing mappers. Meanwhile, working groups like the Trails Working Group and Government Working Group connect stakeholders to the community. I see these two avenues as the framework that OSM US should follow and build upon. Beyond simply having these initiatives, the organization has been able to grow with multiple full time staff. However, this also brings additional financial commitments. If elected to the board, I will use my non-profit accounting expertise to build financial stability and create strong processes and controls as bookkeeping is moved in house. This stable financial footing will sustain the existing programs and provide a platform for new initiatives.