GeoLabs

Kashif Rasul last year decided to buy himself one of those GeoChron GPS from SparkFun (they are really cool: field hardended and can take SD cards check it here) … after doing some mapping around Europe and Malaysia he decided to use it to initiate the first openstreetmap mapping party in Multan (which incidentally is one of the oldest known cities in the world - wikipedia-page). So he parted with his beloved GPS and it has started to pay off… Multan which till last week was completely blank on OSM has now got its first two roads…

To promote the idea of mapping parties Kashif’s dad who is a professor at a university in Multan organised a talk and mapping party. With just one GPS this first mapping party attracted over 45 people. This is huge! Here’s the email from Asif Rasul himself:

“How r u [Kashif]? I have given the presentation today about 45 people came. went fine. We will Inshallah start the regular work on week ends. Many student volunteered the job by motorcycle.”

Sweet! Below are the fantastic slides that Kashif and Aleks put together … they really hit the spot and make one wanna get out and map! i have to say thanks to Mikel Maron for being an inspiration (with his recent OSM related work in the Middle East) and letting us use some of his material for the slides. We also used some of Andrew Turners photos.

As you see in the slides we are currently constrained only by the number of GPS’s - no lack of motorbikes and riders here :) .. so if someone out there is looking to support a good cause then donate some GPSs for mapping a city which has a rich, unique and beautiful culture. Sadly publically available spatial data is scarce. There is a lot of work to be done and to keep the mapping momentum in Multan we really do need more GPS’s. I look forward to the day that this data can be used by the citizens of Multan for social development projects.

If you would like to get in touch about donating GPSs or are interested in osm in Pakistan feel free to leave a comment below or email us.