The meeting scheduled to discuss Openstreetmap and the steps to increase interaction within our LUG began with 13 members at 2:15pm. The delay could be attributed members getting lost due to wrong directions on Google maps (nice justification for having an openstreetmap at the same meet!). The attendance might have been slightly higher otherwise.
The meet began with an introduction (that spanned nearly 4 hours!) with each member trying to introduce some one they knew from the members. Through the course of introduction, Satyakam recollected the good old days of the LUG. This was followed by a small discussion of how to increase user interaction and activity within the LUG. One step suggested was to formalize the group in some way so that it can support free software events in and around the city. A decision on this would be best left to the owner, moderators and members. Shakthi Kannan moderated an impromptu discussion on OpenStreetMap (OSM) with members giving valuable suggestions on how to improve the coverage of Hyderabad on OSM. One suggestion was to keep changing the venue, mapping places in and around the venue and as a result we should have improved the coverage. Starting from the next meet, we will start mapping places around the venue. Shakthi suggested members to do some homework by learning more about OSM's objectives, checking it's wiki and tools (like JOSM, Potlach) so that minimal amount of time would be wasted on the introduction. However, he would earmark some time for new members to learn about the project. We would like to thank Open I Technologies not just for hosting us but also providing snacks and letting the meet go on beyond 9pm. Since we had a meet this month, do we hold another this month or meet on the final sunday of the next month (31st january, 2010)? I would also like to change the contact details of the domains to the moderators mailing list so that the expiration notice goes out to the list instead of just me. Is that list still active? -- Cheers Theju
