To be honest, this is not really something I’ve thought about until now. I did not even know there was a community centered on this, I’d only ever make contributions to the maps for the fun of it and because it felt nice to know that other people could use your help.
But now that I know, off the top of my head, here’s what the program to me:
- It means symbiosis. It’s a smaller representation of the bigger picture for the world. If everyone contributes their little in their own little corner, they’d impact everybody’s lives one way or the other and it’d be better for all of us
2: Humanity as a fundamental: because no matter how advanced technology gets, it requires the human element both in its creation, in its improvement and in its purpose if it is to be relevant. The ability to give reviews, add pictures and give directions are all just opportunities to infuse the technology of cartographic with the perspective of human experiences and observations. So you realise that places are not just blips on the map per se, there are living, breathing human beings in those places too. So you could sit down outside on a dark night, look at the starry skies over Lagos Nigeria and wonder what someone on a carribean Island is doing at the same time
