On Friday (this Friday!) it's the OpenStreetMap 6th Anniversary Birthday party!

We'll be celebrating in London, and as I said before, the idea is to make this a BIG event, so if you've wondered whether to bother travelling into London for an OpenStreetMap event, travel in for this one! (and help make sure such people know about it)

London too far away? Well we're partying in other places around the world. It's great to see events set up in Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Toronto. If none of those are near you either, well how about setting up another OpenStreetMap party in your neck of the woods? There's still time!

It feels like a while since we've had a get together. I probably would've arranged a mapping evening last week. That would have sandwiched nicely between the anniversary party (did I mention it's this Friday?), and my BBQ meat-up of two weeks ago. ...but then I was away last week with work.

I was actually in Toulouse, and I got to have a play with the cycle hire scheme they have there. It doesn't require advanced signup like the new London one does.

But back in London, I think I'm going to join in with the mapping push, to map all the London cycle hire points. There are "free" maps online already of course, but not OSM flavoured maps. Resurveying is ridiculous, but guess what? It's fun! Firefishy has been spearheading the boris bike shenanigans, and has laid down a challenge to try and complete it in time for the anniversary party this Friday. gregory's map of OSM Cycle Hire points gives us an idea of how that's going, although beware it may be a tad out-of-date with the latest additions.

I mapped some near me already (plus OSM tagged pics on flickr) but I'm hoping to get chance to go bag some more tomorrow evening... if there's any left to map by then.