It was another beautiful, sunny day in Orange. I’m toying with the idea of conjuring up some sort of regular Saturday mapping activity, solely so I can use the word “Mapurday”, even though I’ve mapped at least one thing every day for the last five days. I’m sure that will slow down a bit once I re-balance the other parts of my life (although I did add a bench in Riverside last night while waiting for a friend to arrive; it doesn’t take much to contribute!). I’m not sure if it will be just for myself, or I want to try to get other local mappers involved.

It was a productive day! My goal was to add more fire hydrants along Palmyra, and to catch one I had somehow missed along Almond. I can’t say it’s representative, but so far, the manufacturers have all been one of:

• Rich Valve Co. (or Rich Manufacturing Company; I’ve seen both and other variations in newspaper clippings)
• M. Greenberg’s Sons
• Long Beach Iron Works
• Clow (Valve Company)

There’s also one Van Deventer, which firehydrants.org says could be a company, but it could also just be a fire hydrant produced under license. I plan to do a little newspaper digging to see if I can learn more.

Orange Street Barbershop

I added the Orange Street Barbershop to the map. I’ve been correcting several missing or otherwise out-of-date business POIs in addition to my quixotic hydrant mapping quest. The previous salon for 120 S Orange St was long since closed, so I updated it for the new business. I also noticed that the entire building was marked as the salon (now barbershop). I switched this to an individual node because the Orange Street Barbershop is technically suite B; there’s a suite A with doors set a bit back into a covered part of the building, but they don’t seem to be for anything useful.

I caught a barbershop employee walking back into a side door, and I asked her if she knows what Suite A was or where the doors go. She said that there’s just a shared hallway back there that is also shared with the Kickin’ Crab. I also noticed a chalked sign on the wall that directs the USPS to deliver suite A’s mail to suite B. For all intents and purposes, I don’t think suite A really exists in any meaningful form.

That all being said, suite A is still marked above the doors, and the Orange Street Barbershop still includes “Ste B” in its address, so I’ve left it as a separate POI node. I should probably ask someone which is preferable.

Benches and trash cans

I would love to know all of the places to sit and throw things away in Orange (I’m a bit like a Rollercoaster Tycoon character, in that regard). I’m not diligently mapping benches and trash cans as much as I am fire hydrants (yet), but I try to add the ones I see when I walk around. I added a couple trash cans at Orange and Chapman, as well as the two benches in front of Play, and a bench on the berm in front of a house for sale.

I also added a cheeky little bench in Riverside last night while waiting for a friend to arrive for drinks. It was a great reminder that you can usually map something wherever you are, even if you only have a minute or two.

Other POI changes

I added some info to the Orange Circle Chase branch, as well as the Assistance League of Orange Thrift Shop. I also added information for the Assistance League of Orange Chapter Offices at 124 S Orange St.

To do

I have some out-of-band stuff I still need to do, like create Wikidata entries and sources for Rich Manufacturing Company (and probably M. Greenberg’s Sons), so I can properly link them to specific fire hydrants. I also need to research Van Deventer and see if I can’t find more information about that.

Upcoming

I want to continue to update Orange Circle POI information, such as providing addresses and business hours for things. I walk around Old Towne so much anywhere, there’s no reason I can’t pop into things and check out business hours and other features anyway. Plus, it’s a great excuse to get out of the house.

As always, I will add more fire hydrants, perhaps down Almond and Chapman this time. There’s a fun golden fire hydrant next to Fire Station #1; I’m curious to see its manufacturer and model and if there’s anything special about it aside from its fabulous color.

Every Door

I also want to shout out Ilya Zverev, the author of Every Door. This completely free and open source app makes it easy to add things to OSM, especially POIs (I’m using it extensively for my fire hydrant stuff). This holiday season, consider kicking some euros his way over on Liberapay, if you can.

Conclusion

All in all, it was a great day! I got to get outside, have some coffee, and wander around Old Towne helping contribute to OSM. I look forward to doing it again.