Mapping Hacks

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Credits

About the Authors

Schuyler Erle was born near 39.9º N 75.2º W and later on earned a degree

studying linguistics nearby at Temple University. Sometime afterward, he

moved west in search of dot-com fame and fortune, but instead ended up

near 38.4º N 123º W, writing software for several different departments

within O’Reilly & Associates. During his stint at O’Reilly, Schuyler got into

wireless networking and, in his spare time, co-wrote the NoCat Authentica-

tion System, one of the earliest and still one of the most widely used open

source captive portal packages. Not long after, Schuyler’s interest in auto-

mating the analysis of possible long-distance 802.11 links led to collabora-

tion with Rich Gibson on the NoCat Maps project. Literally moments before

giving a talk on this very subject at O’Reilly’s Emerging Technology confer-

ence in 2003, the two of them met Jo Walsh, who was on hand to give a talk

on gonzo collaborative mapping. This meeting proved to be a fateful one,

for, a year later, Schuyler and Jo were married near 37.7º N 122.4º W, and

the three of them began work on the book you now hold in your hands.

Today, Schuyler and Jo spend most of their time around 51.1º N 0.1º W,

but tomorrow they may well be found somewhere else entirely. Together

with Rich, they have founded Locative Technologies, a California-based

consultancy offering design, development, and training in open ...