OpenStreetMap
Today, i wear a T-shirt printed with Medan’s road network, based on OpenStreetMap data.
Every time i glanced down at those tangled lines, a quiet curiosity crept in. I kept wondering who mapped this exact line segment I’m looking at right now, which contributor traced it, corrected it, or patiently aligned it to reality. It’s a strange and comforting thought, carrying a small piece of someone else’s mapping work on fabric, a reminder that this map is made of countless individual moments of care.
Discussion
Comment from pussreboots on 22 December 2025 at 01:35
That’s cool. I wonder if I can get a shirt of my neighborhood (when I’m done mapping it).
Comment from rphyrin on 22 December 2025 at 04:02
@pussreboots
My friends in the local neighborhood sometimes ask me, ‘what kind of local merchandise can we offer to tourists visiting us?’ Now I would say that this kind of map art is quite a low-hanging fruit to pursue.
Comment from Milhouse on 4 January 2026 at 17:38
A couple of years ago in a local Facebook group someone posted a photo of their lost necklace, the pendant of which looked probably to most people like a random abstract shape, but I recognised the network of four or five roads from about a mile away from my home and she confirmed that was what it was, amazed that someone would recognise it without any text or legend. The familiarity of your local neighbourhood you get editing OSM. I would love to be able to claim credit for mapping those roads but as a regular mapper from about 2018 onwards, most London streets were mapped by then. I do love the idea that someone has turned OSM segments into jewellery, it’s one of those use cases that probably isn’t high on people’s priorities! (I didn’t check if there was any attribution on the necklace! Maybe on the packaging?)