I attended an Open Street Map mapping party over the weekend.
(http://openstreetmap.org) If you aren't familiar with it, it's the
social creation of an open source map of the world, rivaling G Maps and
Y Maps. It's actually amazing how much of the world has been mapped. I
think it could be a great tool for libraries, but my first quest is to
see if we can get as many public libraries listed as possible. I have a
file from N Carolina that lists all of the public libraries in the state
plus coordinates. I don't know if other states do that as well (they
almost all have names and street addresses, but we need the coordinates
for OSM). There is a batch import, although a bit rough.
Next, it seems that one could develop a template that uses OSM that
could help library reference departments print out maps of their local
area with particular items noted (e.g. parks, homeless shelters, medical
facilities, government offices). I think it has a lot of potential, and
I'm talking to them about doing a mapping party in Chicago around ALA so
we can introduce more folks to the technology.
kc
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Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
[email protected] http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596 skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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