@arun Thank you Couple of tasks: 1. Enhance our list of references on readme.md https://github.com/datameet/indian_village_boundaries It will help us as we work on the maps.
2. Adding CENSUS_CODE_2011 codes for villages. It can be derived from CENSUS_CODE_2001 codes. But needs work and validation. Added contributing.md page https://github.com/datameet/indian_village_boundaries/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md Thej -- Thejesh GN *⏚* ತೇಜೇಶ್ ಜಿ.ಎನ್ http://thejeshgn.com GPG ID : 0xBFFC8DD3C06DD6B0 On 17 August 2016 at 21:17, Arun Ganesh <[email protected]> wrote: > Its amazing to see this move forward with DataMeet, thank you Nisha and > Thej for pushing this! Any immediate tasks with which others could support? > > On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 5:58 PM, Nisha Thompson <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> @Sharad - To expand what Thej said: >> >> Thej and I met with lawyers at Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore. >> >> We discussed DataMeet, we are a community of people who believe in open >> data and share data with one another over the group. The data is usually >> government owned publicly available data that was procured through many >> methods but sometimes data owned by individuals (companies, researchers, >> students etc) are shared as well. >> >> We met with them regarding the mapping data we hold. Currently DataMeet >> has the only publicly available Parliamentary and Assembly Constituency >> shapefiles for download under OBDL, as well as District, some ward maps and >> other isolated mapping information provided to us to maintain by the >> community. >> >> When the community decided to start tackling the village files Thej and I >> were concerned about having that much mapping data available from >> government sources given the Survey of India's regulations regarding >> mapping information. >> >> There is a lot of gray areas in the law and in the regulation. Basically >> we should be concerned with copyright violation but it is unlikely that >> they will go after you for that. It is important to create a sense of >> demand, then document the process of getting and processing the information >> and also that this information being shared is in the public interest. >> >> Copyright Law - Data is not technically copyrighted but the way it is >> stored and created is. Maps are creations and interpretations of data >> therefore a map is technically copyrighted. Making a copy of it and >> changing it's format from one to another is a gray area in copyright. (Some >> say yes some say no) >> >> Mapping Policy - Only the Survey of India is allowed to map and >> distribute maps. However, they make a lot of partnerships with vendors and >> distributors for their maps. Again taking an official GOI and SOI map >> (Census, NIC village provided maps) and changing the format a gray area for >> copyright but whether the SOI considered it a violation of their >> distribution is another story. >> >> What it comes down to is our intent and how risk adverse we are. >> >> We are not very risk adverse and we believe in open data for public good, >> so we decided to move forward with the effort but proceed cautiously and >> deliberately. >> >> If the government asks us to take them down we will but we should be >> prepared to make the case for why they should provide the maps. >> >> We spent some time collecting demand information from people on why >> mapping information needs to be available and ideally in the open. >> We articulated the need to have this information in the open and with the >> Save the Map campaign in full swing at the same time there has been a >> reasonable public conversation about the importance of mapping information >> be available, not restricted, and in the open. >> We then looked at the states that already had PDF maps of their villages >> available and began to convert them, people contributed their individual >> efforts in converting maps and over the last several months managed to get >> the whole country in some form or the other. >> Now we can finish processing them and get them out to the public. >> >> This is an ongoing conversation and we will continue having the >> conversation with ALF and others so please send any questions. >> >> Nisha >> >> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 4:30 PM, Arun Ganesh <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Thej, if it helps, the OSM wiki probably has the most comprehensive >>> documentation of the varying boundary levels in India >>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_India/Boundaries >>> >>> Would be great to get some experts well versed the the governance >>> structure to take a look and provide feedback. >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 2:11 PM, Thejesh GN <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> @dev >>>> I was planning to rename attributes because if someone converts these >>>> geojsons into shapefile then the name would remain same and reduce >>>> confusion. >>>> >>>> What do you think? >>>> >>>> On Aug 16, 2016 1:49 PM, "Devdatta Tengshe" <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> >i will rename the attributes so the length of attribute name is 8. >>>> Can you put an issue. Easy to track. >>>> There is no need to do that. This is one of the limitations of the >>>> shapefile format, and we have no such limitations when we have a GeoJSON >>>> file. >>>> >>>> > in census, they use subdistrict. Is it same as Taluk? >>>> Pretty much. In different parts of the country, sub districts are >>>> called by different names. They can be called Taluk, Tehesil, Mandal, >>>> Blocs, etc, depending on where you are in the country. hence the Census >>>> came up with an Abstract name for them. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> Devdatta >>>> >>>> On Tue, Aug 16, 2016 at 12:22 PM, Thejesh GN <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> @arun: i will rename the attributes so the length of attribute name is >>>>> 8. Can you put an issue. Easy to track. >>>>> >>>>> @question: in census, they use subdistrict. Is it same as Taluk? >>>>> >>>>> Also anyone has 2001 to 2011 village code mappings? >>>>> >>>>> On Aug 15, 2016 9:32 PM, "Thejesh GN" <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 15 August 2016 at 18:12, "Sharad Lele [शरच्चंद्र लेले]" < >>>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> For some reason, this email by Thejesh did not show up datameet (or >>>>>> maybe I just missed it?). So forwarding it to the group. >>>>>> >>>>>> Thejesh, thanks for this. I have two queries: >>>>>> >>>>>> 1. Is this effort different from the effort by Nisha? My impression >>>>>> was that we had (with the group) access to boundaries of many more >>>>>> states, >>>>>> but the issue was copyright etc, and that Nisha, you and some others were >>>>>> taking legal opinion on the same. Is what you have put out a result of >>>>>> that? What is the legal opinion? >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> Its the same effort, This is going to be our single effort. In this >>>>> phase-1 we are going to publish boundaries of the villages for states >>>>> which >>>>> are derived from the government websites. We are applying our license - >>>>> ODBL to the additional skilled and creative work our volunteers do, >>>>> designing, organizing, extracting, georeferencing, drawing missing areas, >>>>> adding more attributes, cleaning etc and attribute/credit the source (Govt >>>>> Website) for each state. >>>>> >>>>> I know there are more boundaries with complicated licenses. The talks >>>>> are still on, as of now we are not publishing them. we will look at them >>>>> in >>>>> phase-2. We will keep the list updated. >>>>> >>>>> So as of now its govt public data + DataMeet volunteer's creative >>>>> work. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> 2. I think I have asked this silly question on the group before, but >>>>>> have to ask it again: what is the 'json' format, and why is it better to >>>>>> put the data out in that format than in .shp? And how does one convert >>>>>> from >>>>>> json to .shp? >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Our boundaries are incomplete in some cases or might have errors. >>>>> Hence we are maintaining them in git similar to source code, where any >>>>> changes to the file can be seen tracked and seen. >>>>> >>>>> geojson or json is a simple text format. Which can be opened by a >>>>> simple text editor and hence gives advantage to compare the versions, do a >>>>> diff just like source code. >>>>> >>>>> Shape files are a format by ESRI is more like a binary format. Its >>>>> difficult to compare them on GitHub. >>>>> >>>>> I would suggest http://mapshaper.org/ (Its open source so you can run >>>>> internally if required) . You can convert between >>>>> Shapefiles/geojson/topojson. Work on them and export. I have attached >>>>> screenshots. >>>>> >>>>> I have been using it a lot and it has really great support for all >>>>> formats. I would suggest you to use http://mapshaper.org/ and let the >>>>> group know if you face any issues. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Let me know if you have any more questions. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> Thanks. >>>>>> Sharad >>>>>> >>>>>> - >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>>>>> From: "Data{Meet}" <[email protected]> >>>>>> Date: 15 Aug 2016 10:27 >>>>>> Subject: [New post] Happy Independence Day and Open Indian Village >>>>>> Boundaries >>>>>> To: <[email protected]> >>>>>> Cc: >>>>>> >>>>>> Thejesh GN posted: "One of the longest and most passionately >>>>>> discussed subject on the Data{Meet} list is the availability of Indian >>>>>> Village Boundaries in Digital format. Search for Indian Village shape >>>>>> files >>>>>> and you can spend hours on reading interesting conversations. Over" >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> New post on *Data{Meet}* >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?author=1> Happy Independence Day and Open >>>>>> Indian Village Boundaries >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/2016/08/15/happy-independence-day-open-indian-village-boundaries/> >>>>>> by >>>>>> Thejesh GN <http://datameet.org/?author=1> >>>>>> >>>>>> One of the longest and most passionately discussed subject on the >>>>>> Data{Meet} list is the availability of Indian Village Boundaries in >>>>>> Digital >>>>>> format. Search for Indian Village shape files >>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21searchin/datameet/India$20Village$20boundaries$20%7Csort:relevance> >>>>>> and you can spend hours on reading interesting conversations. >>>>>> >>>>>> Over last two years different members of community have tried to >>>>>> digitize >>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21searchin/datameet/damle$20gujarat$20map%7Csort:relevance/datameet/zLP-eRtGxYY/FlQqBMriCAAJ> >>>>>> the maps available through various government platforms or shared >>>>>> the maps through their organizations >>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21topic/datameet/dBNmEToJ5CI>. >>>>>> >>>>>> A look at the list discussion tells you that boundaries of at the >>>>>> least 75% of the states are available in various formats and quality. >>>>>> What >>>>>> we need at this point is a consolidate effort to bring them all on par in >>>>>> format, attributes and to some level quality. So some volunteers at >>>>>> Data{Meet} agreed to come together, clean up the available maps, add >>>>>> attributes, make them geojson and publish them on our GitHub repository >>>>>> called Indian Village Boundaries >>>>>> <https://github.com/datameet/indian_village_boundaries>. >>>>>> >>>>>> Of course this will be an on going effort but we would love to reach >>>>>> a baseline (all states) by year end. As of now I have cleaned up and >>>>>> uploaded Gujarat. I have at the least 4 more states to go live by month >>>>>> end. Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa. I will announce them on the >>>>>> list as they go live. >>>>>> >>>>>> The boundaries are organized by state using state ISO code. All the >>>>>> village boundaries are available in geojson (WGS84, EPSG4326) format. >>>>>> The project >>>>>> page <https://github.com/datameet/indian_village_boundaries> gives >>>>>> you the status of the data as we clean and upload. Data is not perfect >>>>>> yet, >>>>>> there could many errors both in data and boundaries. You can contribute >>>>>> by >>>>>> sending the pull requests. Please use the census names when correcting >>>>>> the >>>>>> attributes and geojson for shapes and but please source them to an >>>>>> official >>>>>> source. >>>>>> >>>>>> Like everything else community creates. All map data will be >>>>>> available under Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) >>>>>> <http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/>. This data is >>>>>> distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; >>>>>> without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A >>>>>> PARTICULAR PURPOSE. If you find issues we are more than happy to accept >>>>>> corrections but please source them to an official source. >>>>>> >>>>>> On this 70th Independence day, as we celebrate the historic event of >>>>>> India becoming Free and Independent, Data{Meet} community celebrates by >>>>>> cleaning, formatting and digitizing our village boundaries. Have a great >>>>>> time using the maps and contributing back to society. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> *https://github.com/datameet/indian_village_boundaries >>>>>> <https://github.com/datameet/indian_village_boundaries> * >>>>>> >>>>>> Picture: Kedarnath range behind the Kedarnath temple early morning. >>>>>> By Kaustabh, Available under CCBYSA >>>>>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KedarRange.jpg>. >>>>>> *Thejesh GN <http://datameet.org/?author=1>* | August 15, 2016 at >>>>>> 10:26 am | Tags: featured >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=featured>, Indian >>>>>> Village Maps >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=indian-village-maps>, >>>>>> Maps <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=maps>, open access >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=open-access>, open data >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=open-data> | >>>>>> Categories: Data <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=category&term=data>, >>>>>> GIS <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=category&term=gis>, map >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=category&term=map>, mapping >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=category&term=mapping>, Open Data >>>>>> India Watch >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/?taxonomy=category&term=open-data-india-watch> >>>>>> | URL: http://wp.me/p2Jc3f-FK >>>>>> >>>>>> Comment >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/2016/08/15/happy-independence-day-open-indian-village-boundaries/#respond> >>>>>> See all comments >>>>>> <http://datameet.org/2016/08/15/happy-independence-day-open-indian-village-boundaries/#comments> >>>>>> >>>>>> Unsubscribe >>>>>> <https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=759ccfb810341ca9efa9a780b9fe8394&email=sbadiger%40atree.org&b=%3FYLa-XFv%3F%25vJ0QUf6BfLkuXJRbZFHuFIWVgC2oZjnp%7EanKnT%5Bo> >>>>>> to no longer receive posts from Data{Meet}. >>>>>> Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions >>>>>> <https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=759ccfb810341ca9efa9a780b9fe8394&email=sbadiger%40atree.org>. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser: >>>>>> http://datameet.org/2016/08/15/happy-independence-day-open-i >>>>>> ndian-village-boundaries/ >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Sharachchandra Lele >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Senior Fellow & Convenor >>>>>> >>>>>> Centre for Environment & Development >>>>>> >>>>>> Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) >>>>>> >>>>>> Phone (office) (080)-2363-5555 ext. 317; >>>>>> (mob): +91-94800-15850 >>>>>> >>>>>> Email: [email protected] Skype ID: >>>>>> sharad_lele >>>>>> >>>>>> Personal webpage: >>>>>> http://atree.org/sharad_lele >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Postal address: Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur P.O. >>>>>> >>>>>> Bangalore 560 064, INDIA >>>>>> >>>>>> *President*, Indian Society for Ecological Economics (2014-16) ( >>>>>> www.ecoinsee.org) >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> *Democratizing Forest Governance in India* >>>>>> <http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198099123.do> (published >>>>>> Sept 2014) >>>>>> >>>>>> (edited by Sharachchandra Lele and Ajit Menon) >>>>>> >>>>>> Oxford University Press, India >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know >>>>>> more about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>>>>> --- >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>> Groups "datameet" group. >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, >>>>>> send an email to [email protected]. >>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know >>>>> more about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>>>> --- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "datameet" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more >>>> about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>>> --- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "datameet" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more >>>> about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>>> --- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "datameet" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to [email protected]. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Arun Ganesh >>> (planemad) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Planemad> >>> >>> -- >>> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more >>> about us by visiting http://datameet.org >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "datameet" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Nisha Thompson >> DataMeet.org >> [email protected] >> skype: nishaqt >> mobile: 962-061-2245 >> >> >> -- >> Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more >> about us by visiting http://datameet.org >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "datameet" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > > > -- > Arun Ganesh > (planemad) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Planemad> > > -- > Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more > about us by visiting http://datameet.org > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "datameet" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Datameet is a community of Data Science enthusiasts in India. Know more about us by visiting http://datameet.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "datameet" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
