Re: Meeting Report / MerriLUG / 18 Sep 2008 / OpenStreetMap

[Greg Rundlett]

A cool new project in KDE is called "marble" which is a free alternative to 
"Google Earth".  marble integrates with OpenStreetMap data.  See 
http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3475


On Sunday 23 November 2008 22:17:11 Ben Scott wrote:
>   I just found this in my "Drafts" mail folder.  Apparently, I never
> sent it.  My apologies to all, and especially to Richard, the
> presenter.  He deserves better.  Sorry!
>
>   Original message follows:
>
>   I was pleased to be able to attend the Sep 2008 meeting of MerriLUG,
> held at Martha's Exchange in Nashua, NH.  Taking place on  the Thr 18
> Sep, about 15 people attended.  The speaker was Richard Weait, who was
> presenting on OpenStreetMap.
>
> == What and why ==
>
>   So what is OpenStreetMap?  Well, I'd describe it as "the spirit of
> Wikipedia brought to Google Maps".  It's a giant database of map data,
> particularly street map data.  Like many other useful forms of
> information, maps have traditionally been copyrighted, controlled by a
> small community (cartographers), and expensive.  OpenStreetMap (OSM)
> is an open, Free Content database of map information.   Anyone can
> add, amplify, or modify the data.
>

[snip]

~ Greg
-- 
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Meeting Report / MerriLUG / 18 Sep 2008 / OpenStreetMap

[Ben Scott]

  I just found this in my "Drafts" mail folder.  Apparently, I never
sent it.  My apologies to all, and especially to Richard, the
presenter.  He deserves better.  Sorry!

  Original message follows:

  I was pleased to be able to attend the Sep 2008 meeting of MerriLUG,
held at Martha's Exchange in Nashua, NH.  Taking place on  the Thr 18
Sep, about 15 people attended.  The speaker was Richard Weait, who was
presenting on OpenStreetMap.

== What and why ==

  So what is OpenStreetMap?  Well, I'd describe it as "the spirit of
Wikipedia brought to Google Maps".  It's a giant database of map data,
particularly street map data.  Like many other useful forms of
information, maps have traditionally been copyrighted, controlled by a
small community (cartographers), and expensive.  OpenStreetMap (OSM)
is an open, Free Content database of map information.   Anyone can
add, amplify, or modify the data.

  The reasons why are, I expect, well-known to this group: Lower cost.
 Freedom to use it any way we want.  Contributions from across the
globe.  Details from localities that corporations don't find
profitable.  Enabling creative combinations of ideas.   And so on.
The choir is familiar with the sermon, I presume.

== Licensing and content ==

  The OpenStreetMap database is currently licensed as CC-by-sa
(Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike).  This was deemed the most
appropriate license of the major ones available, but is not really any
appropriate license for a collection of facts (which any map dataset
is).  An effort is underway to create a more appropriate license -- a
Free Content license for databases.  More:


  Because OSM is Free Content, it cannot accept data encumbered by
copy restrictions.  They can't just copy data from Google Maps,
MapQuest, etc.  They've recently completed a big import from the US
Gazetteer (public domain as a work of the US Gov), but government map
data in many jurisdictions is not so lucky.

== Basics ==

  You can get started just by opening up
.  The UI should be pretty familiar if
you've ever used a web map before.  "Map key" in the blue box half way
down on the left side has the legend (road types, colors, etc.).
Search will find a place by name or address.

  Detailed instructions on how to use it, how to contribute, and so on
can be found on the project's wiki: .

  There are all sorts of extensions, add-ons, mashups, third-party
interfaces, and so on to OSM.  You want something that gives you
topographical maps with bicycle routes

== Easy contributions ==

  You don't need to have a GPS, know anything about maps, or install
software to contribute to OSM.  The OpenStreetBugs site
 lets you add tags denoting errors
or omissions.  Want to add a note about that great burrito place down
the street?  You can, with just a browser and a few mouse clicks.

  One neat thing Richard showed us was a mashup using overhead imagery
generously made available to the project by Yahoo.  While OSM cannot
use that aerial imagery in their database, it is acceptable to overlay
it on the OSM map.  You can use that to help check and/or correlate
Free OSM data.

== Surveying ==

  Of course, most of the really good map data comes from volunteers
contributing GPS-based surveys.  But Richard explained how anyone can
contribute detailed survey data with fairly unremarkable,
off-the-shelf, consumer-class equipment.  All you really need is a GPS
receiver that can record GPS tracks.  A track is essentially just a
series of GPS coordinates with timestamps, showing where you were at a
given time.  By combing a GPS track with additional data, you can know
*what* was there.

  Some people keeps notes on paper.  Some people keep notes in a
computer.  Some people take pictures with a digital camera.  Some use
a voice recorder (enabling the option of a "stream of consciousness").
  In all cases, the only thing you need is for each entry to have a
timestamp.  For written notes, you'll need to look at your watch and
write it down.  Most other techniques have facilities for time:
Pictures record it in the EXIF data, audio has a time counter, etc.

  To correlate the two data streams, you record one point at the start
against the clock in the GPS tracker.  Perhaps the simplest example
would be using the digital camera to take a picture of the clock
display on the GPS.

  Then it's just a simple matter of taking the GPS track, feeding it
into an appropriate program, and transcribing your notes.
Transcribing might mean looking at pictures or listening to audio, and
where you see/hear "corner of 5th Street and Maple Ave", you tell the
software that at that GPS track point, 5th Street and Maple intersect.
 The software automates most of the work of correlating and annotating
-- or so Richard says.  :)

== Fancy software ==

  If you want to do actual, direct map editing (as opposed