Surprise, surprise, there is some free map data. There are many key gov agencies putting their map data online using the Open GIS standards for serving map data (http://opengis.org )
The local claim to fame is http://canri.nsw.gov.au which links to our local maps. The key is to get the basemaps served up in Open GIS compliant Web Map Server (WMS) format. Then the data can be layered on top of each other to make agregate maps, and displayed over the web. Commercial Plug: Socialchange Online - http://webmap.socialchange.net.au work on the standards, and putting these maps online as core business. Jamie Honan wrote: > > > Has anyone used the CDROM version of the UBD Street > > Directory ? I'd like to hear opinions on the format used here, > > do you suppose it's vector or raster based ? > > Haven't seen this particular one, but I imagine it is vector > format in mapinfo format. From memory, one of the formats is > fully defined and in ascii. (unlikely to be the one on CD). > > Free map data for Australia would be really cool. > > A lot of the stuff comes from 'Public Sector Mapping Agencies'. > The dept of lands for each state has the survey info for every > 'parcel of land' - called cadastral data. The RTA, the railways, > water board, county councils, every bloody department > has some mapping data, none of it co-ordinated except by > commercial bodies. > > Try PSMA, ANZLIC, AUSLIG in your search engine. Also mapinfo. > > None of it is free, yet we've already paid for it. The copyright > must be a fine line. The raw data just is : the > collation, the presentation is probably where the copyright applies. > > I've never understood why cycling groups don't get together > with a few GPS recievers and make some really nice cycling > maps. > > For personal use, you could 'screen scrape' some whereis > queries : e.g. using whitepages. > > Jamie > > -- > SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ > More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug -- Cameron Shorter Web Mapping Manager Social Change Online 248 Johnson St Tel: +61 (0) 2 9692 5115 Annandale NSW 2038 Fax: +61 (0) 2 9692 5192 Sydney, Australia http://webmap.socialchange.net.au -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
