OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap

Posted Sep 20, 2007 7:29 UTC (Thu) by kms (subscriber, #6679)
In reply to: OpenStreetMap by yodermk
Parent article: Geographic display and input using Marble

> Why haven't I ever heard of OSM before? How long has it been operating?
> (I could find no "about" info on their site.) The domain was registered
> in August 2004, but I wonder how long people have been submitting data.
> Just curious, because they have a good level of detail for some cities.
> (See Portland, OR for instance.) If I've never heard of it, how many
> others haven't, who could potentially contribute GPS traces?
>
> Now, perhaps I need to start doing traces around San Antonio! :-)

OSM recently celebrated its third anniversary.

Mapping in the USA has been slow because the USGS makes large portions of its data available with no restrictions, so there has been little motiviation for US mappers. There has recently been a push to import the TIGER data for the USA, I guess that Portland has been already imported - hence the detail. The TIGER import is ongoing, but due to the sheer volume of data it is predicted to take about a year to complete.

If you are in the USA and are interested in joining the project you should swing by the osm-talk[1] mailing list and ask that the area you will be mapping be bumped to the top of the queue for import, you can then help out by correcting and updating the imported data.

OSM is a global project, so no matter where you live you can contribute. Even if collecting traces with a GPS is not your thing there are plenty of other ways to contribute - tools for processing data, rendering and serving maps, or even just helping to maintain the ever expanding database!

Keith.

[1] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk

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