[Discuss] OpenStreetMap in Victoria

[Nick Black]

On 7/31/07, David Bronaugh <dbronaugh at linuxboxen.org> wrote:
> Corey Burger wrote:
> > On 7/30/07, Murray Strome <wmstrome at shaw.ca> wrote:
> >
> >> Corey Burger wrote:
> >>
> >>> On 7/29/07, Nick Black <nickblack1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> On 7/29/07, Hristofor Todorov <chris.todorov at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>> I guess that's good news because not everyone who would want to help has
> >>>>> a gps :) In that case what exactly needs to be done, because from what I
> >>>>> read from Nick's original post he said:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 09:42 +0100, Nick Black wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> We take GPS units and walk, cycle or drive
> >>>>>> around all the roads and footpaths we can find, noting their names and
> >>>>>> attributes. Once back at the desk, we then upload all the data we
> >>>>>> collect to create the maps you see at openstreetmap.org.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>> Thats right - we take GPS units to map stuff with, and I will have a
> >>>> load of GPS units to lend out to anyone who wants to use them.
> >>>>
> >>>> Recently Yahoo have allowed us to  work from their aerial imagery,
> >>>> which means a lot of the tracing can be done from the comfort of a
> >>>> chair.  But, we still need to get the names of the streets - which
> >>>> means walking down them.  At a mapping party in London recently, we
> >>>> had a lot of success with printing out aerial imagery and noting down
> >>>> road names on the maps, and then uploading the data.
> >>>>
> >>>> Another problem with satellite imagery is that it isn't always current
> >>>> - so new developments won't appear, requiring a good old GPS.
> >>>>
> >>>> Finally, satellite imagery provided by Yahoo is typically only
> >>>> available for urban areas.  So mapping downtown Victoria will be no
> >>>> problem, but if people want to go out further and map some rural
> >>>> areas, a GPS unit could also be required.
> >>>>
> >>>> So - I'll have some GPS units which will be useful for some stuff.
> >>>> Having a laptop will also be helpful, as will print outs of yahoo
> >>>> images and OSM maps.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>> The Yahoo aerial imagery covers all of the Saanich Peninsula, running
> >>> west all the way until just past Thetis Lake before Goldstream. Thus
> >>> we have all of Greater Victoria covered.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >> I must admit that I have not read every posting in this thread, but I
> >> wonder if you have looked at this resource:
> >>
> >> http://www.crd.bc.ca/maps/natural/index.htm
> >>
> >> It contains a lot of detailed information, including house numbers on
> >> individual homes (at least in my neighbourhood). In the aerial photo
> >> view, I can even clearly see the 1m satellite dish which was on my roof
> >> when the photo was taken.
> >>
> >> I don't know about the legality of using the information for other
> >> projects, but I am very impressed with the quality of the data (in
> >> addition to streets, etc. there is a lot of other GIS information that
> >> can be displayed).
> >>
> >> Murray
> >>
> >
> > So OpenStreetMap is CC by sa 2.0 licensed. As such, we can only use
> > data sources that have compatible licenses. Looking at the
> > contributors to the atlas:
> > http://www.crd.bc.ca/maps/natural/sponsors.htm , I would say that hte
> > data is probably not avaiable for us.
> >
> > For instances, there is a great Canadian data source at
> > http://www.geogratis.gc.ca/ that we cannot use because although the
> > license is almost compatible, it has a few nasty sections, such as
> > termination, etc.
> >
> > Corey
> >
> Why not lobby the gov't to change the nasty and disagreeable sections?
> Our taxpayers dollars created it, why should we not be able to integrate
> it into free products?

For the same reason that Linus Torvalds didnt sit around lobbying
Propreitery software vendors.  There are groups who lobby the gov't
about this and I agree with your sentiments 100%, but I feel that I
can spend my time more effectively making the data myself, producing
tools for other people to make and collect data, and helping along
with guys like Corey to organise mapping events.  When the data is
feely available in OSM, its value will have been reduced to such a
level that the gov't will have little choice other than to release
their data under a comparable license.

For an idea of my views on this, check out this blog post:

http://www.opengeodata.org/?p=184

Cheers,


>
> David
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-- 
Nick Black
--------------------------------
http://www.blacksworld.net