Open Street Map activist wanted...

Colin McGregor colin.mc151-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
Sun Aug 31 15:26:21 UTC 2008


Looking for a activist to help finish putting Toronto on the (Open
Street) Map (http://www.openstreetmap.org/).

On the weekend of September 20, 21st the people involved in "Open
Street Map" are looking to map (or finish mapping) a number of cities
around the world, and it would be nice if Toronto could be one of
them. So, we need someone to coordinate efforts here in Toronto.

The goal behind the "Open Street Map" is to have a database of high
quality geographic information, free of any commercial/government
entanglements. So, if you want to say produce a custom map showing
bicycle maps by elevation, no problem. Want to produce a great map
showing your business, without having to get legal permission, again
no problem. Information that might not make it on to regular maps,
like foot path routes can easily be stored. Think a Wikipedia of
geographic data. Once a free database is available, you can do lots of
interesting things.

The big issue with Open Street Map at the moment is getting data for
that database. Keep in mind that for this all to work, all the data
must come from public unrestricted sources. Typically this means
people travelling an area with a Global Positioning Satelite (GPS)
receiver and making observations.  Parts of Toronto, namely the
downtown core are well covered. Some parts of Toronto, like chunks of
North York / Scarborough have the streets traced, but need people to
go and note street names off the sign posts. Parts of Etobicoke have
not been mapped at all.

The levels of mapping means that someone with just a notepad, a
ballpoint pen, a partially completed map, and a willingness to walk or
bicycle can do good volunteer work for Open Street Map. In other
areas, someone with a GPS receiver will be needed to at least trace
the streets (and hopefully at the same time collect street names).  In
all areas of the city there is value in filling in more data, namely
noting points of interest, like pubs, schools, places of worship and
so on.

So, what is needed is someone to coordinate the efforts of a group of
volunteers. Someone who could talk to bicycle groups, hiking groups,
high school geography teachers and others who could be interested in a
project like this.

What is already available includes:

- Linuxcaffe at 326 Harbord Street (near Bloor and Christie) has
offered to act as a meeting place for the mapping effort. This is a
fairly good spot as it has a fairly central location and offers free
WiFi (great for entering data into the Open Street Map database).

- Information as to how other cities have approached this in the past,
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Mapping_Weekend_Howto with
specific examples in places like London England.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/London_mapping_party

- We have an offer of the loan of a GPS receiver from one of the big
Kitchener / Waterloo Open Street Map fans.

Things that can be easily arranged:

- Wiki page(s) to post announcements, and track who will be going to
what part(s) of the city.

What we need:

- A coordinator to put all this together. This is something I would be
happy to do, but I have other commitments is the days leading up to
the 20, so, while I would be happy to help, I am not the person to
take the lead on this event.

- Volunteers willing to travel the city. When volunteering questions
that will need answers include:
  - How can you get around the city (foot? car? bicycle?).
  - Do you have a laptop computer, if so, what sort? (there is Open
Street Map software for Windows, Mac and Linux, but not all the same
programs are available for all platforms).
  - Do you have a GPS receiver, if so, what sort (some GPSs must be
connected to laptop to work, limiting their value for tracing hiking
paths)?
 - What part(s) of the city would you like to focus on?

So, who would like to pitch in?

Thanks.


Colin McGregor
--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists





More information about the Legacy mailing list