Puzzlepieces – tag ‘openstreetmap’

MapQuest Dev Blog – MapQuest Opens Up – in the UK - people’s eyes tend to gloss over when I explain that it won’t be that many years before most online maps and GPS devices use OpenStreetMap as their data source. And although use of OSM has been spreading, this is a very big deal… MapQuest is not only using OSM data on a demo site, but hiring people who have built parts of the open source map stack to improve their work and release it openly, AND contributing $1 million to the open mapping cause in the US. Good job AOL.

It occurs to me that I’ve hardly mentioned OpenStreetMap on this blog, despite that it’s often an obsession of mine, as people who’ve met me in person would quickly confirm. As the Wikipedia of maps (no other explanation works nearly as well), it is open, easy to contribute to, and I believe, will eventually be the source used for most general mapping applications. Even today it gets quite a bit of use, and growing.

Anyhow, Mikel Maron posts on the Map Kibera blog (Some notes on Map Kibera mapping) about some of the amazing work he organized mapping Kibera, Nairobi, one of the largest slums in the world. It’s interesting how a project that began as a counter to the high-priced Ordinance Survey maps in London has become (among many other things), among the best in maps of the developing world, and and an important resource in humanitarian efforts such as Haiti.

I myself have contributed to the project wherever I am living (or have lived), with lots of contributions around Bellevue, WA, a bit in several places in Toronto, and last week a ton of very detailed and localized mapping in a small section of Florida.

Brain Off » Open Source Geo Stack :: Mikel Maron :: Building Digital Technology for Our Planet - since I emailed Mikel asking for a list like this about a year and a half ago, I can take credit for it, right?

Anyhow this is a great list that includes everything except the actual sources of data. The best one for that is often OpenStreetMap, but it really depends where and what you’re mapping.