Categories
opensource

OpenStreetMap all grown up and serious..

At last weekends State of the Map (SOTM) conference is was clear the the OpenStreetMap project is growing up and trying to position itself at a real alternative to commercial geodata suppliers and not just a fun project for people who love maps and making them. Perhaps it is the experience of Cloudmade or the […]

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Thoughts

Gaza OpenStreetMap help needed

Your help is needed.. if you have any local knowledge of Gaza please respond to Mikel’s request none of the online sites have adequate mapping and given the urgent nature of the situation this needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network

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opensource Thoughts

OpenStreetMap and the Rabbit Phone problem..

This week the innovative guys as Nestroia have launched an experimental version of their great real estate aggregation site using OpenStreetMap mapping as an alternative to the usual Google Map Tiles. This is great vote of confidence for OpenstreetMap, but it also highlights some of the problems creating geodata from the cloud. Where OSM data […]

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GIS opensource Thoughts

OpenStreetMap and Mainstream GIS start dating..

The image below tells us quite a lot about own the GI industry is developing. Click on the image for a full resolution screen-shot of openstreetmap (OSM) data and OS ITN data in Cadcorp‘s SIS desktop GIS, which can now import OSM XML. What do we have here… 1. Cadcorp a progressive but mainstream GIS […]

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GIS Thoughts

Openstreetmap and the OS

Jo at Mapping hacks comments on an email sent by Openstreetmap (OSM) founder Steve Coast on its future. I have blogged about OSM before and am very supportive of the idea, however Steve makes the point that others in the UK are concerned to support the initiative personally, because of their relationships with the Ordnance […]

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Thoughts

The Greatest story ever told…

OK maybe not, but the development of OpenStreetMap as told by its founding father, Steve Coast is going to be a great read. A truly game changing event in the mapping industry, the project has always attracted strong characters as contributors and in as much as it’s possible to say leaders. The story of how […]

Categories
Thoughts

VGI Motivation by Helicopter !

A common topic of discussion when the topic of Volunteered  Geographic Information ( hate the term but it’s was academics use) is motivation. Why expend your precious time adding a missing road to OpenStreetMap or Google Map Maker, why add a review of a Hotel to TripAdvisor ? Clearly there is the desire to fill in the […]

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Open Government Data Ordnance Survey Thoughts

So does Open GovData allow SME’s to flourish?

Within the first few weeks of joining the Ordnance Survey 10 years or so ago I was shown a prototype map of the New Forest printed on silk, for reasons anyone who has read the “Innovators dilemma” will understand it was never turning into a product, and I still have  the prototype in a drawer at home. […]

Categories
Street VIew Thoughts

Germany doomed never to innovate ?

An interesting article by the BBC’s Berlin correspondent on Germany’s problem with Street View. The article suggests part of the reason why Germany seems to have such a problem accepting a service that is used in many other developed countries is a cultural distrust of the new, and an inability to innovate. The article quotes […]

Categories
Data Policy Ordnance Survey

So is the OS derived data issue now solved ?

Well from reading a couple of press releases the signs look hopeful… Both the OS and the Dept. of Communities and Local Government have announced the signing of the new Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA), a sole source long term contract for providing mapping data to all of the public sector. I’m sure this has not gone down […]