[Imports] Canvec import

Wed Dec 9 02:52:06 GMT 2009

Hi,
Thanks for explaining that well.
What was not mentioned is that CanVec is just 1 of the many datasets
that are available.
GeoBase also covers Nationally, but is stored in provincial files.
(and has overlap)
Geogratis that has the CanVec data, also has many other datasets available.

Provincially, Ontario has data available (with some overlap)
and locally, 3 cities have made data available. With more on the way)

Do you want to set up a 'post process' national database as a
repository of data?
Then a web interface to handle it all? (perform the on-demand internal
conversion)

Before,  i did recommended that internationally, we have a
'post-OSM-importable-data' database'. but my voice wasnt understood
(because i can see the project on an overall scale, and most people,
just focus on their local area) :-) ...oh well, like frank said, i
suck at communicating. :)

Its similar in concept to OpenAerialMap)

This way, it becomes a true 'community effort' for actually getting
the data from the web-interface to OSM.

The technical part of the back-end database 'warehouse', maybe thats
something we can check with the OSGeo Community, as that is what they
are working on. (where the imports@ list becomes a point of contact
with the OSGeo community, since that database will not be 'tainted' or
'improved' (depending on your POV)

:-)

cheers,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails

On 12/8/09, Frank Steggink <steggink at steggink.org> wrote:
> Hi lists,
>
> Here is a writeup of the meeting we held to discuss the import of Canvec
> data last Saturday (Dec 5th) in Sherbrooke, Québec, as well with some
> thoughts how to continue with this process. Please take the time to read
> this long writing, since there is a lot to discuss.
>
> First of all, I was very happy to meet with people I haven't met before,
> but with whom I had contact for a while, like Richard Weait and Daniel
> Bégin. I was also happy to meet Yves Moisan again, as well as meeting a
> number of people from Sherbrooke University (staff and students),
> CITS/NRCan, and others. I would like to thank you all for your presence,
> and to see me talk. Me not being a natural presenter at all, I was
> somewhat afraid I would screw up, but with such nice company things went
> really well. Finally, I would especially like to thank Marie-Claude
> Bélanger for the enjoyable ride from Québec and back. I really hope that
> with her and others we'll finally start an active local community.
> Libérer le trésor ;)
>
> Anyways, now the meeting itself. It actually wasn't as hands-on as many
> of us has hoped, and the agenda wasn't followed that particularly well,
> but nonetheless it was a very interesting day. The definite highlight of
> the day was the talk held by Emilie Laffray. She was very generous to
> make some time free to talk to us about the experiences with the Corine
> import (landuse in France). Thank you very much again! Although a bit
> somewhat unexpected, to me at least, the most important factor in the
> import is the community. Certainly, the technological challenge can also
> not be denied, but an import cannot exist without the support of the
> community. All members bear the responsibility to maintain the data
> after the import.
>
> Emilie showed many of the great tools which were developed during the
> Corine import. I don't have a comprehensive list yet, but I'll try to
> make it available soon. Anyways, the start page is [1], and I would like
> to invite all of you to have a look at how our colleagues in France
> dealt with this challenge, if you haven't already done so.
>
> Another interesting aspect was that at the Corine import there is no
> single leading figure, but the responsibility is shared by the entire
> community, although there was a core group of 4 or 5 people. The scale
> of the Corine import is too big to bear by one or a few people alone.
> Since a large import touches the entire community, the community as a
> whole is responsible for it. This aligns perfectly well with community
> support and participation.
>
> We all quickly agreed on this. Although the Corine import is already of
> a large scale, this will even be more the case for Canvec. There are 95
> feature classes divided among 11 themes. The data covers the entire
> country, and the resolution of the data is even higher than Corine. This
> is definitely not something which can be led by one leading person, nor
> something that can easily be registered in a spreadsheet. We need to
> think through all aspects well, in order to ensure that we'll manage to
> do this till the very last NTS tile is be imported. We're a very diverse
> group of people, each with his/her own unique skills, so we are
> certainly capable of doing this. That way the (OSM) world can be proud
> of Canada (and as a Dutchman myself I totally agree with that :) ).
>
> So, how shall we proceed with this? As mentioned above, this is a
> community effort, but I'll try to get the ball rolling. I would like to
> propose to use the wiki to outline the bigger picture, and to register
> the things we've reached consensus out. The talk-ca list is for the
> daily communication, and the heated discussions, which will definitely
> occur. We certainly need to keep ourselves warm in the coming months ;)
> Anyways, don't hesitate to come forward if you have ideas. Throw them in
> the group, so we can make use of them in the best possible way.
>
> There is no doubt that you have seen that Sam Vekemans has decided to
> step aside as the Canvec import manager. He has done a lot of work for
> over a year, since NRCan gave us permission to import their data, and
> I'm very grateful that he has done that. However, there were some
> differences of insight on his role. As mentioned above, the Canvec
> import is simply not a one-man project, but we should all use our skills
> the best way we can, because this is the best way to a successful
> import. Partially due to his own enthusiasm, Sam was a dominant presence
> on talk-ca and the wiki, and this doesn't align very well with the fact
> that the community aspect is at least, if not more important than the
> technological aspect. Also clear communication is very important in this
> process, which unfortunately wasn't one of Sam's strongest points. I
> know that also I have the tendency to write long messages myself, as I
> do right now, but I'm trying to work on it.
>
> Sam has also mentioned that any questions about imports should be
> redirected to me, with talk-ca in CC. I think that talk-ca should be the
> main destination for such questions. Also I have only 24 hr in a day,
> which are not fully spent on OSM ;) For any documentation regarding
> Canvec and the various other imports, I would like to refer to the wiki.
> Regarding the wiki, it could use some work right now. I have already
> started it, and I'll continue to work on it, and I hope that others will
> help me with this. Sam has put a lot of content on it, and I would like
> to use this as the basis for the cleanup. For those who don't know, the
> start page for Canvec is [2] and for all Canadian (import) projects is [3].
>
> Anyways, I have said enough for now. It can't be stressed enough that
> this is a community effort, so I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts.
>
> Regards,
>
> Frank
>
> p.s. I think that "Libérer le trésor" (liberate the treasure) is an
> excellent slogan for the Canvec import :) For those who are not familiar
> with it, it is a song by Québec rock star Michel Rivard. Marie-Claude
> and I listened to it twice, shortly after each other, on our way home.
> We had to change radio stations when we got out of reach of one of them.
>
> [1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Corine_Land_Cover
> [2] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/CanVec
> [3] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Canada
>
>
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