[OSM-newbies] Using existing maps

[John McKerrell]

On 9 Oct 2007, at 22:35, Stephen Gower wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 09, 2007 at 09:12:54PM +0100, Gervase Markham wrote:
>>
>> In other words, I want to use my AA road atlas to make sure I hit  
>> every
>> road, ticking off the roads as I go, noting down the names from the
>> signs (not the atlas) and using the GPS tracks I make as the route I
>> upload to OSM.
>
>   The consensus seems to be that planning a route with a normal map
>   is of course fine.  If you then take a GPS device with you and make
>   notes on the streetnames/etc as you travel then this data is a
>   valid new survey on which you have the copyright, which you can
>   licence to Openstreetmap. Variations on this are probably also OK,
>   as long as you survey the actual area in some appropriate
>   copyright-licenseable manner.

Indeed, I'd say the most important point, which should be fairly  
obvious but perhaps not, is that if you spot a road that you've  
missed, you must go out and get it.

It's worth pointing out that the Yahoo! imagery in potlatch (if it's  
available in your area) is as good a way of checking if you've missed  
anything. I think in my area it's actually better than most of the  
online maps as it was taken quite recently.

John