[OSM-newbies] Mapping a Technology Institute campus

[James Ewen]

On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 11:22 PM, Sajjad Anwar <sajjadkm at gmail.com> wrote:

> Im afraid, we do not have sources for such aerial photograph to be used as a
> background image.
> But ofcourse I may get a map of the campus from the authorities. Im sure
> they are queit old and might be sometimes useful to get an idea about the
> area.

Things you need to be aware of using this approach are:

Is the map accurate? Is it a scale representation of the campus, or
just a stylized represetation?
Is the map free of restrictions, such as copyright?

> Yes. GPSr devices are not economical here. But somehow I have tried to make
> sure that we get 4-5 devices for the event.

You can map the whole campus with just a single GPSr device, it just
takes longer. Having more crews out gathering data just means the
process happens faster.

> I have actually played around a bit with JOSM, and somehow can make my
> friends to use it too.
> I dont think Potlatch is a good choice as we are having a limited bandwidth
> interenet connectivity.

Then, JOSM it is... if you can figure out how to make it work for you,
then it's a good tool for you.


> Yes. We will first trace the near by roads and the junctions. Im confused
> about how we are going to get more detailed mapping to be done. We plan to
> bring details as in
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=38.98774&lon=-76.94211&zoom=16&layers=B000FTF

Looking at a very detailed map such as the one you reference can make
it look like a very daunting task, but trust me and the others who
have been there already. Even the Mona Lisa started out looking like a
simple smiley face!

Get the basic road structure in place, add in minor roads, add in
tracks and trails. Add in building outlines, amenties, POIs and other
bits and pieces. You can add in land use/land cover areas as well. A
fully developed map looks very complex, and it can be quite a bit of
work to get it to that state, but if you break it down into simple
steps, anyone can make their own.

Draw the basic outline, add some detail, colour in between the lines,
add some texture, and pretty soon your masterpiece is complete.

> At the moment, I think, the teams would be provided with the map we collect
> from the authorities. They are more like a Cadastral Map.

Again, this is a point of possible conflict. It is against the
licensing of OSM to reference other maps that are not in the public
domain. If the map from the authorities is under copyright, then you
can NOT use it as a reference while creating an OSM map.

> We are very well excited too :)

When do you plan on starting? I would suggest getting the main roads
into the database before starting the mapping party. This will not
only give you a bit of real world experience of capturing traces, and
uploading them, but also gives you a bit of basic framework to base
the mapping party around.

Generally a mapping party will divide the available manpower into
groups, and each group gets assigned to a specific area. They go into
the area, gather the specific data for the area, and then bring it
back to be entered into the system. I would suggest that you send
crews out to gather only certain types of data at first. I would not
attempt to gather road traces, as well as POI locations, bus stops,
land area uses, etc all at once. It could be a little overwhelming for
the crews, and difficult to try and import all that at once.

I personally would go out and trace out the roads with the GPS, bring
that back, and import them. Then I would go out and grab foot paths,
or maybe building outlines. Once you get a fairly good basic sketch of
the area, you can send crews out to find the fine details.

Trying to get the all the details first can be a difficult task for
new crews. Try sewing a button on a shirt before you have cut the
basic panels out of the bolt of cloth... it makes the job of sewing
the shirt quite a bit more difficult.

James
VE6SRV