[Strategic] Hydrographic information

[Richard Weait]

On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 4:21 PM, Leo Franken <leo.emailadres at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Strategists,
>
> I have been looking for a while for a platform to host hydrographic
> information, being disappointed
> by the fact that governments use tax money to make top hydrographic charts
> (European regulation)
> and then hand this data exclusively over to private 'value added resellers'.
> Ok for Big Shipping but
> not so ok for smaller wind propelled vessels. And so much for 'Open Data'
> policy! I could of course
> try to change Europe, but I'm afraid they have other priorities.
> I am very impressed by the OSM initiative.
> May I suggest 'opening up OSM for hydrographic information' as a strategic
> theme?
> I see two possible solutiontypes.
> - Target group layers in OSM
> - Cloning OSM into 'openwatermap' would be a more drastic approach
> Small ship owners are a tiny community compared to street users, but very
> 'map conscious'. Lots of them in
> the UK though (and in The Netherlands too, where I live).
> Hope to read something in your minutes. If you would like more
> information/analyses on
> what is the same and what is different comparing street maps and
> hydropgraphic maps,
> then I'll be happy to (try to) help.
> Kind regards,
> Leo

Dear Leo,

I'm just a mapper so don't take this as conclusive or well thought out.

My understanding is that hydrography data, like elevation data is
essentially "raster" data.  It's also difficult for individual mappers
to collect well.  For that reason we leave elevation data like DEMs
out of OSM, though there are wonderful renderings that combine
external DEMs with OSM data outside of the OSM DB.

So, that might be the approach for you to take.  Collect these
datasets, make them simpler to consume, so that those building a
solution with OSM data might also include your OpenDepthMap data and
their DEM of choice.

You might find the OSM tool stack helpful (or not, as it is more
"vector" focused), and you may find others with similar interests
around here.  But at first glance, I think depth data still doesn't
belong in the OSM DB.

Best regards,
Richard