[Talk-ca] Why import all of Geobase/Canvec?

[Colin McGregor]

On 12/11/08, Matt Wilkie <matt.wilkie at gov.yk.ca> wrote:
> I've been following the conversations with interest, and find myself
> wondering what is the value for OSM in ingesting wholesale the public
> geospatial offerings of Canadian federal and regional governments? These
> are big organisations with full time staff and big budgets dedicated to
> processing and updating the data. Why should/would a handful of
> volunteers expend the effort in digesting this volume of data? Wouldn't
> it be simpler to utilise WMS services?

Simpler yes, better maybe not.

> The usecase for ingesting roads and trails is fairly clear, people are
> actually adding attributes and adding and adjusting geometry to more
> closely match the reality they see. I don't see the same potential value
> adding activity for natural features like hydrology, contours, satellite
> imagery, etc. Am I missing something?

Elevation contours can be of real interest, I gather some bicycle
groups in Germany have used elevation data in OSM for things like
planning tour routes (not only do bicycle rides want limits on
distance/day they also want limits on sudden changes in elevation (no
steep hills)).

As for hydrology, by attitude would be, if it isn't much trouble to
add, why not?

> best regards,
>
> --
> matt wilkie
> --------------------------------------------
> Geographic Information,
> Information Management and Technology,
> Yukon Department of Environment
> 10 Burns Road * Whitehorse, Yukon * Y1A 4Y9
> 867-667-8133 Tel * 867-393-7003 Fax
> http://environmentyukon.gov.yk.ca/geomatics/
> --------------------------------------------