[Talk-ca] FYI: Aurora, Ontario

[James Ewen]

On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 7:30 PM, Blake Crosby <me at blakecrosby.com> wrote:

> I'm back from 6 month hiatus and I'm continuing my mapping efforts of
> Aurora, Ontario.
> I've noticed some other user names have been editing some roads/streets
> in Aurora. If you're one of them, please feel free to let me know so
> that we can co-ordinate our efforts!

Sounds like you just crawled out from under your rock... watch out for
the bulldozer coming your way.

We're working on importing the whole GeoBase National Road Network
into OSM. All roads known by the government are headed your way.
Ontario is missing road names, so there's still work to be done by
local mappers, including making sure the bulk upload goes well. Some
things that we'll have to watch for are the occasional duplicate way,
and the odd missing way. The bulk upload will turn Canada from a blank
slate with pockets of activity into a well defined road network with
OSM users concentrating on final touches to the road network, new
updates, and adding in all the details like parks, buildings, fire
hydrants, or whatever you would like to add.

The bulk upload is going to be designed to add to the existing data
rather than overwrite all the efforts invested so far. There will be
the occasional glitch, or duplication where new data has been added to
OSM since the scripts have been started on their task. However, the
general motto is "Do no harm!".

The area near Fort McMurray in Alberta is scheduled for the first test
import this weekend. I'm the only user mapping in the area, and I
fully endorse the efforts. From what I have seen of the script output,
it does an extremely good job of adding new ways without harming
existing ways.

Keep your eyes peeled, more data is headed your way in the future.

James
VE6SRV