[Talk-dk] Importing GNS data for the Faroe Islands

Mike Collinson mike at ayeltd.biz
Søn Okt 5 21:11:14 BST 2008


I am working on the potentials of importing GNS data [1] for less well mapped parts of Nordic countries.  I have imported data for the Faroe Islands to look at.  Does anyone have any objection to my leaving it there?  I believe I have avoided duplicating data already there, such as island names.

FYI, I've done this now in several places around the world and have built up a fairly good GNS --> OSM tagging conversion scheme [2].  I preserve the GNS id number so it can be matched in the future and also keep a record of all OSM node ids in case any mass deletion is requested.

Importing the data is useful for orientation in rural and poorly mapped areas and for place finding.

The disadvantages are (a) the resolution is coarse so points are not placed accurately, sometimes 2 or 3 km out in tropical latitudes; (b) duplication of previously entered place names. From Australian experience, the latter problem is quickly resolved by manual editting.

Any comments welcome. Apologies for writing in English!

Mike


[1] Public domain geographic name data available from the US Government. http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/namefiles.htm

[2] Perl GNS-->OSM conversion and import script available if anyone wants it.






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