[Talk-gb-westmidlands] Hosting services for satellite imagery

Brian Prangle bprangle at googlemail.com
Mon Dec 7 17:25:47 GMT 2009


Hi everyone

In order to maximise our funds for satellite imagery I'm going to ask all
the Unis in our region if they'd like to host the images for us.  Please
have a look at the following text which is a first draft of the email I'm
going to send ( I'll dress it up with a few examples, a couple of images and
some URLs)

Regards

Brian

Invite



We are inviting your department to participate in the work of the local
chapter of OpenStreetMap, which we have named mappa mercia

OSM

OpenStreetMap is a global voluntary project to produce a completely new
digital map of the entire planet based on opensource principles and free of
all copyrighted data.  Volunteers gather geospatial data by using
consumer-grade GPS devices and simple observation, uploading their data
online and editing it to produce maps using a variety of open source
cartographic tools. There are currently 190,000 users who have  added over
130 million GPS points and  37 million ways to the database.

Aerial Imagery

Local mappers ( approximately 100 people ) substantially completed the map
of Birmingham and Solihull within the motorway ring in December 2008.
Current focus is on completing the Black Country and improving the quality
and detail of what was mapped in 2008.

So that we can complete the city centre where GPS traces are highly
inaccurate due to “ghosting” effects of  high rise buildings  we have raised
funds to purchase geo-referenced satellite imagery to 2 metre resolution.
This will also enable us to trace building outlines and service roads where
we cannot obtain ground access. Eventually we aim to raise sufficient funds
to purchase satellite imagery for the whole West Midlands county.

Server

In order for local mappers to edit  the satellite imagery we require a
server to host the images. Whilst we could obtain  hosting services
commercially, we want to maximise the area of satellite imagery we can
purchase. This is a wonderful opportunity for a local educational
institution to join a local effort which is ground-breaking in its approach
to digital mapping.   UCL already kindly provide the core servers for our
poject.  Full specifications of what we require are appended

Student Projects

Our project is unique in mapping terms because we make the data from which
maps are rendered, openly available to software developers to build
applications and render maps in new and exciting ways.  Data is available
for the entire planet and there are literally hundreds of potential
projects. In the West Midlands alone we have about a dozen immediate
projects. Some examples have been appended



We can provide further information on request and would be pleased to
present in detail the goals and methods of OpenStreetMap. We hope you can
provide local support to our project. There is a nonprofit legal entity ,
the OpenStreetMap Foundation which acts as  custodian for the servers and
services necessary to host the OpenStreetMap project and the
www.openstreetmap.org domain name and provides an organisational focus for
donors, sponsors and co-operating bodies
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