[Talk-gb-westmidlands] Satellite Imagery

[Peter Miller]

On 16 Dec 2009, at 13:09, Brian Prangle wrote:

> Hi all
>
>  Since we decided to go with the funds we have in order to pilot the  
> process rather than wait to complete our funding target for ALL the  
> West Mids, things have been busy. We have a server and a sysadmin to  
> set this up and import the images all FOC ( thanks to Andy Allan and  
> the dev.openstreetmap server). Once we've got an idea of sizing and  
> performance I will do the rounds of Unis ( already got 2 potential  
> offers) to get a local server on the basis it will help to build a  
> critical mass of involvement in the region. In order to get an  
> initial quote I've asked Infoterra for 100km2 of archived satellite  
> images in geotiff format based on the following co-ordinates  
> starting at top left and working round clockwise (latlon are derived  
> in OSGB36 from the grid references). Basically I started from a grid  
> reference  that would encompass the University of Birmingham given  
> the weird absence of reliable GPS signals there
>
> SP040930 52.534850, -1.942461
> SP050930 52.534842, -1.922719
> SP050830 52.444942, -1.927865
> SP040830 52.444950, -1.924578
>
> This is not set in stone - it's just an exploratory enquiry to  
> ascertain costs, which are based on £9(ex VAT) per KM2 plus small  
> georeferencing fee. If we want to spend more we could either extend  
> this square or add 25 KM2 squares elsewhere in interesting places  
> (any nominations?). We might want to keep some funds back in case we  
> have to augment a local server either with extra disk or extra RAM.

I am very glad to see the progress.

Could you set up a boundary polygon on Umapper custom map showing  
clearly what area will be covered?
http://www.umapper.com/

It could be very effective to 'seed' other cities with such data - I  
believe 25KM2 is a minimum - and then the local community can raise  
funds to widen the area if they want to. Sheffield was one place I  
thought could benefit. They have a lot of mapping done but no imagery.

Possibly we should use a single Umapper map to show areas for which we  
have coverage in one colour and areas for which people want coverage  
in another colour. A note in the polygon can link to the appropriate  
wiki page.
>
> There is a major issue to get round however which is a limitation of  
> 5 named users - any extra and we pay an extra fee per user - and it  
> is NAMED  users not concurrent users. Being non-profit MIGHT get us  
> around this but I'm waiting for a policy decision.

We didn't have this problem with the Gaza imagery. We were able to  
deem people to be 'contractors' to JumpStart who purchased the  
imagery. I don't recollect there being any limit on the number of  
contractors or a need to keep a list. Can we spend a little more time  
on the legals, sensible open access to the aerial photography will be  
of huge benefit to the project - possibly you could post a link to the  
legals online or email them to me so I can take a look.

I suggest that we prove the process using the standard legals and then  
start pushing them to adjust the legal in important ways to allow open  
access to all OSM contributors using Potlatch or JOSM and offer them a  
order for a larger area at the same time to help them agree! Not sure  
who pays for this larger area yet, but I think there will be growing  
enthusiasm for quality open mapping from commercial parties in the  
coming year and that they may be happy to support this.



Regards,


Peter

>
> Currently aiming for a late January implementation. There might be  
> other poviders to look for. I found one which would get us  
> beautiful  25cm resolution aerial photos a lot cheaper but they're  
> not georeferenced  and no-one wants the pain of rectifying them  
> (everyone I've asked for advice - including Andy who's going to do  
> the work says geotiffs).
>
> Regards
>
> Brian
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