[OSM-talk-ie] Practicalities and philosophies

[Dermot McNally]

On 24/04/2008, Paul Cunnane <paul at cunnane.net> wrote:
> Having lost the start of yesterday's mapping exercise due to a memory
>  wrap in my Garmin, I'm rethinking my approach. I'm planning to set up my
>  EeePC as my new surveying multitool. I've already got a car mount and
>  inverter installed in the van.

Not to knock what sounds like a nifty (and fun) setup - and I'm
guessing you must have used bits you already had to hand - but rather
than lash out cash on all that lot, a newer Garmin with a bit MicroSD
card is another way of defeating that problem.

>  My version of GPSdrive doesn't show OSM maps (yet), but I'll just use it
>  to record a track instead. It will be nice when GPSdrive fully supports
>  OSM, even for those occasions when you're driving past a junction and
>  wondering if that side road has been mapped yet...

Is your Garmin mounted in such a way that you can see the display? If
so (and if it will accept maps) you could upload the OSM data onto it
and use it for checking the current map state (something I find really
useful). You can even do this on a Nüvi, which will give you an even
better picture. Speaking of pictures, you should post a photo of your
setup, it sounds interesting.

>  Driving around today with Her Indoors, I was nattering on about
>  surveying for OSM. She wondered out loud why I'd bother doing it - which
>  forced me to articulate exactly what it is that prompts me to do it.
>
>  I must have done a fairly decent job, because when I was finished she
>  described it as a "noble" thing to do. I'm pretty sure she was being
>  sincere. ;)

It's becoming easier to explain the motivation in these days of
rampant satnav ownership by the general public. the equation
describing this is as follows:

u = p + t

where:

u is the date on which the person concerned first understands the
point of OSM data gathering
p is the date on which he purchased his device
t is the time elapsed since p and the release of the first map upgrade
which he may not avail of for free.

Dermot