[Talk-us] OpenStreetMap use by (local) governments - examples?

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Martijn van Exel <m at rtijn.org> wrote:
> All:
> I am trying to engage with the local government here in SLC and I'd
> love to provide them with some practical examples of how the use of
> OpenStreetMap has benefited local government. Who knows of a US /
> N-American example? Are there any?

Dear Martin,

Natural Resources Canada (specifically the Centre d'information
topographique de Sherbrooke) is Canada's  national mapping agency.
They have allowed OSM to use their GeoBase, CanVec and other data sets
for inclusion in OpenStreetMap.  Some of the staff there are also OSM
contributors.  All of that is pretty cool.  The also publish their
updated geo data in .osm format.  I'm not aware of another government
agency that does that.  And they use changes in OSM and significant
differences between OSM and their data to suggest areas of interest
for their surveys and updates.

I'm told that they have plans for other initiatives that involve OSM
but those are not yet active projects.

Really super folks there at NRCan.  They've had mapping parties and
other OSM events as well.

Best regards,
Richard