[Openstreetmap] Introduction

[Matt Amos]

On Tuesday 05 October 2004 04:18, Jono Bacon wrote:
> What are the general plans for making collecting data and modifying
> data as easy as possible?

the primary form of any GPS data is  going to be the track - raw lat, 
long & time (altitude if we're lucky) which will be uploadable via a 
java web applet and editable straight into the database.

current thinking regarding the actual map is that it won't come 
straight from GPS, rather the track will be used as a sort of 
"sketch" which will then be filled in by the user (or 
already-existing roads selected).

this is all subject to change, but let me give an example of the way i 
see it working:

1) a contributor loads up his GPS (laptop, pda, phone) and walks or 
drives or cycles along a route. the track is saved.
2) the contributor visits the web site and uses the java app to upload 
the track.
3) the track appears in... grey, for example, with existing roads and 
metadata (names, numbers, postcodes) plotted underneath.
4) the contributor notices that the first road he/she walked down is 
already on the map and clicks it.
5) the second one isn't and so he/she uses the tools to create a new 
road*, linking it to existing ones and adding metadata where he/she 
remembers the road name/one-way status, etc...
6) the changes are committed to the database where other users can 
correct misspelled road names or add other metadata such as the 
location of nice bars/wifi/tube stations.

i realise thats all a bit hand-wavy (what sort of "tools" are 
available, for example) and generalised, but at this point getting 
some initial data and playing around with the interface and database 
is whats happening.

any ideas, suggestions, etc... are welcome. lets see some debate!

cya,

matt

*: this could be done any number of ways; the user could approximate 
with straight lines, the applet could do a best-fit spline, etc... 
then later, when several people have uploaded tracks the road could 
be made more accurate based on a statistical treatment of the data...
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