[OSM-talk] World wide coverage?

[Mikel Maron]

A longish email where I talk about TIGER, data stewardship, almien coastlines, VMAP0 and New Zealand...


TIGER has been a bit of a saga. Ben Gimpert has put a lot of time into it, and has other things to focus on now.
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2006-November/009182.html
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2006-December/009231.html

Perhaps we should rethink how we're importing TIGER. One huge update script, running for months on end,
no one monitoring it closely, and one misstep in the implementation, it has to start all over again. Too long
between iterations.

If someone comes in and is interested in doing OSM for a particular US area, there should be a set of tools
to import just the counties they want. For instance, I wanted a few SFBay counties imported for Where 2.0
this year. Once imported, that data is going to be closely inspected. If there's a problem with the import
script, that will quickly be iterated out, and a counties worth of bad data can be removed vis JOSM easily.

This is the kind of personal stewardship we have with GPS derived data, and that should be fostered for
automated import as well.


I've added http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/WikiProject_United_States#Users_interested_in_the_United_States
to kick off some community around this.


Almien Coastlines works something like this, afaik, and even there I think there may need to be some revision
since areas are needed to designate the sea (a topic for another thread I think..).


At lower resolution, Mapnik is rendering VMap0. The global VMap 0 coverage is split into four files. Looks like
only the two northern hemisphere files are being used now. That should be easy to add into the tile generation.


For New Zealand, one of the OSM GPS units is currently taking a tour of New Zealand with  "John Wash (Surrey LUG)",
so looks like data collection is starting there. There's also apparently data for New Zealand in the public domain
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Potential_Datasources#New_Zealand, which has been converted for use in Garmins
(see the link there). Yahoo has detailed imagery over Auckland, so tracing possible.

So maybe after your (Andrew) trip around NZ, you'll be really stoked to kick these off as well ;)

-Mikel



----- Original Message ----
From: Andrew Turner <ajturner at highearthorbit.com>
To: SteveC <steve at asklater.com>
Cc: Talk Openstreetmap <talk at openstreetmap.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2006 3:38:41 AM
Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] World wide coverage?

Agreed that I really want to contribute - like many others out there.
I was just voicing that I feel discouraged when I can't see the
efforts or even "availability to map here" of various - large -
geographic areas.

Right - so I guess I was pointing out that the front of OSM is very
Euro-centric, which is understandable given its history and probably
large current user/developer base. But as a non-Euro, with the
visitbility and assumedly desired visibility to branch out, may want
to consider how it appears to others.

Then I was hoping, as you did slightly, to get pointed to resources
that would help on this specific front. I haven't been able to keep up
with everything - but got the gist that TIGER is proving logistically
difficult - too bad. I'll get right on uploading my Michigan GPX files
;)

Andrew

On 12/15/06, SteveC <steve at asklater.com> wrote:
> * @ 15/12/06 11:15:38 PM ajturner at highearthorbit.com wrote:
> > Hey everyone,
> >
> > I'm curious on the slippy map and other displays that worldwide
> > coverage seems not only sparse/unshown, areas of the world just aren't
> > even displayed. For example, if you zoom out to the world view, you
> > only get the Northern Hemisphere, and not even the whole thing (west
> > coast of US and further cut off)
> >
> > And at least in the US - when you zoom into areas that have apparent
> > OSM coverage - you just get the "... more OSM coming soon" message.
>
> Hi Andrew
>
> This is the "why isn't $AREA shown on the slippy map" problem.
>
> > >From right next to the map:
> > "OpenStreetMap is a free editable map of the whole world. It is made
> > by people like you.
> > OpenStreetMap allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a
> > collaborative way from anywhere on Earth. "
> >
> > I'm curious what the problem is with incorporating other areas? It
> > seems like it would be difficult to attract interest/excitement if
> > someone's country isn't even visible. I'm traveling to New Zealand and
>
> The second part of the first sentance you quoted is 'It is made by
> people like you.'
>
> I know you're a (F||O)SS person so I hope you take that to heart. :-)
>
> If something is broken it isn't due to intended neglect or willful
> ignorance. You're welcome to help tiles at home use the excellent
> osmarender or metacarta with their WMS-C project. The default tiles also
> need help, there are docs on the wiki for all of these I think.
>
> have fun,
>
> SteveC steve at asklater.com http://www.asklater.com/steve/
>


-- 
Andrew Turner
ajturner at highearthorbit.com        42.4266N x 83.4931W
http://highearthorbit.com              Northville, Michigan, USA

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