[OSM-talk] How much would it cost to map a given area?

[Tom Chance]

Hello,

I'm trying to get some data from a London Borough council for work and
I've sent off a Freedom of Information request from my own to add to the
wiki page tracking map charges in the UK:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Map_Charges/GB

Looking at this page got me thinking...

If Reigate & Banstead spend about £15k per year for 127k people, and
other councils are doing something similar, how competitive is that?

If a council were to pay a company to go out and verify & complete the
same area in OSM, how much would that cost? Would the council's own
departments be in a position to keep it up to date, i.e. changes roads,
allotments, public buildings and other things they're involved with?

If all the councils in the UK clubbed together, could they bring the
costs down by much, and could they jointly invest in free software to
get more value out of the data?

Thoughts on the back of a napkin.

Tom