[OSM-talk] Daily telegraph article WAS : Baghdad maps -

[David Groom]

The story about Iraqis using Google Earth for navigating around Baghdad 
which Robert Munro reported  has now appeared in today's Daily Telegraph 
newspaper ( a major UK newspaper), and is repeated  on the web site

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/15/wgoogle215.xml

Extracts from article :

"The lack of paper maps, which were banned under Saddam Hussein for fear of 
foreign invasion, makes Google Earth all the more valuable to Iraqis today."

Robert (Jamie) Munro wrote:
> I know we've been making maps of Baghdad from Yahoo aerial imagery. I
> wonder if they'll be used:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6357129.stm
>
> Robert (Jamie) Munro
>


Could someone review the text below for factual accuracy / style, and I'll 
send it as a letter to the editor.

########################################

Dear Sirs

Mapping Baghdad

Your article,  "Google Earth, the survival tool of war-torn Iraq", 15 
February, notes the lack of paper maps for Baghdad, and the use Iraqis make 
of Google Earth.

Interestingly the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project have been using Yahoo 
satellite imagery to create map data of Baghdad for the last couple of 
months.

The OSM project was started because most maps you think of as free actually 
have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from 
using them in creative, productive or unexpected ways. Initially 
contributors mapped the course of roads footpaths etc. using standard GPS 
receivers, then using tools developed by the project members processed this 
data to produce detailed street-level maps.

Obviously the above method of data collection is not currently advisable in 
Baghdad, so when Yahoo agreed to let OSM use their aerial imagery, it became 
possible to create a Baghdad map. Currently the major roads and railways 
have been completely mapped, and extensive mapping has taken place on many 
of the minor roads.

The amount of information available from the aerial photos is limited, and 
it is hoped that Iraqis themselves will contribute to the project to 
complete the mapping.

The OSM project is open to anyone, and their data can be used to produce 
paper maps, and can also be loaded into some GPS receivers to create a real 
time map of where you are.  Further details can  be found at 
www.openstreetmap.org.


David Groom