[OSM-talk] On how to store geospatial data !?; Was : Server slowness

[Nick Black]

Hello Martin,

Thanks for bringing the project to the attention of the OSM list.  Having a
single location for the storage of geo-data and meta-data is certainly a
worthwhile goal, I'd hope that such a project would reduce the time taken to
acquire Open datasets and present them in a usable format.

Could you post us some more information about how people can access the
datasets?  Is there an API or some other method to get hold of the data that
you have?

With regards to the aims of OSM, they are simply to create a free map of the
world.  The exact direction that this takes is determined by the community,
who may focus on creating pretty maps, or routing (don't think anyone has
done this yet), making maps for GPS units, analysing data etc.  An aim of
the OSM server software is to provide functional, simple, easy to use APIs
that allow third party apps to be built on top - hence the use of an OSM
specific data structure and the prevelence of the 'nice tools' that you
mention.

Anyway I'll be following the development of the repository with interest,

Nick

On 1/14/07, Martin Spott <Martin.Spott at mgras.net> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Iv??n S??nchez Ortega wrote:
>
> > Why doesn't OSM use MySQL's spatial extensions, then? If the 'latitude'
> > and 'altitude' columns are merged into a single column of type 'Point',
>
> I know, the subject sounds a bit provocative, but I don't intend to
> hurt anyone. Please read on, of you like.
>
> A bit of a background: I'm running a respository of "Open Geospatial
> Data" for approximatley two years now and the software I'm using for
> storage has been proven to be reliable and capable of handling large
> datasets, even under load.
>
> I've started by focussing on data that's being used for being draped
> over the terrain for the FlightGear flight simulator. Since the early
> start, the repository has been enlarged significantly and has been
> turned into a multi-purpose storage of different datasets at one
> central location. Joins between different datasets are being
> implemented (over the time) wherever it is possible and makes sense. A
> short overview is presented here:
>
>
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/Geodata_Repository#PostGIS_serving_vector_data
>
> It's obvious that the primary focus of this repository is different
> from the one of OpenStreetMap. The intended use of my repository is
> visual display and easy retrieval of large datasets with global
> coverage while OSM apparently - please correct me if I'm wrong -
> primarily aims at accurate routing in their road network and building
> nice road maps. Another significant difference is that I've been
> building my repository by using _existing_ data and later started to
> prepare for manual adjustment - instead of adding almost everything by
> manual work. As a result, apparently I have much more coverage in my
> repository while OSM definitely has the nicer tools to work on the
> data. Still I see some intersections between these two projects. This
> one for example:
>
> From reading the -talk and -devel mailing lists I realized that OSM has
> started importing external data like shorelines into their repository,
> using their own home-grown tools. Our (my) FlightGear/OSGeo repository
> already contains highly accurate shorelines almost right from the
> beginning and importing these into the DB was no big deal.
>
> I'd wish to reduce duplicate effort among two OpenSource projects that
> head in the same direction and therefore I'd consider it very helpful
> if exchange of datasets would be made easier as it is currently.
>
> Would OSM folks consider it useful to discuss cooperation/collaboration
> between these two projects ?
>
> Cheers,
>         Martin.
> --
> Unix _IS_ user friendly - it's just selective about who its friends are !
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-- 
Nick Black
--------------------------------
http://www.blairclock.com
---------------------------------
http://www.blacksworld.net
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