[OSM-talk] urban surveying speed - can it be estimated as population per hour?

[Andrew]

Jonathan McDowell wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 07, 2007 at 01:17:12PM +0100, Robert (Jamie) Munro wrote:
>  
>   
>> If we can get OSM on TomToms or a similar devices that people can take
>> with them all the time, they will be able to spot the bits of the map
>> that are missing and add them as they are driving around normally. Once
>> that happens, I'm sure we will very quickly complete all the roads that
>> people actually use, if not all the roads that exist.
>>     
>
> Definitely; I had a look around for info on making TomTom maps but it
> seems the format is closed and unknown. However I did wonder if gosmore
> might be a suitable basis for a lightweight app that could be used in
> conjunction with OpenTom to achieve something similar.
>   
Many of the commercial navigation device companies currently exchange 
data in the GDF format [1], as an osm-talk member pointed out ages ago 
(sorry forgotten who). In Australia, at least, most navigation gadgets 
use data from sensis.com, and buried in the sensis.com website is a 
strong indication that they provide GDF to companies like TomTom.  GDF 
is designed to represent roads including subtleties like turn 
restrictions.  The gadget firms then presumably convert to their 
proprietary formats, potentially with some value add.

1. http://www.ertico.com/en/links/links/gdf_-_geographic_data_files.htm

Googling on "GDF data TomTom" produces some interesting hits, but no 
conversion tools!