“What would it take to map an entire country?”
With the growing visibility of Map Kibera, that question is coming more frequently, especially in Africa, where both OpenStreetMap and traditional mapping are widely absent. This is a massive question, which is going to depend very much on circumstances of that country, and on who is asking [...]
Preamble: I wrote the following after 1.5 years ago after getting kicked out of Jordan for trying to map it. We retreated to Palestine, where I was fairly certain it would work, but ended up going amazingly. Enough time has passed that all the entities in this story no longer care, people are even flying [...]
“The SOTM was the opportunity to meet more closely all those people sharing experiences, knowledge, experience and passion for a common project. To feel the real sense of comunity. To have seen the result of working together, of uniting all our efforts.” – Jorge Batista
“The experience has convinced me that the OSM organizational model [...]
Has it really already been a month since the amazing State of the Map 2009?!
One of the most exciting, inspiring conferences I’ve been involved in. And one of the most well documented conferences. The wiki has links to all the media, including many full presentation slides/videos .. definitely worth exploring. My feelings are shared with [...]
Due to last minute luck, I was able to present on OpenStreetMap’s work in Palestine at NetSquared yesterday. Was a pretty awesome day! Met loads of interesting folks that I should’ve known already!
Today, Sarah from Cloudmade will be holding a skill share on OSM at N2Y4. Check it out if you’re there!
Here are the slides. [...]
Just emailed out this message .. reproduced here for further distribution. Forward and get involved!
Greetings! Hope you are well!
I’m sending out this message to briefly look back at what’s happened in OpenStreetMap Palestine, and announce a new mailing list [talk-ps@openstreetmap.org] to take mapping in Gaza and the West Bank forward. You’re receiving this message because [...]
Google announced today MapMaker Data Download. What does it mean for OpenStreetMap and Open Geo Data?
The early chatter is focusing on the licensing, naturally. Non-commercial use only, non-compete with Google services, and strict attribution requirements. All three mean MapMaker data is incompatible with OSM licensing (cc-by-sa, or the ODbL). The meaning of non-commercial is pretty [...]
Over the past week, the response to OpenStreetMap in Gaza has been overwhelmingly supportive. There have been a few exceptional objections, and some common misconceptions, and I want to respond to from my perspective, and perhaps the “OpenStreetMap perspective”. Some of these objections have come from people familiar with operations in Gaza, so I take [...]
Work has been proceeding rapidly. Quick update.
* The southwest has been traced pretty extensively. Incredible work from OpenStreetMap mappers.
* We’re looking into purchasing satellite imagery for the north or the entirety of Gaza. There’s actually B/W imagery available from yesterday! This may require a fund raiser, depending on the quote we get.
* JumpStart International has [...]
We’re making a push to get up to date maps of Gaza in OpenStreetMap. UN agencies, NGOs, web sites are requesting better maps of the crisis. For one, we are looking to re-activate the partnerships and routing services developed in Haiti last year. AidWorkerDaily has a quick survey of mapping API coverage right now.
Anyone interested [...]