OpenStreetMap

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OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create Free maps using data from portable GPS devices.

1 History
2 Data format
3 Viewing tools
4 Editing tools
5 Data sources
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

OpenStreetMap was founded in July 2004 by Steve Coast. In April 2006 OSM began a process of transforming itself into a foundation.

"The OpenStreetMap Foundation is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data and to providing geospatial data for anybody to use and share."

Image:OpenStreetMapTracklogsHedgeEnd.png

[edit] Data format

The most common source for data uploaded onto OSM is from handheld GPS units. Many contributors use a tool such as GPSBabel to convert GPS data from its raw (NMEA) format or from proprietary formats to GPX format (an XML application). Data is collected in WGS84 format as latitude / longitude, and is typically displayed in the Mercator projection.

[edit] Viewing tools

The OpenStreetMap website provides an Ajax-style viewer [1] for browsing maps online.

An SVG rendering engine [2] is used to produce images and printed maps.

[edit] Editing tools

Editing applet (Java applet)
JOSM (Desktop Java program)
osm-editor (Desktop Qt program)

A user account is required before editing map data; these are available at no cost, and the public is encouraged to contribute.

[edit] Data sources

GPS tracklogs provide nearly all data, and are augmented by:
Local knowledge
Public domain sources:
- Landsat 7 satellite imagery
- Prototype Global Shorelines (PGS)
- TIGER data of the United States