OpenStreetMap - Mapping Bangalore
OpenStreetMap
(OSM) is a collaborative project aimed at realizing a free map of the World.
Everybody can be an editor and mapmaker of the OSM project. The project is
realized by a community of users around the world thanks to the use of open
(geographical) data and maps and tracks drawn using GPS receivers and edited into
the OSM platform.
OSM works
under the same logic of ‘wiki’ or collaborative projects as Wikipedia. It started
in the UK and then moved to cover all the world.
A character
of OSM is of being constantly in ‘beta version’ and therefore in continuous
update.
OSM data
are often used in free applications as background maps, often to replace
commercially-driven sources (as GoogleMaps or geographical data realized by
private companies). The quality varies according to places and can be very
detailed and better than official sources in certain locations while very low-quality
in other ones.
Among the
benefits of OSM projects are the possibility of being rapidly used to map
uncovered areas for emergency purposes (i.e., Haiti earthquake in 2010 http://hot.openstreetmap.org/projects/haiti-2) or developing countries where
private companies have little interest in spending money to realize a digital
cartography (i.e., Bangalore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpHKb-SZRh8)
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap
http://hot.openstreetmap.org/projects/haiti-2