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Whatever the merit of this "reward", I just learned about the existence of http://openstreetmap.org/#, "free geographic data", nice project!

Ahh, of course, Google pretends OSM doesn't exist... right...

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code

Depends on the area. Besides an individual can do a lot with them. Most of the things shown in Apple Valley, MN that aren't large bodies of water or roads were added by me. This includes buildings, places, parking lots, parking isles, fences, walls, smaller bodies of water, corrections to roads, land use, sports fields, schools, trails in the parks, power lines, water towers, park & rides, sub stations, etc. As others have mentioned there can be a lot more data given what people have tagged it with.

...looks like it is ad-supported or $9 a year -- pretty steep for an OpenStreetMap user. There is plenty of other projects out there The question is -- are any of the open source ones usable?

Your developer is a Windows drone, it seems. If he only reads Windows magazines, Windows articles, have Windows-only mindset. It's like a religion, and he will try to justify everything as perfectly right because it works on Windows.

Your developer is either too slow to learn, or is afraid of learning an trying open source stuff.

Try out, and read about the tools they have for:

    http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Look at their map data source that can be downloaded from multiple places. Yes there are "open source datasets" for the whole globe, or by continent, by country, by state... They also have links to numerous open source tools that work with their data. Free, most are also open source.

Watch out for using Google map data. I think they have restrictions on map data usage. Their data is proprietary, read the Google map API license again carefully!!!

Your major problem, too, is to have your servers running Windows. That in itself is a huge problem in the long run. If you run some flavor of Linux on your Servers, your developers will have to know enough of Open Source ways to do things.

Do you know that .NET stuff are being dropped by MS in favor of newer MS tools, right? Then why even bother with .NET?

Here's what I'm using on my android phone.

1) I installed Cyanogenmod, of course.
2) I use F-Droid instead of the android market. I don't even have the android market installed.
3) I use K9mail for email.
4) I'm using Zirco as my web browser. It has adblocking. If I had a fancier phone (with >= 512mb ram), I'd be running Firefox Mobile (that link sends you to the android market; I'd get it from F-Droid instead)
4) I use OSMAnd, so I don't even have to hit google for maps. Instead, I use my locally-stored OpenStreetMaps.

To sync contacts, calendar, and SMS, I'm planning to set up a Funambol server and use the Funambol sync client. But I'm only on Day 3 of phone ownership, so I haven't gotten that server set up yet. But at least the contacts can be exported into .vcf files, to copy out manually.

One thing I'm concerned about is that the Calendar app won't let me even start up the app until I've put in a server. So I don't have the option of using local-only calendar and exporting the ical files by hand. I'm hoping to fork the Calendar app to make one that compiles with only the Android SDK, and lets you use it in local-only mode. Apparently, k9mail started as a fork of the standard mail app for android.

This is the year of Open Street Map on... every device!!

I run into this problem when trying to use GPS on a Linux netbook. The author of OSS got cease and desist from Google for using their maps. The Open Street Map is available, but it is largely neglected in US, most likely because Google Map is available and is "free". At the same time OSM is updated and loved in Europe, they say.

So please make sure that your neighborhood is charted correctly, so we are prepared for when Google eventually turns evil :)

This is the year of Open Street Map on... every device!!

I run into this problem when trying to use GPS on a Linux netbook. The author of OSS got cease and desist from Google for using their maps. The Open Street Map is available, but it is largely neglected in US, most likely because Google Map is available and is "free". At the same time OSM is updated and loved in Europe, they say.

So please make sure that your neighborhood is charted correctly, so we are prepared for when Google eventually turns evil :)

With OpenStreetMap, you can clone the maps (get dumps and install the software) and use them on your own servers. If you're serious about using maps on web sites, you either give Google a few bucks (with the special API for those who wants to pay) or you use your own servers. On the browser, you can install special libraries like leaflet to have pretty maps like Google.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/API_usage_policy

Not as cut-and-dried as Google's; and they don't have a pay tier(though you can just run your own mirror and pay for that directly); but they also don't approve of use heavy enough to be problematic given their hosting resources. Not a huge surprise, really.

Does openstreetmap.org have any limits on map access?

http://www.openstreetmap.org/

http://www.openstreetmap.org/ - Is this powered by google maps?

As a demonstration of postgres' spatial abilities, check out OpenStreetMap and the various sub-projects

Is it so hard to download the offline maps for Openstreetmap?

http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Yes its for iphone too.

The whole planet might take 9gig + but thats nothing on a 64gig iphone

It was (somewhat negatively) covered here on Slashdot awhile back, but I can't be bothered to find TFA just now

The negative review was because non-evil Google is making their own thing rather than cooperating with an established community, while evil Microsoft is permitting that community to trace their aerial photography.

It was (somewhat negatively) covered here on Slashdot awhile back, but I can't be bothered to find TFA just now

The negative review was because non-evil Google is making their own thing rather than cooperating with an established community, while evil Microsoft is permitting that community to trace their aerial photography.

Why is that a separate project to openstreetmap?

http://www.openmoko.com/ http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Anything else?

Here's the problem: Even if you roll your own GPS/Nav, the Tom Tom data the government obtained will still be used against you. They won't just be pulling over Tom Tom users for speeding; this data "breach" (wasn't really) affects every single driver. So one company kind of ruined it for all of us.

http://www.openmoko.com/
http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Anything else?

TomTom was already on my no-buy list for other reasons. E.g, when you buy a new map, the old one is deleted and you have to re-buy it.

That is, if true, and if it applies in my country, utterly insane. And in itself, it's sufficient to have earned TomTom it's place on your do-not-buy list. Mine too.

I'm becoming increasingly unhappy with the SatNav that the wife got me a couple of years ago - primarily because they won't issue map updates unless you subscribe to a year's worth of updates for their speed camera database. Since their base map is in parts at least 20 years out of date (i.e., it is barely younger than GPS as a system), I've no expectation that their camera data would actually be any good, even if I actually wanted such data. (I don't ; I don't worry about speed cameras ; 22 years driving and I still don't know what a speeding ticket looks like.)

I have a sinking feeling that the only way I'm going to get my GPS itch scratched is by working with OpenStreetMap.org. Damn ; more stuff to do.

I wonder if all those people who helped OpenStreetMap are aware that OpenStreetMap knows the exact location where they were when they collected the data.

On a few rare occasions I investigated a few OSM user names. For example Googling it and looking at where the first edits were made. Rarely is it possible to determine the residential or work address with any kind of accuracy. Even the nationality of some contributors cannot be determined accurately, considering global im/emigration. And I doubt the sys admins will bother to mine the extra data they have access to.

So OSM cannot go nearly as far as Google or Appel, even if they wanted to.

Personally I don't mind telling the world where I've been, but I'm not too keen to tell them where I'm going. http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Nic%20Roets/traces

Nope. In fact, Bing Maps do use OSM. They also make their imaging data available for tracing by OSM. Microsoft playing nice with a community effort, Google trying to replace it with a proprietary one - how did we get here?

Does Wikipapia get its map data from Google? Too bad they don't seem to use http://openstreetmap.org/

I use MapDroyd all the time. It's not perfect, but it uses a fraction of the power (battery) used by Google Maps, and I can look at it on the Underground (no signal) before I get above-ground, or use it abroad (no signal because of roaming). It also enabled me to get back to the hotel when I took the wrong night bus in Slovakia.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/MapDroyd

Of course, to be any use you need to have decent OSM data. Fortunately, most European towns I've been to do (some are better than Google etc).

as for the "map maker", i guess the issue is that google would like to get the edits of their users and not give them to anybody else, including the contributors themselves ;)

the deliberate errors in maps, commonly known as copyright easter eggs, is a somewhat interesting topic with some history as well : http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Copyright_Easter_Eggs

very. hopefully people will discover osm and "upgrade" from google - with osm, you can get entire dataset and do nearly anything with it.

several other mapping companies are contributing to osm - http://open.mapquest.com/, even http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/maps/archive/2010/08/02/bing-maps-adds-open-street-maps-layer.aspx (although the link in the latter seems to be broken right now :) )

you can find other interesting uses of osm data here : http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Services

of course, there's always the fact that "map maker" was available in multiple other countries before "opening" it for usa. which means others have had a chance to ask "why do this if there's osm" already ;) http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Kompa/diary/10047

so i would like to invite everybody to join http://osm.org/ :)

very. hopefully people will discover osm and "upgrade" from google - with osm, you can get entire dataset and do nearly anything with it.

several other mapping companies are contributing to osm - http://open.mapquest.com/, even http://www.bing.com/community/site_blogs/b/maps/archive/2010/08/02/bing-maps-adds-open-street-maps-layer.aspx (although the link in the latter seems to be broken right now :) )

you can find other interesting uses of osm data here : http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Services

of course, there's always the fact that "map maker" was available in multiple other countries before "opening" it for usa. which means others have had a chance to ask "why do this if there's osm" already ;) http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Kompa/diary/10047

so i would like to invite everybody to join http://osm.org/ :)

Sounds like Google is starting to fear the progress made my open street maps... http://www.openstreetmap.org/

http://www.openstreetmap.org/

I believe you are looking for:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/

It's been stated already, GPS is just where you are. Its road metadata and routing that gets you. I'd like to point out the wiki style road map system Open Street Maps http://www.openstreetmap.org/ Easy to upload your own tracks and create roads out of them. The OSM wiki has lots of information on apps that utilize the data, I even used it on an old Nokia Series60 phone. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin is how to use the data over the default maps on Garmin.

It's been stated already, GPS is just where you are. Its road metadata and routing that gets you. I'd like to point out the wiki style road map system Open Street Maps http://www.openstreetmap.org/ Easy to upload your own tracks and create roads out of them. The OSM wiki has lots of information on apps that utilize the data, I even used it on an old Nokia Series60 phone. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin is how to use the data over the default maps on Garmin.

regarding maps, labeled as "copyright easter eggs" by openstreetmap :)

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Copyright_Easter_Eggs

"Printed Maps that "Lye"" is a nice statement :)

Okay, that's a bit off-topic, but not that much when we discuss virtual globes and the likes. Here's a dismissed submission last week that I think worthy of sharing: "It's a dream come true. After MapQuest and Yahoo actively supporting the Wikipedia-like map initiative OpenStreetMap.org. Microsoft announced that they hired OpenStreetMap's founder Steve Coast for their Bing Maps team. But there's more, they committed providing orthorectified aerial imagery and more to the project. From the official announcement: "Continuously innovating and improving our map data is a top priority and a massive undertaking at Bing. That's why we're excited to announce a new initiative to work with the OpenStreetMap project, a community of more than 320,000 people who have built high quality maps for every country on earth. Microsoft is providing access to our Bing Aerial Imagery for use in the OpenStreetMap project, and we have hired industry veteran Steve Coast to lead this effort. [...] As a first step in this engagement, we plan to enable access to Bing's global orthorectified aerial imagery, as a backdrop of OSM editors. Also, Microsoft is working on new tools to better enable contributions to OSM." Microsoft already added the OpenStreetMap layer to Bing Maps last August."

Clearly, this means to me that open data has won that round and that Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ are in deeper trouble today than a few months ago.

Now to go back to Google, at the moment, but it could change anytime, they're going on a different road away from OpenStreetMap with their Google Map Maker.

"That is a completely separate issue, however, from the way you've framed the question as to the legitimacy of why those plans are restricted from commercial republication."

Correct. I wasn't precise enough in my phrasing - what I meant was that while the presentation of the dimensions and information about the Wright airplane might be protected, (if I understand correctly) you are not even permitted to take the data itself (i.e. the actual physical measurements of the airplane documented in that presentation) and make your OWN presentation of that same data. Of course, that is a bit risky even if the agreement didn't preclude it - there is always a concern that the data may have been slightly "altered" to make it copyright eligible, similar to the question of whether map data are subject to copyright. Apparently (although IANAL) in the US the latest wisdom is that the actual physical layout of things on the map is not subject to copyright (since ANY accurate map would have to reproduce that exact same information, by definition - this is why it is thought commercial map makers occasionally add little non-existent streets or such into their maps - THAT work, being something other than a literal representation of reality (however close it may be) IS subject to copyright. See http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Copyright_Easter_Eggs)

Well, if I had read on instead of posting in an early thread, I would have known that a) these guys are using OSM data (a fact sorely missing from the summary) and b) you actually CAN use OSM data with Garmin satnavs.

With a suitable Garmin GPS (there are a number of models that do auto-routing that have bicycle mounts), you can load up an OSM based cycle map and get cycle routing that way. See http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Cycle_map

If you already own one of these, you'll probably find it is somewhat more water resistant than an iPhone.

"CycleStreets has been made possible by the brilliant OpenStreetMap project, dubbed the 'Wikipedia of Maps'. Cyclists and others all around the UK collect and update street data that enables us then to create routing that thinks like a cyclist. Unlike traditional SatNav data, OpenStreetMap data is controlled by its user community. Anyone can get involved in OpenStreetMap, and over 300,000 people around the world are already doing so."

So if you want to help improve the application, and contribute to plenty of other worthy projects, you could think about checking out The Map in your area and seeing if there's anything you could contribute.

Now I almost never use trails while hiking above the tree line and I've never used a GPS for other things than mapping. So for me map + compass really is good if you know how to use them, the compass is big and very accurate so you know where you are running. Then again Silva makes really good compasses, but they are as expensive as an GPS.

Additionally there are other software enabling one to use topo/bitmap maps on Garmin, but I have not found one which would be completely free (as beer). Haven't been looking that much though as I'm relatively happy with OSM maps. They have theyr limitations but one definately gets more than what one paid for , which is rarely the case with commercial maps.

Instead of surfing the Web at random, I sometimes find myself surfing Google Earth or Google Maps at random. I've found a significant number of minor mapping errors on maps of areas I know well.

I've submitted all of them to Google, and found that all of them are generally fixed within about a month of submission, give or take. And I've gotten some pleasantly-worded form letters thanking me for the fixes. Google is very interested in error reports and has a pretty active group of people fixing them.

I also have added a good number of roads and error fixes in my local area to Open Street Maps ( http://www.openstreetmap.org/ ) and I find that additions and fixes to those maps get published even more quickly. I have nothing that can use OSM at the moment, but I like what they are trying to do, so I try to make sure both Google and OSM have good data.

openstreetmap.org ;)

and the url is http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Copyright_Easter_Eggs - that just lists some examples, there are way, way more errors than that. and for many, it is not possible to really say whether they are deliberate or just sloppy mapping.

as for errors being very small, some vendors are known to include roundabouts where there are none - that's a pretty large mistake, on-purpose or accidental one. and i find it hard to believe that it's accidental...

Yup and then pay these jokers to get access.

OSM was great, then they took down their WMS servers. Now if you want access to the maps you have to either download the whole thing (160GB uncompressed, plus 10MB/day for updates) or pay someone who has a WMS service for it.

But go ahead, I'm sure it'll work real well for them if everyone currently using TeleAtlas suddenly decides they want a local copy of OSM (Note: they don't even have a recent Torrent for it).

Yup and then pay these jokers to get access.

OSM was great, then they took down their WMS servers. Now if you want access to the maps you have to either download the whole thing (160GB uncompressed, plus 10MB/day for updates) or pay someone who has a WMS service for it.

But go ahead, I'm sure it'll work real well for them if everyone currently using TeleAtlas suddenly decides they want a local copy of OSM (Note: they don't even have a recent Torrent for it).

Yup and then pay these jokers to get access.

OSM was great, then they took down their WMS servers. Now if you want access to the maps you have to either download the whole thing (160GB uncompressed, plus 10MB/day for updates) or pay someone who has a WMS service for it.

But go ahead, I'm sure it'll work real well for them if everyone currently using TeleAtlas suddenly decides they want a local copy of OSM (Note: they don't even have a recent Torrent for it).

Open street map near my place is much more accurate than Google Maps. Mr Google has imagined many streets that don't exist. I know because I have been and looked...

And make your own maps with open street map

Playing devil's advocate -- it's pretty trivial to make a Silverlight interface to pan and zoom around a giant image like this. It's less trivial to do the same thing with, say, JavaScript or Flash.

Actually you're trolling more than playing devil's advocate. There's a sh*tload of zoom & pan-enabled image viewing libraries, both in JS and Flash, all using tiles just like Silverlight -- try to google some.

And for that matter it's trivial to DIY from scratch using canvas, which of course IE conveniently doesn't support, but that problem was solved too long ago. OpenLayers, which you might have seen at work at OpenStreetMap, includes a VML rendering backend, besides canvas and SVG.

The really funny part about your "advocating" is that MS has an Ajax library that does exactly the same thing as its Silverlight counterpart: http://www.seadragon.com/developer/ajax/

Then use open street map. They also have a nice API for drawing overlays on maps, and if you don't even want them to have be able to extract vague information by seeing which tiles you query, you can download their raw mapping data and run it yourself.

openstreetmap.org That will get you
map tiles, several viewers, and access to the underlying street information.