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I use OpenStreetMap http://www.osm.org/ . It is kind of Wikipedia approach to mapping.

By the way, I use this web application to view Wikipedia articles on the OSM map: http://ausleuchtung.ch/geo_wik... . It works for all language versions of Wikipedia, and to view hotels, supermarkets, etc. this one: http://ausleuchtung.ch/travel_...

I agree. Since the new Google Maps, it has become confusing and slow for me. The OpenStreetMap site is simple and fast and now also offers routing. And it's *really* free.

The Trans-Siberian Raylway, the Northern Route, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... is almost reaching Yakutsk already http://osm.org/go/8_CbR-?m=

It is actively constructed.

What about Julian Assange and Bradley Manning? Perhaps these two also should be let go to Russia?

Like in Dostoyevsky's "Crime and punishment" to Siberia? There will be a grand bridge construction project near Yakutsk, here: http://osm.org/go/8_ABot--

The English language and IT teachers are badly needed at schools there. The nature is harsh, -37 C now, but magnificent. What a waste to keep those two young bright men locked up.

Wasn't Apple using Open Street Maps?

The article notes that Apple used various data sources, but explains that there's no reason to think the data sources are at fault here.

Open Street Map correctly locates Mildura: http://osm.org/go/uHcWMmj-?m

http://osm.org/

As soon as bing maps or open street map get brought up to the quality of google maps, I'll contemplate a switch.

Google maps vladivostok
OpenStreetMap Vladivostok
Bing Maps Vladivostok

What makes you think open street map or bing are not at the quality of google maps? Both have flawed areas, both have extremely well mapped areas.

The same is true of closed maps too, try comparing Vladivostok on Google Maps to on OpenStreetMaps.

More so, if you feel that an area doesn't have enough coverage, sure that's a pain the first time you go there, but once you've been there, and know what's going on, just add it to the map, and bam, coverage improved :)

About...

OpenLayers makes it easy to put a dynamic map in any web page. It can display map tiles and markers loaded from any source. OpenLayers has been developed to further the use of geographic information of all kinds. OpenLayers is completely free, Open Source JavaScript, released under the 2-clause BSD License (also known as the FreeBSD).

http://openlayers.org/
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/ :)

Just in case you missed the alternative that actually lets people use the map for something try osm.org.

They do look quite alike. http://osm.org/go/uG4UMOp

Yes, there is: OpenStreetMap. You can help make it better.

Obviously, the #1 market for standalone GPS receivers is the OpenStreetMap mapping community, who wander around making GPS traces to create a free world map. I've found that for this job you want the most sensitive and accurate receiver possible, and a standalone unit from Garmin seems to give better quality data than the GPS sensor built into my BlackBerry, especially in city areas where not much of the sky is visible.

I attempted to try doing some edits, but it's so broken as to be next to impossible to fix. It seems that once a street has a directionality applied to it, you can't remove it.

All ways have directionality, whether or not they're "one way." You need to add the oneway=yes tag to indicate that the way only travels the direction it points (or oneway=-1 if it travels the opposite direction and it's not practical to reverse the way). You might want to paruse the wiki, especially the beginner's guide.

Also, so far it seems next to impossible to take two roads that are connected and say, "these roads are NOT actually connected" and split them.

Try using your editor's "split way" command.

Let's not forget the fact that frequently the editor decides that for whatever reason, it can't undo something and you have to scrap your entire editing session...

Try using an editor that isn't the flash based Potlatch on the edit tab, like JOSM.

OpenStreetMap currently has a Summer of Code project to put OSM on the Android.

I have a Navigon 2100, which runs WinCE but it is quite hackable. The whole OS and related data is stored on an SD card; you can simply plug it into an SD reader, replace the files, maps, everything.

Interesting... so if you can replace the maps, any idea what program would convert OpenStreetMap data to the appropriate format for the Navigon? I have one of these useless doorstops (thanks to the absolute crap map data that it ships with) and i'm trying to rehabilitate it, since Navigon's support told me to go fuck myself (in those words).

Maybe they had to back down after someone pointed out that their privacy policy includes terms like "You may not reproduce, distribute, copy, publish, enter into any database, display, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in any way exploit any part of this site". Hardly "open source" - just another orwellian lie to cover up their corporate agenda with "freedom" dressing.

I'm glad their PR firm managed to spin their surrender with "humor", but that doesn't mean their effort isn't a joke. When do we get to read Woodward's defense of his role inside the Plame outing as "better late then never reporting", rather than a feeble coverup of his sellout?

They may also want to change their website icon while they are at it.

http://www.osm.org/favicon.ico

http://plone.org/favicon.ico

In terms of their politics, I'm making fun of their insistance that the whole group is supposed to represent a broad cross-section of political views, when their left-most blogger is Glenn Reynolds

They also have a goodly number of libertarians and people who don't pigeonhole easily (Tammy Bruce is a self-described "openly gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, voted-for-President Bush progressive feminist" who was also the LA chapter president of NOW). Still, there's no denying that Mr. Corn is a rather lonely voice right now, and I hope that they can address the balance issue in some way (although how many left-leaning blogs are going to want to join is an open question).

In terms of their politics, I'm making fun of their insistance that the whole group is supposed to represent a broad cross-section of political views, when their left-most blogger is Glenn Reynolds

They also have a goodly number of libertarians and people who don't pigeonhole easily (Tammy Bruce is a self-described "openly gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, voted-for-President Bush progressive feminist" who was also the LA chapter president of NOW). Still, there's no denying that Mr. Corn is a rather lonely voice right now, and I hope that they can address the balance issue in some way (although how many left-leaning blogs are going to want to join is an open question).

The only area where I have, so far, noticed any difference is disaster-reporting. Blogs have brought disasters (invcluding war) to your bedroom. But I tend to see this change as a negative one: you still get lots of lies and misinformation just like you got from the 'old media', except that it's all loaded with tons of emotion, making you less critical about what you read or see.

Perhaps they should add this to their Errors and Corrections area ;-)

OSM should have stuck with "Pajamas Media"... there's nothing wrong with that and it pokes reverent fun at those who shrug off bloggers.

Actually, they have.

Looks like they folded...

http://www.osm.org/site/story/11212005namechange?c urrow=1

Actually, if half the people here *had* a clue, they'd realize that "open source" is not something owned by hackers or anyone else.

And this story isn't about two different groups trying to own the term?

I'll conced that open source can be a generic term, but I have yet to see a reason why political bloggers, and the companies they form, should co-opt it. As it stands it seems more like shameless coattail riding than a natual choice. If they are offering transparent journalism or reliable reporting, why can't they call it that?

Seriously - until the advent of this sort of open source media...blah blah blah

I didn't deny that political blogging exists. It does, and it would still exist if people called it "flapperdang zipperdoodle", or anything other than "open source". I just think it'd be nice if people called it something meaningful ("political blogging" has a nice ring to it) instead of diluting an existing term.

That's why what OSM is doing *is* open source. It's just reporting and news analysis in this case, and it's an exciting change that is going to fundamentally alter the reliability of media for the better(and may well ultimately significantly diminish the ability of all parties to "spin" events) for a long time to come.

It sounds to me more like a way of reinventing the mainstream media that it claims to replace.

Starting a for-profit company with millions of dollars in capital with the intention of hand-picking a network of blogs sounds a less like open source and a lot more like the heavily biased media companies we already have plenty of.

I would go so far as to suggest that OSM Media, LLC's ultimate intention, like most of the other "blog networks" springing up, is to be bought out by some large media company or another: "We anticipate that Pajamas Media will have a profound and positive market impact due to its outstanding team and unique business approach. We believe successful industry trends such as AOL's acquisition of Weblogs validates the emergence of blogging as an important new media market. This financing will allow the company to accelerate its growth and solidify its market position." -- Pajamas Media Closes $3.5 Million Venture Round.

At least osm is running a Open Source Content Management Systems, Plone. There are a ton of other systems running Plone as well - a list is available del.icio.us

Christopher Lydon was the host on WBUR/NPR's "The Connection", one of the best radio interview/talk shows around. He left after a dispute with WBUR and spent some time at the Harvard Berkman Center, where he met Dave Winer and became a pioneer in podcasting by running a podcast interview show. His interviews are all available from his Berkman blog and they're consistently excellent (the breadth of the interviewees is substantial, including people such as Doc Searle, Paul Krugman, Larry Lessig, Jeffrey Sachs, Howard Dean, David Weinberger).

His company, Open Source Media, and the radio show are both very much inspired by open source values (e.g., openness, cooperation and sharing):

- All content is Creative Commons licensed (compare to OSM's obnoxious TOS).
- They actively interact with their audience through blogging.
- They involving the audience in show production (read How this works).

It doesn't seem like an unreasonable translation of the open source ethos to radio and media production within what's feasible.

I think his trademark case is pretty solid; he has a live registered mark (meaning the examiners have accepted it so they have the benefit of the doubt if someone claims it's not trademarkable) on Open Source as applied to a radio show and commentary website, and prior use of the trade name Open Source Media. The potential for confusion (the big criteria in TM issues) is substantial. OSM LLC, meanwhile uses all kinds of weaselly wording to handwave around the fact that they use the phrase "Open Source Media" as an alternate name for the operation everywhere while implying they're just "OSM" so that makes them not really infringing (if I started RH LLC but had the name "Red Hat" plastered all over my site and press releases, do you think I could be in a bit of a bind?).

I have no dog in this fight (except as a longtime fan of The Connection, which is not the same without Lydon), but there is really no contest IMO.

Christopher Lydon was the host on WBUR/NPR's "The Connection", one of the best radio interview/talk shows around. He left after a dispute with WBUR and spent some time at the Harvard Berkman Center, where he met Dave Winer and became a pioneer in podcasting by running a podcast interview show. His interviews are all available from his Berkman blog and they're consistently excellent (the breadth of the interviewees is substantial, including people such as Doc Searle, Paul Krugman, Larry Lessig, Jeffrey Sachs, Howard Dean, David Weinberger).

His company, Open Source Media, and the radio show are both very much inspired by open source values (e.g., openness, cooperation and sharing):

- All content is Creative Commons licensed (compare to OSM's obnoxious TOS).
- They actively interact with their audience through blogging.
- They involving the audience in show production (read How this works).

It doesn't seem like an unreasonable translation of the open source ethos to radio and media production within what's feasible.

I think his trademark case is pretty solid; he has a live registered mark (meaning the examiners have accepted it so they have the benefit of the doubt if someone claims it's not trademarkable) on Open Source as applied to a radio show and commentary website, and prior use of the trade name Open Source Media. The potential for confusion (the big criteria in TM issues) is substantial. OSM LLC, meanwhile uses all kinds of weaselly wording to handwave around the fact that they use the phrase "Open Source Media" as an alternate name for the operation everywhere while implying they're just "OSM" so that makes them not really infringing (if I started RH LLC but had the name "Red Hat" plastered all over my site and press releases, do you think I could be in a bit of a bind?).

I have no dog in this fight (except as a longtime fan of The Connection, which is not the same without Lydon), but there is really no contest IMO.

Christopher Lydon was the host on WBUR/NPR's "The Connection", one of the best radio interview/talk shows around. He left after a dispute with WBUR and spent some time at the Harvard Berkman Center, where he met Dave Winer and became a pioneer in podcasting by running a podcast interview show. His interviews are all available from his Berkman blog and they're consistently excellent (the breadth of the interviewees is substantial, including people such as Doc Searle, Paul Krugman, Larry Lessig, Jeffrey Sachs, Howard Dean, David Weinberger).

His company, Open Source Media, and the radio show are both very much inspired by open source values (e.g., openness, cooperation and sharing):

- All content is Creative Commons licensed (compare to OSM's obnoxious TOS).
- They actively interact with their audience through blogging.
- They involving the audience in show production (read How this works).

It doesn't seem like an unreasonable translation of the open source ethos to radio and media production within what's feasible.

I think his trademark case is pretty solid; he has a live registered mark (meaning the examiners have accepted it so they have the benefit of the doubt if someone claims it's not trademarkable) on Open Source as applied to a radio show and commentary website, and prior use of the trade name Open Source Media. The potential for confusion (the big criteria in TM issues) is substantial. OSM LLC, meanwhile uses all kinds of weaselly wording to handwave around the fact that they use the phrase "Open Source Media" as an alternate name for the operation everywhere while implying they're just "OSM" so that makes them not really infringing (if I started RH LLC but had the name "Red Hat" plastered all over my site and press releases, do you think I could be in a bit of a bind?).

I have no dog in this fight (except as a longtime fan of The Connection, which is not the same without Lydon), but there is really no contest IMO.

The bloggers are kind of like a return to that old model for print media in the U.S., I think, except way harder to buy out or run out of business, since most of them aren't even really in business.

While perhaps true now, it seems blogs seem to want to organize themselves into their own conglomerations. How far down this slope is the AP of blogging?