CloudMade Release Isle of Man Dataset to OpenStreetMap
CloudMade Release Isle of Man Dataset to OpenStreetMap
We’ve been in Limerick, Ireland for The State of The Map, the OpenStreetMap conference where we took the opportunity to announce the release of a complete mapping dataset of the Isle of Man to OpenStreetMap.
The dataset was collected by CloudMade in late 2007 using all of the tools and processes used by OpenStreetMap mappers. The team, made up of CloudMade founders Steve Coast and Nick Black along with long-term OSM contributor, Andy Robinson, drove and cycled every road on the Isle of Man, recording their movements with cheap, consumer grade GPS units whilst taking photos of street signs with digital cameras.
The finished map
Donating the Isle of Man data to OpenStreetMap is the completion of a cycle for us. We set out to prove that it was possible for three guys with bicycles and GPS units using OpenStreetMap’s software, to do what the Ordnance Survey or TeleAtlas do, but at a fraction of the cost. If I wanted to make a map, I would use OpenStreetMap’s software. If I wanted to make a better map, I’d give it to the OpenStreetMap community and let them maintain it. The real test will be to come back in 6 months and see how many footpaths and new housing estates have been added to the map.
Detailed view of Peel, a city on the west coast of the Island which shows the street network as well as a selection of points of interest.
The dataset is significant for a few reasons. The Isle of Man will become the second country to be completely mapped in OSM, following the donation of the complete Netherlands road network to OSM by Dutch map makers AND. Secondly, the Isle of Man has been overlooked in the past by most online map providers, who do not consider the small nation to be a high priority.
The import process is being managed by OSMer Dan Karran and we expect it to be a few weeks until the data is available in OSM. In the mean time, you can get a sneak preview over here.
A full press is available here.
CloudMade Release Isle of Man Dataset to OpenStreetMapJuly 15th, 2008 - Posted by Nick Black in cloudmade, geodata, openstreetmap | | 5 Comments
on July 15th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Very nice! And since there are only three copyright holders, it should be pretty easy to release it as Public Domain.
Google and the other online mapping providers who don’t have the Isle of Man surely wouldn’t refuse such an offer now, would they?
Could also be more powerful, publicity wise.
on July 16th, 2008 at 11:02 am
A cursory look reveals you have a mistake – “Juby” in the north-west of the island should be “Jurby”…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurby
on July 16th, 2008 at 11:30 am
[...] Erkennt ihr den Unterscheid? Und damit die Stärke von OSM gegenüber allen kommerziellen Anbietern? (Quelle) [...]
on August 15th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
How did you survey the runways of the airport? Somehow I doubt you could cycle-survey them!
on August 20th, 2008 at 9:48 am
@Warren – there is a public domain dataset called DAFIF that has map data for most runways worldwide. You can read more about it here – http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Potential_Datasources#DAFIF . Cycle surveying would have been tricky…