-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Open Street Map
Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 10:05:12 -0800
From: Virginia R Hetrick PhD <[log in to unmask]>
To: Maps, Air Photo, GIS Forum - Map Librarianship
<[log in to unmask]>
Hi, folks -
I just discovered this GIS system today. Have I been in the dark for
long? Probably.
But now that I've found it (more on the finding process in a bit), I
have been having fun with it for the past hour. In the first 10
minutes, I solved a problem that a friend of mine who's going up to
Montana and Alberta for some cross-country skiing had because he wanted
a map that crossed the border, such that both sides of the border were
represented at the same scale on the map. I just sent the email below
my signature block to a bunch of my geographer friends. If you haven't
seen this be sure to give it a whirl. I think it will prove to be an
invaluable resource, especially for folks who haven't fondled an ESRI
system, since it doesn't involve a huge learning curve.
In making the map for my buds, I discovered that the boundaries of
Waterton Lakes NP in southwestern Alberta need help. It's got what
looks like good trail and road coverage for them, but the park
boundaries are not represented (hint, hint for somebody up there in The
Frozen North).
Enjoy!
v
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Virginia R. Hetrick, here in sunny California
Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
"There is always hope."
My fave: http://www.washington.edu/cambots/camera1_l.jpg
There's no place like: 34N 8' 25.40", 117W 58' 5.36"
if you can't be at: 48N 7' 4.54" 122W 45' 50.95"
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I learned about a new GIS project today from reading my GW Alumni
Magazine. It's called Open Street Map and the link is:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/51.500/-0.100
I've never seen this before and it's exceptionally good across
international boundaries. The very excellent part is that the "index"
is navigable in the same way that google maps is navigable. The result
is that if it's necessary for whatever you're doing, you can make maps
of several areas that either cross international boundaries (think
Washington/BC, Arizona/Sonora, California/Baja California, or
Minnesota/Manitoba) at the same scale or separated areas on either side
of an international boundary again at the same scale.
You can also do things like add information in layers of interest just
to you or correct errors (for example, the presence of my church in Port
Townsend is represented at least, but it's not identified by name on the
base map like some of the other churches; several churches are also
completely missing from the map).
The project featured in the alumni magazine and that I clicked on to
read is:
http://gwtoday.gwu.edu/students-help-map-nepal%E2%80%99s-kathmandu
From chasing maps of all different scales and getting them transformed
to so EASILY getting maps at the same scale is a hugely good deal. In
the first ten minutes this morning, I got the map up on my two-headed
computer so I had a gigantic space to build the map I mentioned for my
cross-country skiing buds. As soon as I finish my email, I'm headed to
Kinkos to print it out the map because it will be about two feet long.
The great advantage of this is free and, so far, very high quality. It
already has some layers and people who want to do so can build their own
layers.
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