I haven't done much on OSM lately. Still, the Rugby map has improved, so it can't be just me working on it. :)

Motivation

OpenStreetMap is interesting as a collaborative project because:

• it is visual, and therefore easy to show/explain to people,


• it is very easy to contribute (compared to programming projects),


• there is still potential for programming spin-offs,


• OSM and its spin-offs can benefit society at large.

The 'spin-offs' are the main motivation for contributing towards a free (as in freedom) set of geodata rather than being content with what we already have. Existing maps are not free, and prevent reuse for interesting applications by society.

The simplest example of a spin-off would be a custom map. For example, take the map we use to show people the way to our meetings. Selecting an excerpt of a proprietary map and putting it as an image on our website or in a newsletter would generally not be permitted.

More complicated custom maps are possible - we can render new maps featuring only the specific types of features that we are interested in.

This scales all the way to custom online maps - there is an idea floating about to create a pub review website based around a custom OSM map, for instance. This would be a useful application which would only be possible because of the freedoms attached to the OSM data.

Vision for the end of 2009

It is difficult to set specific and realistic goals to judge our progress when dealing with the map data itself - I do not want to make comparisons against other maps, because this would both encourage copying and be difficult to achieve.

Instead, I propose some modest goals focused on OSM's role as a community project:

• Map coverage should be "sufficiently complete" around the main population centres of Bilton, Hillmorton and Brownsover. A reasonable independent third party should not see any obvious gaps in the map.


• Awareness of OSM amongst the wider Rugby community should increase. At least one mapping party should be covered by the local press. At least three local organizations should be benefiting from OSM-derived maps.


• We should have developed at least one flagship 'spin-off' application, to inspire people about the possibilities of free map data.

Hmm, someone else has been filling in bits of Rugby. Yay. :) Perhaps I'll be inspired to do some mapping on 1st Jan.