Russ Nelson
- on -
OpenStreetMap
** Please note important information about: this meeting **
Russ is currently pitching Open Data. The left hand to Open Source’s right hand, Open Data is an essential part of many programs. You may think “Oh, but my program doesn’t use any data”. But what about fonts? What about configuration files? What about any files your program reads or writes?
OpenStreetMap is geodata, a collection of locations (intersections), connections between them (roads), and connections between the connections (bus routes). All of these can have arbitrary amounts of metadata stored with them, like names, speed limits, purpose of the road, etc. All of this is stored in a PostGres database and available through an API which presents a simpler interface than raw SQL queries.
With all of this data in hand, you can make a map. But maps aren’t new; why is OpenStreetMap (OSM) new? OpenStreetMap is licensed under a community reciprocal license, so that people who contribute to it are confident that the people who distribute it will reciprocate under the same license. Unlike public domain data like the Census’s TIGER data, OSM has a custodian who wants your contributions. Unlike proprietary data like Google Maps, or its underlying geodata provided by Navteq and/or TeleAtlas, OSM is freely copyable and open to all for editing.
About Russ Nelson:
Russ Nelson is an early Linux adopter; in fact an early adopter of all sorts of technology, including the first non-Compaq iPAQ reflashed to run Linux. He finally gave up on assembly language a few years ago and now programs in C and most languages beginning with P. He almost got a PhD from Clarkson University but managed to escape writing a dissertation. He lives in Potsdam, NY with his wife and two nearly-adult children, but was born in NYC and raised in Baldwin out in Nassau County.
More Information:
- OpenStreetMap
- OpenStreepMap on Wikipedia
- Year of Edits to OpenStreetMap via Video
- OpenStreetMap pool on Flickr
- NYC OpenStreeMap Enthusiasts Meetup Group
- Russ Nelson’s site
Tags: IBM, OpenStreetMap, Russ Nelson