Talk:South East Tip
Between the 12th-13th May 2007, volunteers from OpenStreetMap (OSM) will be meeting in Canterbury to map as many of Kent's roads and footpaths as possible. Using GPS units and notebooks, OSM's volunteers make maps that they give away for free on their website. There are lots of keen walkers involved with OSM who are mapping the footpaths and bridleways of the UK. We always welcome new members and over the weekend of the 12th-13th May, OSM volunteers will be on hand to show anyone who is interested how we make our maps. We even have GPS units to lend out to volunteers. If you would like any more information, contact nick on 07835054292 or take a look at:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/South_East_Tip
Thanks for your time
Press Release
OSM South East Kent Mapping Weekend Press Release from OpenStreetMap.org 01/05/2007
On 12 and 13 May 2007, a team of volunteers from OpenStreetMap will be adding Canterbury and the surrounding towns to the global mapping revolution. Contributors to the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project are meeting in Canterbury with the aim of completely mapping the streets and other major features of the area.
The mappers will be meeting at Cafe Nero, 44 High St, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 2SA at 10am on Saturday 12th May. OSM volunteers will be on hand to show anyone who is interested who to use GPS units and collect data for OSM. After a brief explanation, the mappers will disperse to map the countryside surrounding Canterbury, before meeting at the Ye Old Beverly, St. Stephens Green, Canterbury, at 6pm to review the days progress and sample the local wares. On Sunday, the mappers will meet back at Cafe Nero between 9.30am and 10.00am, before meeting again for lunch in Canterbury around 2pm. Members of the public young and old are very welcome to join in with the mappers, who have GPS units they can lend out.
The OSM project was started in 2004 to enable anyone to use maps in creative, productive or unexpected ways. The use of traditional maps is hampered by legal and technical restrictions that severely curtail their use. The OSM project aims to create free geographical data, like street maps, that can be used anywhere by anyone. OSM contributors, will be driving, cycling, and wandering the city with GPS (Global Positioning System) units recording the routes of as many streets, cycleways and footpaths as possible. The tracks recorded over the weekend will be added to the online OpenStreetMap.org database where anyone in the world with access to the internet can browse, annotate, reference, edit and use the data in any way they want.
Collaborative mapping is a rapidly growing activity and is being driven in part by technology (cheap GPS equipment and online collaboration tools such as OpenStreetMap.org). What makes such projects stand out is their knowledge production and ownership ethos. Under such open-source models the rights of authorship are decentralised and the knowledge gathered is seen as a common resource that can be distributed and re-used without restriction or licence. This approach has real potential to empower people to create their own knowledge and encourages re-use of cartographic resources in novel and creative ways.
The map data produced over the weekend will contribute to OpenStreetMap.org, one of the leading projects in the open-source mapping field. Currently, OSM has mapped large portions of the country, including all the motorways and most primary roads. Excellent street plans for central London, Cambridge, central Oxford and the Isle of Wight have been produced entirely from OSM data. In August 2006, Bath had its own highly successful mapping weekend. But now it’s Canterbury's turn!
We hope that an intensive effort to build a map of south-east Kent in a weekend will inspire others and help to build momentum across the country. As an open organisation with no membership requirements, we welcome the participation of anyone, young or old, who will be in Canterbury on the weekend of the 12 and 13 May. Anyone interested in taking part should contact Nick Black - nick at asklater dot com or 07835-054292.
See http://tinyurl.com/yoxvdn for the OSM Map and http://tinyurl.com/2d4ddf for details.
ENDS
Further information can be found on the project website, http://www.openstreetmap.org
For more media enquiries, please contact Nick Black (nick at asklater dot com), phone 07835 054292.