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Openstreetmap/Openlayers??

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  • 27-11-2009 1:47pm
    #1
    NerfNerder
    Registered Users Posts: 86 ✭✭


    Hi guys. I hope I can articulate this question intelligently enough to get the answer I am looking for, so here goes.

    Basically I am a noob to GIS, but am undertaking a project to add data to the OpenStreetMap project. I basically want to pick a route and instead of keeping the basic detail of just the location of a street I want to add information about what is on that street, for example shops, entertainment etc.

    I am lost to understand how exactly to go about doing this though. I don't really understand what technology I need to use. Like obviously I know I will need a database to hold the information I gather about places. I will need a GPS to actually collect data, and as fart as I know I will need a web server also. But I am not really sure exactly why.

    I am also not sure how to go about even connecting to the OpenStreetMap map. People keep telling me about OpenLayers also, but I don't really understand OpenLayers. Am I correct in understanding it to be some sort of tool for working with map data?

    Any helpful responses would be very much appreciated.


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    #2
    AndrewMc
    Registered Users Posts: 354 ✭✭AndrewMc


    It sounds like you've heard too much!

    If you're simply contributing to OSM all you need is an account on openstreetmap.org, a GPS to record your traces, software to get those traces off the GPS, and a web browser, nothing more! Record the trace, making sure that the GPS is set *not* to lock onto built-in maps (otherwise you're copying that map, not making your own). Upload the trace to openstreetmap through the website. Finally, click the edit button on the site and you'll get the web-based editor called Potlatch through which you'll see the GPS trace and can add streets, rivers, points of interest, etc, on top. See the second post of this thread started by somebody else who's just starting out: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055745994

    You certainly don't need a database to record anything. I've survived solely with making waypoints in my GPS and writing on paper what the waypoint was. Other people take photographs; JOSM, a Java-based alternative to the Potlatch editor, can use the timestamp of the photo to match it to your GPS trace and show where the photo was taken.

    Openlayers is the Javascript library that lets you add a draggable, zoomable map to your own web pages. If you're not doing that, don't worry about it.

    The best places to get help are either through the OSM mailing lists http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Mailing_lists (in particular "newbies", "talk" and the Irish "talk-ie"), or through IRC http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contact#IRC (again, "talk" and "talk-ie").

    Good luck!


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