Re: [Fsuk-manchester] OpenStreetMap - Manchester Mapping Weekend, 25/26 October

[Simon Ward]

On Sun, Oct 12, 2008 at 09:00:29PM +0100, MJ Ray wrote:
> Most times I've looked into OSM, I seem to get stuck by either some
> piece of non-free software or by some accessibility problem.  Could
> someone point me at how to get started tracing for OSM with free
> software?  Then if I go well with that, I'll try to borrow a GPS.

I made my previous post, then after reading David’s mail I realised that
I got a bit hooked on specifically tracing over Yahoo! imagery.

Part of the answer to the more general “how can I contribute to OSM with
free software?” is in my previous mail (JOSM to edit the data), but I’ll
add to that with getting the data from GPS devices:

There is good support for a large number of GPS devices with free
software.

Some Bluetooth devices such as the i-Blue 747 that David mentioned, and
the Holux M-241 (also a cheap and reasonable choice for just a data
logger if you can find it) are supported by BT747[2].

Garmin (and presumably other) devices with SD storage allow you to save
traces to the SD card.  You can either read that using an SD reader, or
configure the GPS device to use mass storage mode via the USB cable,
mount the device and read the filesystem.

A multitude of other devices and log formats are supported by
GPSBabel[3], which can be used to convert to the GPX format that is used
by OSM editing software.

[2]: http://bt747.wiki.sourceforge.net/
[3]: http://www.gpsbabel.org/

Both JOSM[4] and Markaartor (a Qt-based editor)[5] can be used to edit
OSM data with all free software.  JOSM is a featureful editor that’s
often cited as being useful for more advanced editing.  Merkaartor has
less on the features front and a slightly different (nicer, IMO) take on
the UI.

[4]: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/JOSM
[5]: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Merkaartor

Personally I have a Garmin device that I have to transfer data from via
USB interface using GPSBabel, and use JOSM for editing.

Simon
-- 
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that works.—John Gall

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