I took some data in Kallangur and Murrumba Downs yesterday using my phone's voice recorder and my laptop in the car.

It was great, I got lots of street names as well as an entire new development that hasn't been mapped yet unfortunately my mapping software stored the logs in /tmp/ by default which was wiped next boot, so I've lost everything. Unfortunately my gps software crashed toward the end, so I think I lost about half an hour of data, and got really grumpy before packing it in for the day. TangoGPS has been freezing up quite a bit since I switched back to Ubuntu from Debian, so I'll have to work that out before I can do much more.

I've also been looking out for a new GPS unit of my very own. I found yesterday that I can use pretty much any Bluetooth GPS with my mobile phone, and got really excited. I don't have to have to cart a massive great hand held unit of my own around the place after all.

So with renewed vigour I've been looking around for Bluetooth devices. I came across the Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 and fell in love with it. It looks like it'll be a silver bullet. You can read my blog post or the Manufacturers page for more info, but I'm interested to hear from anyone from here who might be using one. What configuration do you use? What software? Is it as good as everyone says?

Other than that, I've been pretty lax on the OSM front, and haven't really had the opportunity to do anything extra. I'm not yet confident enough to run about mapping on foot, and fuel's still too expensive for me to justify mapping that way too often. I'm confident with a mobile solution I'll be a lot more likely to get out there and map on the go.

I was in the area so I took the car around the Ferny Grove/Keperra area and took some data. I had the GPS, my laptop and my phone for annotations, so I've managed to correct a fair bit of data to the south of Ferny Grove and the north of Keperra where it was skewed slightly from the satellite traces.

I've been trialling the audio annotation feature of JOSM to get street names as I'm mapping them, and I really wish I knew about it when I was tracing on Christmas Eve. I've only taken street names, bus stops, and visible points of interest today, although I'm not going to add the bus stops to the map as I'm not entirely sure how, and my audio data is slightly out of sync anyway. I figure I'll leave it to someone with more accurate data. :)

Met up with David Dean the two days ago for some mapping. It was good, and we got a fair bit of the top of Nudgee done. There's a massive area that needs some love and attention along Red Hill Road, but I'm sure one of us will get to that eventually. At the moment it's a bit busy with Christmas and family stuff.

I did get a lot of Narangba done today that's been built up since the satellite data was taken. I've only traced streets, and haven't got many names yet, but I'm uploading a massive maze of estate down behind the new shopping centre as we speak. I'm going to have to make a project of it sometime, because there's just way too much data missing in that area right now, and the satellite imagery is skewed and dodgy anyway. If anyone wants to help, jump right in.

I also stumbled upon a post from some guy who's modded his Dell Mini with a GPS receiver and I want to do the same thing. I've got a massive Inspiron so I figure it should be easier to fit, but knowing me I'd brick my laptop fooling around with it like that.

JOSM's finished uploading, so I've got a few more changes I'm going to make tonight. It'll be good to see them rendered. :)

I just realised a massively useful tool for Linux users: Utilise the Compiz zoom feature when tracing from low-resolution Yahoo maps.

I think it's super+scroll will zoom in and out of the desktop, and it makes it far easier to get a good grip on a difficult terrain. I think there's a comparable feature in Windows & Mac, so give it a try some time if you haven't already.

Edit: Also just added a number of streets in Narangba, QLD, Australia. I'm planning on visiting and GPS-ing a few of them tomorrow as the geo data seems to be a bit inaccurate.

Went and did my walk around Keperra this morning. Got everything in the area enclosed by Samford Road, Dawson Parade and the train line.

The area near the train station is a little fiddly. I think I'm going to have to map it out with a GPS because it's got a few roads missing, and I also missed some of the street names. The signage is quite strange in the area, and the roads seem to change names half way through. It's interesting.

In any case, I'm really happy with my efforts today and I'm looking forward to some more tonight.

I took some names at Keperra (not Taringa!) today. I'm going to go for a bit of a meander tomorrow and get some more, hopefully fleshing out most of the streets nearby the south of the train station.

I'm also catching up with David Dean for some reconnaissance around Nudgee tomorrow night, which should be cool. I'm going to have to look into borrowing Dad's GPS and working out how best to capture geo data under Linux before that. Any suggestions in this department are very welcome.

Added a few more street names. I've been noting them down when I'm being passengered around in the car. Populated some of Calamvale on Brisbane's south side, and added a few roads and street names near Caloundra.

Noting that the satellite imagery is really freakin' old, and there's a lot more data missing than I initially thought. I'd love to crack out the GPS and do some amateur mapping some time, and I'm planning a trek around the Boondal wetlands/nudgee bike tracks some time over the next few weeks.

Just updated Banyo somewhat. Removed the railway footbridge that's since been torn down, and went for a quasi-warwalk around the town centre to collect some street names.

Hope to update more often.

Edit:
Also noted some street names around Banyo/Virginia while driving this afternoon. Made a few minor edits around the place. Even taught my mum how to name streets, although I think we may have messed up a road somewhere near Zillmere — Potlatch can be tricky sometimes.