OpenStreetMap
Dear All,
I am new to this site and I think you are all doing a fantastic job and for a great cause. I am a consultant and currently in Sierra Leone (Pro-Bono). This place really needs mapping, not just for a basic need but to drive economics, pull investment, improve the infrastructure by enabling it to be visible and understood.
Without mapping it is hard to let agencies, donors, Gov, business, people, make a sound decisions, mapping is the territorial and content data that is needed for more than basic planning, far more, it allows for extensions through the data to accelerate, grow develop as you all know, and a league of great explorers throughout history have also understood, exploration today is as then an intrepid journey, however through technology with less danger, by mapping and assisting to map, you also lessen the danger of a country and its people, at the same time you give information that can change lives.
I want to make a shout out (Top of my Lungs) for all, any of you to either help or guide me on improving to map Sierra Leone; for its people, for us, as drivers, allowing dissemination of information that leads to greater things, and we are part of that process as the epitome of the modern explorer by the means that we can best utilize.
Please feel free to drop me an e-mail and have a cup of virtual tea: [email protected]
Regards,
Kevin
Discussion
Comment from Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason on 13 September 2009 at 21:26
Hello Kevin. Good to hear that you're interested.
Other people can and will help you. The best way to get help is probably to sign up for our mailing lists. E.g. the general talk mailing lists or the newbies mailing list.
People can only help you if you have any specific inquiries, is there anything in particular you need help with?
With regards to getting mapping done there's some help other people can give you but (and especially for Africa) if you want something done you're basically going to have to do it yourself. And recruit other people to help you.
The first thing you should do is get in contact with other mappers in Sierra Leone. Look at the data for Freetown and see who's been making the most edits to it. Currently the top contributor for Freetown is Dave Stanley followed by Waldrunner.
Best of luck.
Comment from 42429 on 13 September 2009 at 23:06
Dear Kevin,
mapping Africa is still an adventure and we are still looking for contributors.
The first step is to collect GPS tracks. Technically, it is quite easy: Buy a GPS receiver, switch it on, leave the GPS receiver in your car, drive around, switch the GPS receiver off when you arrive at home, and upload your track to Openstreetmap. Even collecting such tracks would help us a lot.
In some areas, driving around might be dangerous or impossible. We do not want you to risk your life for an unpaved track through the jungle. However, we appreciate GPS tracks from each road where driving is possible.
The second step is to edit your GPS tracks because you are the only guy who knows how this road is. Is it paved or not? Is there a bridge across a river or not? Are there gas stations / hotels / restaurants / schools etc? Editing a 800-km track is a hard work, but some people did it in countries like Ethiopia.
If you are not sure how to draw a road, you may ask others for help after uploading a track. You may describe your track with words, so others can try to create a map with your description.
The third step is to edit your ways. African countries usually don't have a sophisticated system with well-signed federal, state and county roads, so there is no official rule how to designate a road. However, this doesn't matter as you can leave your roads without official classification.
Many guidelines are designed for European roads, so you have to develop your own tagging guidelines for Africa. For questions concerning local issues, please read and edit the following wiki page:
osm.wiki/WikiProject_Sierra_Leone
Yours, FK270673
Comment from robert on 14 September 2009 at 01:35
Projects mapping developing countries usually qualify for extra help from the openstreetmap foundation.
See http://foundation.openstreetmap.org/gpstogo/
Comment from bass on 14 September 2009 at 02:42
Also have a look at the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection for some Sierra Leone Maps. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/sierra_leone.html
Gruess, Micha