This book will allow you to take control of your own maps and use them smoothly. This book introduces the reader to the OpenStreetMap project and shows you how to participate in the project, and make use of the data it provides. No prior knowledge of the project is assumed, and technical details are kept to a minimum.
Chapter 1, Making a Free, Editable Map of the World explains how and why the project was started, how freely redistributable geographic data is different from maps that are merely free of charge to use, and some of the things the project has already achieved.
Chapter 2, Getting Started at openstreetmap.org covers the main features of openstreetmap.org and how to create and personalize an account on it. It explains how to use the documentation in the OpenStreetMap wiki, and how to communicate with the OpenStreetMap community.
Chapter 3, Gathering Data using GPS looks at the tools and techniques used by the OpenStreetMap community to gather data using GPS and upload it to the website. It also explains some basic surveying techniques.
Chapter 4, How OpenStreetMap Records Geographical Features covers the types of data you can record, such as nodes, ways, and relations. It also looks at the tagging system and how the community uses and manages it.
Chapter 5, OpenStreetMap's Editing Applications looks at the basic operation of OpenStreetMap's three most popular editors, including Potlatch, JOSM, and Merkaartor.
Chapter 6, Mapping and Editing Techniques explains how to draw features based on GPS traces, how to tag them, and how to find tags that mappers have used, but not documented.
Chapter 7, Checking OpenStreetMap Data for Problems explains how to find the cause of any problems you're having with OpenStreetMap data using the data inspection tools on openstreetmap.org, the NoName layer, ITOWorld OSM Mapper, and Geofabrik's OSM Inspector.
Chapter 8, Producing Customised Maps explains how to create maps using the standard renderings on openstreetmap.org, using a standalone rendering application for Windows and Kosmos, and in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format using Osmarender.
Chapter 9, Getting Raw OpenStreetMap Data discusses ways of accessing the data in the OpenStreetMap database, such as Planet files, the main OpenStreetMap API, and the Extended API (XAPI).
Chapter 10, Manipulating OpenStreetMap Data using Osmosis looks at a tool that is used heavily within OpenStreetMap to manipulate data from planet files or extracts, or databases containing OpenStreetMap data, called Osmosis.
Chapter 11, OpenStreetMap's Future explains some of the changes being developed by the coders and mappers working on OSM, and how they'll affect users of the data.
This book would be the perfect aid for geographic-information professionals interested in using this data in their work, and web designers and developers who want to include mapping in their sites, and want a distinctive style. This book is for you if you have a need to use maps and geographic data for work or leisure, and want accurate, up-to-date maps showing the information you're interested in, without details you don't need. If you want to use maps for navigation, and want more or less detail than traditional printed maps give, this book would be perfect for you.
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text are shown as follows: "The role attribute is a simple string whose values and significance is defined by the type of the relation itself."
A block of code is set as follows:
<osm version="0.6" generator="OpenStreetMap server">
<node id="483034256" lat="55.9458449" lon="-3.2035477" version="1" changeset="2369219" user="spytfyre" uid="166957" visible="true" timestamp="2009-09-04T13:35:42Z">
<tag k="name" v="The Blue Blazer"/>
<tag k="amenity" v="pub"/>
</node>
</osm>When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:
<osm version="0.6" generator="OpenStreetMap server">
<node id="107775" lat="51.5072647" lon="-0.1278328" version="29" changeset="2628959" user="EdinburghGael" uid="170586" visible="true" timestamp="2009-09-25T23:04:28Z">
<tag k="place" v="city"/>
<tag k="name:zh" v="伦敦"/>
<tag k="name:sv" v="London"/>
<tag k="name:sk" v="Londýn"/>
...
<tag k="is_in" v="England, United Kingdom, UK, Great Britain,
Europe"/>
<tag k="capital" v="yes"/>
<tag k="name:fr" v="Londres"/>
<tag k="name:cy" v="Llundain"/>
</node>
</osm>Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
Kosmos.Console.exe bitmapgen compton.kpr compton.png -mb 51.20868 -0.63794 51.22011 -0.61772 -z 16
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "You can do this by right-clicking on your My Computer icon and selecting Properties."
There are some images that are referred in the chapters but are not actually present in it. Such images can be found along with the code files on the Packt website. The images are referred as follows: "The road's name is Down Lane, which can be seen in the image 121120009090.jpg."
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