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Why Isn’t Collaborative Geodata a Big Deal Already?

posted by Satri on Monday August 21, @10:29AM   Printer-friendly   Email story  Permalink  Trackback URI  Slashdotthis  Diggthis  Del.icio.us
from the it's-all-about-content dept.
Data Sharing
The Into The Pudding blog discuss why isn’t collaborative geodata a big deal already? From the introduction: "So if by Weber’s criteria geospatial data has a high chance for a true architecture of participation to form around, then why don’t we see more collaboratively built maps? Why do governments and commercial ventures dominate the landscape of geospatial data? Though there are several emerging examples, shouldn’t they be a bigger deal?" They are multiple projects on data collaboration, but Chris Holmes makes good points. The OpenStreetMap project (working on Bath right now) is one good example, wikimapia is another (Chris lists more examples).

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Public Geospatial Data Project [+]
With the OSGeo came numerous great projects. One of them is the Public Geospatial Data Project which should include a repository of open geodata. According to the wiki, it mission is: " (A) Promote the use of open geospatial formats: Providing best-practise guidelines and examples for use of open and free standards for data (GML, WMS, WFS-T) and metadata (Dublin Core, RDF). (B) Promote public access to state-collected geodata: Lead by example in demonstrating economic value and research activity generated by open access to public geographic information. (C) Run a repository of open geodata: A collection of geospatial datasets shall be hosted by the PGDP. Additionally, links to other open data repostories shall be collected. (D) Present and explain licenses for public geodata: The PGDP aims to collect licenses suitable for the publishing of public geodata. The license shall be presented along with a summary of its benefits and focus. " Related, let's not forget about geotorrent.org.
Data is the Next Intel Inside [+]
Following last week's story of Digital Globe's deal with Google, many voices pointed to the importance of data in the industry. From this short O'Reilly Radar entry: "As Microsoft's acquisition of Vexcel earlier this year also confirms, this is unlikely to be the only or last case of landgrabbing and does a good job in reminding us of Tim's argument that Data is the next Intel Inside -- a source of competitive advantage." There's a link to Jo Walsh's excellent post named "Why open geodata in an open source software foundation?" See also the numerous related stories below.
Data Ownership is the Key [+]
In the same wave as the data is the next Intel Inside story, Directions Mag assembled a summary of why data ownership is important. From the editorial's conclusive remarks: "Do you want Google to have exclusive Web rights to commercial imagery from DigitalGlobe? Do you want all of your data to be fed to you via a Web service from Denver or Rolla or Redmond or Redlands? Do you want there to be just a few large data vendors? Could they possibly have the expertise needed to create, maintain, serve and update the data you require, even with their partners? They hold the data, but we hold the dollars."
The GeoData Alliance Organization [+]
The DataLibre blog links to the website of the GeoData Alliance non-profit organization. Please note this organization, previously covered before regarding their GeoDRM report, has been existing for years (since 2001?) and I have no idea how successful they have been. From the website: "The GeoData Alliance is a nonprofit organization open to all individuals and institutions committed to using geographic information to improve the health of our communities, our economies, and the Earth. The purpose of the GeoData Alliance is to foster trusted and inclusive processes to enable the creation, effective and equitable flow, and beneficial use of geographic information." They provide a 106-pages free downloadable book named "Lessons from Practice: A Guidebook to Organizing and Sustaining Geodata Collaboratives", published in September 2001.
Application Domains: More on Citizen Webmapping [+]
Several entries this week discuss how people-driven mapping is changing the data acquisition landscape. First, the NSGIC blog discuss a NY Times article on amateurs reshaping mapmaking. From the article: "In the process, they are reshaping the world of mapmaking and collectively creating a new kind of atlas that is likely to be both richer and messier than any other.". Moving Past Push Pins discuss the potential of user generated data and provide many links. APB even links to stories about user contributed Street View imagery. And finally, MPPP also discuss the importance of public domain data in the case of the Minneapolis bridge collapse.
State of the Map: OpenStreetMap Conference Wrap Up [+]
Last weekend was the first OpenStreetMap conference called The State of the Map. OMS has been mentioned quite a few times before. The opening keynote was given by Google's Ed Parsons which shares his slides. You can read comments from Dan Karran, high earth orbit, Maemo and Brain Off blog. From this last link: "We’re nearing consensus in the nature of the challenges facing OpenStreetMap as it’s growing, the approaches to take, and bit by bit heading towards solutions. Even the extremely contentious legal debate is moving towards actions — drawing up a concise list of questions for presentation to a (paid for) lawyer. The foundation is starting to get more financially comfortable, so there’s also money for servers and a recognized conduit for donations."
OpenSearch.org Adds Geospatial Data Extension Draft 1 comment [+]
A post on the geowanking list made me aware of the draft of an geospatial data extension for OpenSearch. OpenSearch is: "OpenSearch is a collection of simple formats for the sharing of search results. The OpenSearch description document format can be used to describe a search engine so that it can be used by search client applications. The OpenSearch response elements can be used to extend existing syndication formats, such as RSS and Atom, with the extra metadata needed to return search results." And the geospatial draft page say: "Geospatial data is becoming increasingly available as the tools for specifying and sharing location are more ubiquitous and easy to use. The purpose of the OpenSearch-Geo extensions is to provide a standard mechanism to query a resource based on geographic extents, or location name. The geospatial results are based on the GeoRSS standards. Therefore, latitude/longitude order, bounding box parameters, and polygon are all using that standard." See also related stories below.
National Mapping VS Public Domain Mapping [+]
Vector One offers an interesting reflexion on the debate between national mapping efforts and public-driven mapping such as OpenStreetMap. From the entry: "As can be seen, there is a wide difference between origins of national mapping agencies and their current operations. The word ‘mapping’ in their titles may confuse matters more than help, particularly to those who equate all spatial or a sense of ‘geospatial’ to the web map alone. These organisations are not solely map agencies. Their tasks and operations vary."
Wikimapia on Google Earth [+]
The Google Earth Blog has an entry telling us wikimapia can now be browsed within Google Earth. From the Wikimapia blog: "Now Wikimapia can take advantage of Google Earth’s added functionality. Aside from the flexible navigation, user added layers (often with higher resolution images or other interesting information) can be used alongside Wikimapia."
Application Domains: TAPC Coverage and Community Mapping [+]
All Points Blog offers several entries on the TAPC coverage including the industry input on community mapping. From the blog: "Feeback should be an ordinary part of the user experience. Was the map right? Wrong? That information goes back to data providers. The user's role should also be in creating the personalized content needed, including things like upload photos. - Christian Dwyer, MapQuest [...] Everything is very transparent; some of our community programs are open about that you are sharing with everyone. - Tele Atlas"
OpenStreetMap Hack Month [+]
SteveC writes "OpenStreetMap has been improving beyond measure lately. In an effort to keep the server up with client programs and uses for our data I'm trying to raise enough money to work on openstreetmap full time for a month. We're already over half way there, and every pledge gets entered in to a draw for a rare London poster!"
Collaborative Geodata Followup [+]
Following this previous story, Chris Holmes summarize the feedback he got on why isn’t collaborative geodata a bigger deal. From the post: "I believe the point when mapping data will snowball is when it makes economic sense for a company to invest in a collaboratively built map, improving it for their needs, instead of licensing a proprietary map. And yes, this too will be different for each company - some only need general context to overlay their specific geospatial information, others need exact info and routing and the like."
Online Collaborative Mapping 1 comment [+]
The Cartography blog shows EditGrid possibilities (previously on Slashgeo) for online collaborative mapping. See also those examples and discussions from the Digitally Dist. Env. blog and the Digital Geography blog. The simplicity is impressive. From the DG blog: "[...] EditGrid now has an official add-on that supports the creation of KML for spreadsheet data. This means that spreadsheet data can be displayed on a Google Map or Google Earth. [...] EditGrid is very student-friendly and intuitive to work with, as the following demonstration shows."
Online Collaboration Creates 'Map-Making For the Masses' [+]
SlashDot is currently having a discussion on the aforementioned topic. At a glance, it seems to be about OpenStreetMap. Here is part of their summary : "Goodchild's paper looks at volunteered geographic information as a special case of the more general Web phenomenon of user-generated content. It covers what motivates large numbers of individuals (often with little formal qualifications) to take part, what technology allows them to do so, how accurate the results are and what volunteered geographic information can add to more conventional sources of such information." Head on over there to discuss and get the link to the original story.
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  • Well there are lots of simple reasons why...

    (Score:1, Insightful)
    by Anonymous Voxel on Monday August 21, @12:01PM (#925)
    You don't see collaborative data baecause:

    Small geographic datasets usually can only be made by a few people and you have to have those few people motivated and able to create the data, e.g. only the people who live on a street will be most aware of the bad addresses in vendor data.

    Large geographic datasets require many people working on them, many collections of people akin to the small geographic datasets, which makes this hard. Also as you add many people you get two addional problems:

    You have a problem of graffiti which at best is a misuse of a public resource, at worse, bad data. For example on of my friends declared that an elementary school was zoned for "ultimate frisbee" on a collaborative geo site because we play ultimate frisbee there on Sundays.

    Finally you have divergent opinions that a collaborative process don't really deal with well. For example, is Taiwan part of China? Is Kashmir part of Pakistan? Do you want your polygons to have the integrity of a wikipedia article?

  • Simple, open standards

    (Score:2, Informative)
    by ajturner (568) on Monday August 21, @01:41PM (#928)
    ( http://highearthorbit.com/ )
    One big push that is being made is the development and proliferation of simple, open standards. Both GeoRSS [georss.org] and Microformats adr [microformts.org]/geo [microformts.org] allow anyone to quickly add geographic information to their site and data that can then be consumed by other services, for example Mapufacture [mapufacture.com]. By allowing anyone the ability to publish their own geodata, then the community can decide which feeds are important and worth collecting and aggregating. See GeoPress [georss.org] for a simple Wordpress plugin for adding geographic data to a blog.

  • You're both wrong

    (Score:4, Insightful)
    by briancnorton (255) on Tuesday August 22, @02:17PM (#933)
    Not trying to be rude, but the reason that governments and companies dominate geodata production and usage is because they have compelling reasons to do so, private individuals and organizations do not. Governance requires knowledge of the land you are governing; Military operations, taxation, mail delivery, and the list goes on. The expensive geospatial data and processes that somebody like Wal-mart uses to plan where their stores are going to open are their proprietary techniques, and they have no interest or need to share them.

    Geospatial data and systematically derived answers from geodata are not cheap. Unless there is a profit motivation, you typically can't afford to acquire or process data in any volume.

  • MAC ID and spatial data

    (Score:2, Informative)
    by ragnvald (529) <{ragnvald} {at} {mindland.com}> on Monday August 28, @04:03AM (#941)
    ( http://www.mindland.com/ )
    One project which in which the users are contributing spatial data is www.plazez.com. Plazes is a kind of social network system, but it also helps establishing knowledge about networks and their physical whereabouts: "The Plazer looks for the hardware ID of your local network (MAC ID) and checks whether it is already in the database with an address, so we can place you at that location."

    After a while it builds up quite a database of connection points.

    Imagine all the things one could do if one developed an military drone API for Plazer...