Open, annotated mapping

FROM: Chris Lightfoot

What NEED does this meet?
Many of the other proposals here rely on the availability of high-quality mapping data and supporting applications. Unfortunately collecting this data in a distributed, "open source" fashion would be an enormous undertaking and a duplication of effort; it's not clear how good the results would be, either. Licensing it is expensive, especially for a small project. Of the twenty most recent proposals I can see now, something like a quarter have some GIS component.

My idea is to set up a mapping site (like multimap or streetmap) with the same high-quality mapping data, and an open interface to allow other users to overlay their own data (abandoned cars, volunteers, locations of meetings, houses for sale, whatever) on the site. Obviously this needs funding to license the Ordnance Survey's data -- and their willingness to grant a license on reasonable terms -- but the actual implementation of the site should be pretty easy.

What is the APPROACH?
Either set up a new site to implement a simple API for adding/removing/searching very simple map overlays onto licensed mapping data, or negotiate with an existing provider to add this service. The license would have to allow the uses to which we're putting it, and preferably some degree of republication on other projects' sites.

What are the BENEFITS to people?
It would enable many other useful projects which depend on this sort of simple GIS data, avoid duplication of effort and make possible projects for which the expense of licensing mapping data would be prohibitive.

What is the COMPETITION?
Multimap, Streetmap, etc. offer the mapping data (through a crummy user interface festooned with advertisements...), but no way to exploit the data for third-party projects. Ordnance Survey have the "Get A Map" service which will license small amounts of mapping data for use on other web pages, but the conditions of use are restrictive and you can only re-use data covering small areas. Professional GIS packages like Arc/INFO are expensive and not appropriate for small volunteer projects.

What BUDGET & LOGISTICS are required?
The most significant ongoing costs are licensing the map data and running the physical service -- in particular, serving map images is likely to be bandwidth-intensive. (These costs could be offset by geographically-directed advertising, and perhaps by charging a subscription to the other projects putting overlays on the map, though obviously the point is to make this charge as small possible: preferably zero for most users.) Implementation of the database and overlay API is pretty easy, probably a week's work.