Brendan, 

Have you figured out how other entities (like countries or ??) might implement 
a similar service node that could interact with your framework design? 

bobb 




>>> Brendan Morley <[email protected]> wrote:


Hi all,

I just wanted to let you know that the CommonMap initiative is still alive, as 
am I.

To recap, CommonMap will be a collaboration and repository of 
liberally-licensed geodata (without share-alike) - accessible though an 
OpenStreetMap-style interface.  We will accept Creative Commons Attribution, 
CC0 and public domain geodata contributions, depending on your jurisdiction.  
We expect it will find fresh acceptance in the "Gov 2.0" movement, since it 
allows governments to redistribute contributions from the community.  We also 
are quite happy to accept OpenStreetMap contributors who find themselves 
dissatisfied with its default licence.

We want to focus on a particular country at first, which is Canada.  Why?

     * It has quite a comprehensive open data catalogue;
     * It appears to have a compatible licence;
     * It also has a rigorous "foreign key" model, which bodes well for 
roundtripping back to government;
     * It's the home of Refractions Research, the custodian of PostGIS which is 
a good friend of mine;
     * Finally, it helps that Sam Vekemans is our enthusiastic man on the 
ground over there.

We want to get as much of Natural Resources Canada's GeoBase and Canvec 
publications into the CommonMap database as we can, and use Canada as a 
showcase country for what CommonMap can uniquely do.

The "proof of concept" API instance is currently at 
http://api.development.i386.commonmap.org/
It is hosting an overlay of:

     * Natural Earth Data;
     * Some sample Geobase National Road Network, National Hydro Network and 
Land Cover datasets.

(Hint: look up Victoria, British Columbia[1] for an example of all 3 datasets 
together.)


Next comes the challenge of ramping up to a public launch.  The core of 
CommonMap is a web-facing API and its "one true" database, a download site for 
XML full copies of that database, and a map tile server with its optimised 
database.  To run this at public scale will demand about 8-10 CPU cores and 
associated storage, or about US $10,000 per year.

Let's face it, we will require a higher rate of donations to do this. If you 
believe in the idea of CommonMap, a good way to show your support is to donate 
to CommonMap Inc.  (CommonMap Inc is the non profit body that operates the 
CommonMap internet resources.)

Potential donors, please head this way:
http://www.commonmap.org/page/donate

Even if you can't spare the cash, perhaps you can spare your skills or tools, 
whether they be in geodesy, obtaining or converting geodata imports, running up 
database or tile servers, or developing applications?  Let us know.


Please feel free to forward this news to whoever you wish.

I welcome all comments: You can make further enquires by return email, the 
commonmap.org website, or "CommonMap" at LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.  Sam 
Vekemans also has a group blog for CommonMap set up at Posterous.


Thanks,
Brendan

[1]
http://api.development.i386.commonmap.org/?lat=48.821&lon=-123.574&zoom=9&layers=B0000FTF


-- 
Brendan Morley
President, CommonMap Inc.
[email protected]
http://commonmap.org/
Queensland Incorporated Association 37762
Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
--

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