Harry, I've just read the condescending wiki regarding 'armchair mapping'. As probably 80% of what I contributed has been done this way I think from your apparent standpoint that I have been wasting my time. Please feel free to revert all of my work. See you all, I'm off for good!

Alex

This looks like a project that would require a vast amount time and energy just when the UK map is about to lose a swathe of data due to the licence changes. On top of that, according to ITO analysis, there are over 100,000 roads still missing from the UK map even before that change!

To fulfil your wish, maybe we could convince some of our fellow overseas mappers to chip in and lend a hand with your Olympic dream?

De la page wiki Potlach .... ici osm.wiki/Potlatch_2/Deploying_Potlatch_2

From the Potlach wiki page.... here
osm.wiki/Potlatch_2/Deploying_Potlatch_2

Pour spécifier la localisation et réglez le Potlatch 2 dans votre langue:

(To specify the localization and set the Potlatch 2 in your language: )

args["locale"] = "fr_FR"; /*available languages (on 05/05/2011): de_DE en_GB, en_US, pl_PL*/

@JoshD - Thanks for that. It will make it so much easier to track and re-map the contributors data that isn't compliant with the new licence.

Is there anyway of getting the geofabrik link above as a layer in JOSM and Potlach?

If the likes of Nestoria are switching to OSM we'd better get our fingers out in the U.K. as there are large holes in the road network according to ITO http://www.itoworld.com/product/data/osm_analysis/main. Their stats show the following (6th Jan 2012):
Roads In OS Locator 855,634
Roads Missing from OSM (major) 118,500
Roads Missing from OSM (minor) 4,474
UK Percentage Complete 86.21%

Missing change last day -269
Missing change last week -2,329
Missing change last month

Leeds has 3200 roads missing, Bradford >3500. I know I've been guilty of doing the fiddly bits around the area where I live but do try now and again to look around other areas where I can feed into the map roads that aren't drawn or where they are but unamed.

One of the possible reason for potential users in the UK not taking to OSM is the current status for road completion? Take a look at the bottom of this list -> http://www.itoworld.com/product/data/osm_analysis/main . When it looks more like the top of the list, I'm sure more of the professional mapping bodies (and others) will make use of OSM.

Sorry, 'might what' should read 'might want' in my previous post!

To give you an idea what can be achieved detail-wise, you might what to take a look at how my village has turned out. osm.org/?lat=53.00168&lon=-2.33517&zoom=16&layers=M It takes time but it is worth it.

If it's a grass median such as US interstates, then create an area between the two carriageways and tag it landuse:grass. Long lengths of road medians can be worked on in sections then joined together later.

I've used Potlach and JOSM to compare which is the best for my needs. JOSM allows me to work very quickly, and as I use CAD software for a living, it was very easy to learn to use. The other beauty of JOSM is that your work can be saved to disk as you progress. As well as the plug-ins, it has a powerful search filter function. Added to all that, it can be run on Linux and Windows environments. As skystis rightfully says, Try it, but make sure you try out the plug-ins, they make mapping far much easier.

@drlizau - It should be I who apologises for using your diary entry as a discussion board! I have now taken the discussion to mail with davespod.

It matters little, I believe how many and who signed what and where. I have reluctantly signed all my previous work over to whoever comes out on top in this. Added to that, and since reading about the change of licence, I have added minor GPS tracked old data to this once worthy project. It is now dead in the water from my point of view because we are now in the hands of lawyers. I can see no point personally in continuing what I started over 12 months ago.

I am afraid that including the threatened removal of O.S.S.V. data that seems will get wiped, the setback will make the map of the U.K. a barren surface compared to countries such as Germany.

The Garmin eTrex H does not have an expansion slot.

A couple of things I should have mentioned. If the tracking interval is set to 1 secs then after about 2 hours the memory gets to 99% and becomes full. Because there isn't room for 3 digits it can't represent 100%.

There is an option to roll over the recorded data or stop recording when the memory is full. If more than 2 hours at 1 second intervals is required it's best to save the currently recorded track as it stands to the Garmin internal file area. Then the recorded log should be deleted and the unit will start again with fresh memory space.

If you have set it to stop recording when full make sure to go into the setup in tracks and restart tracking otherwise you will be travelling around recording nothing. I know, I've done it on a couple of occasions but luckily my biking buddy has the Legend HCX and he was recording too, even though he isn't an OSM mapper.

I bought the Garmin eTrex H last year and was initially disappointed with it. However, since then I have changed my mind. Although it isn't the top of the range or have fancy graphics it serves the purpose for gathering gps tracks and quite accurate ones too. I have a gps dongle that I used for a while connected to the laptop that I used to drive around logging gps data. Between the accuracy of the two there is virtually nothing I can see.

The down side of the eTrex is the data port which I had to order a USB type serial cable from the USA for it. The freeware available for XP didn't seem to work too well with it but I suspect me being a complete novice at it didn't help though! I found working with Linux Mint and Ubuntu to extract data from the unit for me was a lot easier. Don't be fooled as I was when it transferring the data, the only indication it has or is doing anything is when it's done when the "Transfer Complete" message appears at the bottom of the eTrex screen.

Anyway, I have been using it for over a year now while out cycling too and have filled in many gaps on the North Staffordshire OSM map. Most of the roads, paths and cycleways here osm.org/?lat=53.0007&lon=-2.2811&zoom=14&layers=M have been gathered using the eTrex.

Don't give up on it just yet!

I had a similiar experience on the Manifold Valley trail but I wasn't gps tracking that time as it had already been done. However, to get where I wanted to map along Beresford Dale, myself and my biking buddy came across three young cows that we 'stampeded' along the trail before they jumped back into the herd field. That wasn't the end of the story though! A mile further on we came across a young bull so we decided to stop where we were, although we did have chance to photograph him. Eventually, he came past us not a few feet away but was displaying aggresive tendancies, scuffing the ground, head down, snorting. As I turned to snap him again he spooked and ran back the way we'd come. Being early morning someone else must have come across him but we retraced later and he'd gone!

NPE maps remember are over 60 years old. With the open data from O.S. now available for us to use, this gives us a wealth of more up to date information.

Mmmm! Methinks, he thinks we take a sketchpad and a pencil to best estimate the routes we map!

What came across most strongly was a feeling he'd taken a cursory look at openstreetmaps and failed to understand what it is about. He talks as if the whole thing once committed to the web is set in stone.

Perhaps as mike above points out has relevance? "Is a lobbist also for the microsoft spin off expedia" The only point he is slightly correct on is a vague reference to the great open spaces which I deem he was referring to gaps in the maps that are being gradually filled. Or, did I mistakenly read far too much into his monologue?

Mike

Will your inbox accept a 12.6MB zip file? I can try emailing the street data to you, followed by the contour data. If so, let me have the email address.

I have registered and filled all the required boxes and also tried 'non-flash' upload. It may be the works server blocking outgoing. I will try it later on today. Mike, where are you in the world? I'm in North Staffordshire in the U.K.