I figured it was worth the $ to set it up. As it's all nicely organized.
.... my other aim for that site is that they use OSM as there location map :)

Since my goal is to map Vancouver Island (all of Canada Actually, but i'm starting smaller) i think it'll be helpful to have.

I'll also post it to the wiki. Im not exactly sure how to get a meet-up posted on the wiki list. But i think the main idea for having it on an external site is to that it attracts others who might not be familar with the wiki.
I'll be directly messaging the local area mappers, so its a way to connect.

I'll copy from the other OSM meet-up groups to get a better idea of what to write in the description.

http://www.meetup.com/OpenStreetMap-Vancouver-Island-Mappers/

Any feedback is welcome :)

And oh ya, i added a bit more to the proposed Cycling Trail, it renders nicely as a red dashed line on the opencyclemap :)

Still working on fixing the Nanaimo area data import.
What happened was this.
The data was imported, however it was imported in correctly, as the roads intersect with duplicate nodes.
Also, the data has road names listed in CAPS rather than OSM standard, and didnt have any "attribution=*" tags imported.

Because there is so much other data in the area, and other mappers have been at work fixing up the area. .. it was easier that i just copy over the converted GeoBaseNRN roads, to the area.. then manually delete the roads.
There's only a few thousand, so it's not that much. :)

If anyone wants to help, let me know that we can coordinate efforts. :)

Cheers,
Sam

Hi everyone,

I put up a Google Calendar event for this, as i think it's time for an SOTM for Canada. With so much going on, we need to have some kind of a forum to share and exchange ideas.

Since i haven't been to a SOTM before, i don't know anything about how to set it up. Fortunately, it'll all be free as there are no costs at all for this :) So that's the easy part.

I think that this one will be held with more remote activity, since the users in Canada are 6 time zones across, the country and mappers working all over the world.

So I think that we can use uStream.tv (it wasn't used that much for SOTM - Amsterdam) but could be useful here.. since our power users are remote... I don't think everyone would fly to Ottawa just for it :)

If anyone has ideas,
Please share,

Thanks,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails

This area seems to be in permanent construction mode :)

There is TONNES of discussion on the Greater Victoria Cycling coalition discussion list about it. ...
So i'm working on mapping what is PHYSICALLY listed.

The discussion is that the area could be defined as 'recreation' or a 'transportation corridor'
Where both are needed, it seems the city more opts to want to work on the 'Recreation Parks' over the cycling as a transportation.

So anyway, the 'detour route' is actually much better for cyclists. ... if the pavement of TYEE road would be solid filled in with cycle lane markings.

The solution: Everyone uses the same map :)

Cheers,
Sam

hi all, just wondering who will be the 2 millionth editor :)?

A big pat on the back for all the 1,999,999 other edits :)

Cheers,
Sam

Current number is 1999573

I figured i'd finally take the city bus tour of the city. And learned a few new things while i was at it.

I'm thinking of having it as a route=bus_tour for the relation, any ideas?

Anyway, I also dropped in more canvec data, so you can see lighthouses and piers.
rocks (waterway obstacles) show up on the Garmin, so thats handy for boaters. :)

Next week im hosting a mapping party, so hopefully we can get downtown fully mapped.
osm.wiki/Victoria_mapping_party

That's all for now,
Sam

Hi,
I added more roads to the area, and as predicted a few new mappers popped up, so now i just need to be carefull when working, and just work on a small area at a time, then grab the latest, just incase someone else is working at the same time.

Hopefully by the end of the week i should have the GeoBaseNHN sample rivers and water which isn't yet shown, as examples. It's just hard when there is no roads to get a good grasp on the other features. When new mappers look at the area and see all the other features. They would want to put in the roads. (Not knowing that im going to.
So the best bet is to get the road layer in 1st, then get all the trails that i can import. After that it's more OSM - unique POI that gets placed in.

That's all for now,
A litle scatter-brained on this entry, i know :)

I added more roads in the area, so then it would be easier for me to add in the canvec data. So far i just added in the natural=peak's and the parks.
This is still part of the sample area.
Me thinks that it's getting close to launch of the script :)

Cheers,
Sam

Im working on making this cyclemap better for the area im working on.

Im not 100% sure about how i tagged it, i've added in fences and a few dirt paths through the grass, where it would be relatively easy to make it gravel or paved and have it as a cycle route.
This intersection is rather dangerous. .. and confusing to cyclists. ... people dont know that there are great paths through Cuthert Holmes Park, that makes a nice connection to Colquitz Trail system.

The Highway renders a little wide, so i need to fix that, there is actually an embankment from the highway to the cycleway on the south of the trans Canada Highway.

More work for next time. :)

Hi All,
I went and mapped out a bit of Sooke, BC built more from what the other mapper did before me.
This was the spot where i 1st started using the GPS, and figuring out how it works ... back before i learned about OSM. .. and the spot where i had a flat and had to walk the bike. ... and lost all the GPS Tracks from those first couple weeks :(

So i remembered all the great things to see and do in town. And now there on the map.

My hopes is that one day the Trans Canada Trail will connect to this town.

For some reason the bike shop didn't render.. hum, gotta investigate.

Once the rest of the stuff gets imported, it'll be easy to see what amenities are left to map, ... things that visitors would want to see. Then i'll go back there and give a printout of the map to the bike shop, for visitors.

That's all for now.
Cheers,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails

Wow,
This is awesome, big thanks goes out to SteveS for importing all the data for the Road network..

The area im pointing to is South-Central, Ontario Popular cottage country for the city dwellers.... all who migrate north for the long weekends.

My guess is that we will start seeing more mappers all over, once they find out this is here :) ... Hopefully, i'll get this CanVec data imported so then it will 'clear the trails' for mappers to start listing cycleways and hiking trails. (among other things)

... great for the geocachers out there too :)

Great work!

I took a short bus ride to the community of Langford, BC
So while i was there i found that they have a Langford City Trolley Service which takes you all around the town. ... I was planning on mapping the park, but did the whole ride 1st.

I marked alot of the trolley stops. .. but will wait to map out the relation route until after the geobase import of the area. There's lots of other features that will be imported with the CanVec stuff, so that's why it looks a little funny (as i already know what will and will not be imported (off by heart).

I mapped out the trail connection where i was told by a local on the trolley that there was no access to the lake from the south west corder, and it was all private property.... I guess that local hasn't been to the lake in some time :)

i looks like there is alot of construction, and that area will be built up in the next year. So i'll have to be back later.

On the northeast corner, the trail continues... but i didn't have time.
Instead, like an avid mapper. .. I went back on my tracks to make sure everything was tagged right, and to make a cleaner trail more accurate.

I got about 5 meter accuracy for most of it :) Garmin GPSMap60Cx

I've contacted the other local mapper, so they know were i left off and whats next on my list to map, if i dont get back there sooner. :)

What is this?

Some crazyguyonabike thought it would be cool to take along his GPS and record where all the local area cycleways are and note down what it said on signs, and noted where the Bikeshop; washrooms and shelters are. ... and get this...
decided to actually share this information on the web for everyone to see, and perhaps fix if THEY see errors. Then, as a courtesy, to go ahead and contact me to see if i'm still working on the mapped area.

Good greef :)

Have A super day,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails

BTW, i still have the rest of the 'wooded areas' and 'waterways' to import, as well as the GeoBase roads. (im keeping the named="0" roads there on purpose)

I fixed up Cranbrook with all my edits, as well as the importing of the CanVec data, in search of more errors.

.. and I found one. It looks like all the canvec roads show up named "0". So the easy fix is to simply not use the canvec roads, and wait for the geobase2osm roads. But i fixed the script so that wont happen again.

This is why im not releasing the canvec2osm script out of beta. It wouldn't be cool to have done hundred of tiles before finding this error.

I haven't made A relation route again for the Trans Canada Trail. Hopefully, in the next couple weeks, i'll get official word on if it's OK to use the gps data from the tctrail.ca website, and routing information. (listing the website as the source). Once i get that, it it should be easier.

For now, it's still mapping what I see on the ground.

Oh ya, for somethings, im noticing that the canvec data is 20 meters off. So i know that my GPS tracks were less than 10, so it's fine to move the canvec data within the 20 meters, to be more accurate.

That's all for now. :)

Hi all,
osm.wiki/Canada:British_Columbia:Ucluelet
I just uploaded a picture of the map area.
It was just a quick render playing with the options. Im sure i could make a nicer map if i took my time.

But this is a quick reminder of the tools we have available. Thanks Igor great job!

http://igorbrejc.net/kosmoshome

I was thinking about how we dont have contours to view, as there not used. ...but wait.. they ARE. Cool. :)
So now i can just focus on making the Garmin contour only Canada map... and not need to worry about the contours for printed maps anymore.

Thanks,
Sam

Ok so here's the idea.

I make the canvec.osm files available to download, i can store them on a server somewhere. (and accessed from the wiki), the city page it's covering.

I then use that file as a tool while im working on an area. ie, adding details to a park. All the features (as well as roads) that are close by that i physically can verify, i'll add in. By copying the features on 1 layer, then select the other layer and paste it in place.

I figure this way, it's a good method; Although slow, it ensures the accuracy of the data that is added. And so, it's only a few features at a time, as my focus area is just around my tracks that i loaded.

And my downloading the local are GPX traces, i can compare it with what the roads have been traced like, and only fixing it when adding to the map. ... ie, i'm adding in sidewalks and paved paths that follow along the road, as well as bus stops that i see along the way.

And so, this way, it wont be overloading the servers as it would only be a few large multi-polygons per day, and less than the max for josm.

While on a walk to the coast, i noticed that there is the cycle route not yet mapped.
Mt. Douglas Park Local Connector
So i started mapping it. Im now focusing on the finer details as i know that all the roads will be imported, like sidewalks, crosswalks stop lights; post boxes; bus stops. and of course footpaths and cycleways.

Im having a difficult time with JOSM adding the route relations.. it seems that Potlatch is easier on this respect, as there is the option to select the clostest already existing route, where in JOSM there isnt a drop down menu option to add to route.

On the other hand, when adding the route, i need to split up roads/paths in order to select just the segments i want. Thats easier todo in JOSM. So i end up spliting the ways in JOSM, then uploading, and playing with it in Potlatch. Im slowely getting the hang of it in JOSM, but a bit harder to work with.

Looking forward to see it rendered on the cyclemap, :)

Im adding more traces from Tracks that i did back in summer 2007, as well as from the tracks from the tctrail.ca website.
AFAIK, it's fine to trace. .. but i use extra caution, and tagged with the source, because i wasn't that person who made the tracks.

For the part that is shown on the map, it was some of my traces.. so now with 2 tracks, it helps with accuracy.

CanVec Import:
In this NTS tile area (082g12 cranbrook north) there are other trails which are available to import (hiking trails). ... i just havent imported them yet. Why? Because of the Bug 12 where the french translation doesn't how up right. (as little boxes characters) and also because its still in BETA phase with the other bugs.
osm.wiki/Talk:Canvec2osm#Bug_11:_French_Characters

Hey, does anyone have any objection to me using JOSM to upload the trails file??? as it really isnt THAT much data (just about as much as my manual editing)?? .. and also, the french for Trail is 'Sentier' (which doesnt have accents)
(and I could do so, using the Geobase:Acrosscanadatrails login, so it could be removed on-mass if needed. or just that import session would be removed if needed.

Thanks,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails

Hi all,
I'm wondering if there is a maximum size for a route relation?

The Trans Canada Trail will be made up of Many Many Many sub- route relations, as that's what it is.
So far, with a quick search there is only a few segments of the trail with the name 'Trans Canada Trail'.

But that will change by the end of the year :)

Any ideas on how to tag better?

Thanks,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails

Hi all,
A quick question.
What tag do i need to add so that the description will show up on the garmin POI.
ie. .. a bus stop showing more details, such as the phone number to call.

Cheers,
Sam