Mapping Otley
Over the last few weeks I’ve been having fun with Open Street Map (OSM). For those who don’t know, OSM aims to map the world in order to provide geographical data that is free for all to use. In the UK, geo data is not free to use, even though the taxes we pay funds the mapping process.
I’m enjoying OSM as it appeals to my geeky side, yet gets me out on my bike too in order to collect GPS tracks to later convert into maps.
Here’s a map of Otley that I generated from OSM data using xmlstarlet to convert the XML OSM data to SVG, then Inkscape to convert a portion of the SVG to a PNG.
Much to my surprise when I started doing OSM, the major roads in Otley had already been mapped so I can’t claim credit for all of the work done here. There’s some way to go yet but I’m enjoying the challenge.
If you’re interested in contributing to the OSM project, here’s how to get involved.
