[Az-Geocaching] OpenStreetMap, mapping party and training

[Brian Cluff]

AzGeocaching and The Phoenix Linux Users Group (PLUG) will be teaming up 
to do an OpenStreetMap training and Mapping party.

What is OpenStreetMap you ask....

     OpenStreetMap creates and provides free geographic data such as 
street maps to anyone who wants them. The project was started because 
most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical 
restrictions on their use, holding back people from using them in 
creative, productive, or unexpected ways.

     Contributors to OpenStreetMap take handheld GPS devices with them 
on journeys, or go out specially to record GPS tracks. They record 
street names, village names and other features using notebooks, digital 
cameras, and voice-recorders.
     Back at the computer, contributors upload those GPS logs showing 
where they travelled, and trace-out the roads on OpenStreetMap's 
collaborative database. Using their notes, contributors add the street 
names, information such as the type of road or path, and the connections 
between roads.
     That data is then processed to produce detailed street-level maps, 
which can be published freely on sites such as Wikipedia, used to create 
handheld or in-car navigation devices, or printed and copied without 
restriction.

This all starts out at PLUG's East side meeting which is held on the 
second Thursday of every month, the 14th of this month, with an 
introduction to OpenStreetMap given by a OpenStreetMap representivive 
Hurrican McEwen, on what is OpenSteetMap and how to use it.

Then on the 16th and 17th, there will be mapping parties using Boulders 
On Broadway as a base camp.Ope

For more details see: 
http://azgeocaching.com/index.php/the-news/93-mapping-party.html

Brian Cluff
AzGeocaching.com