[OSGeo-Discuss] CommonMap in Canada

[Dan Putler]

Hi Tony,

Very unlikely. Statistics Canada releases some data for free, but not 
data from the Census of Population. Moreover, a postal code is typically 
at a finer level (often for one side of a street in a single block) than 
a Designation Area (the lowest level for which they report data). They 
do produce data at the FSA (forward sortation area) level, which are the 
first three characters of a Canadian postal code. As a result, you could 
get this data, but most likely not for free.

Dan

On 03/14/2011 11:32 AM, kehlhofer at comcast.net wrote:
> Speaking of Canadaan data, I am in need of income data by postal code. 
> Is there any free WMS server where this is stored?
>
> Thanks
>
> Tony
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brendan Morley" <morb.gis at beagle.com.au>
> To: talk-ca at openstreetmap.org, osgeo-bc at lists.osgeo.org, 
> geodata at lists.osgeo.org, discuss at lists.osgeo.org, aust-nz at lists.osgeo.org
> Cc: "Sam Vekemans" <samvekemans at commonmap.info>, "Baden" 
> <baden at commonmap.info>
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 3:26:21 AM
> Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] CommonMap in Canada
>
> 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.
> morb_au at commonmap.info
> http://commonmap.org/
> Queensland Incorporated Association 37762
> Also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
> -- 
>
>
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