[OSGeo BC] Re: Vancouver Open Data New Layer

Mon Mar 22 20:46:52 EDT 2010

Hi there,

cc:
"OSGeo Local Chapter, British Columbia, Canada" <osgeo-bc at lists.osgeo.org>,
"Talk-CA OpenStreetMap" <talk-ca at openstreetmap.org>,

Its great to see this new parks data available!  The Team of OpenStreetMap
in the Vancouver area is happy to see it it available for use.  I was just
looking at the point data & happy to see the addresses of each park.

As you might already be aware, the federal data from Natural Resources
Canada, is also available to use from CanVec, Toporama & GeoBase.   Most of
the GeoBase roads have been imported & a number of features from CanVec have
been imported as well as some areas traced from Toporama.

So the next challenge we have is on how to integrate your data (city of
Vancouver) into the current OSM environment.   I have summarized in 2
points.

1st point.
With OpenStreetMap, the team is always super-conservative when it comes to
licencing.  We want to make sure that everything that gets put into
OpenStreetMap is free and OK todo so.

>From what i can see, the licence simply states to say that it all we need
todo is list somewhere that the data came from the City of Vancouver and
include the url http://data.vancouver.ca/termsOfUse.htm   (so in the OSM
language it could be listed as a tag "source:url=
http://data.vancouver.ca/termsOfUse.htm"  and then on or wiki page
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Canada:British_Columbia:Vancouver  we
need to
reference back to that terms of service url.)

Hopefully this sounds reasonable, and complies with your Terms of Use.
A simple reply via email to this message, should be sufficient.  as i will
then forward to to the Canada OpenStreetMap team (for the Vancouver area
contributors), (as well as the OSGeo BC local chapter) so then everyone sees
it.

2nd point.
Because the City of Vancouver has such a great amount of data that is
available, gaining access to it in as close to 'real-time' would be of most
benifit to everyone.   For example;  As soon as a new park is registered &
available on your servers to download.  There is a time lag before the users
of this data will be able to see it.   I.e.  a bicycle map maker would want
to update their maps to include where all the parks are.   So when
information changes, it's important that everyone knows as fast as possible.

One of the ways of doing this is to create & make available a WMS-server
service.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Map_Service
This could be the full file (listing all of the shp files that are available
under the Terms of Use), this way, it can be accessed on-demand, so then the
end users can view the data just about in real-time.    (I believe that
would be OpenLayers
http://dev.openlayers.org/docs/files/OpenLayers/Layer/WMS-js.html#OpenLayers.Layer.WMS.OpenLayers.Layer.WMSbut
i am not technically proficient at it to explain it further).
With this method, the OpenStreetMap users will be able to view this created
'map' and directly compare what it has with what the current map looks like,
then add in the information that is need.
(So both the park name & park address (& whatever other information) could
be visible, even printed as small text so it can be zoomed in to see the
detail.

Alternatively, this WMS layer could be hosted off-site, however making it
available direct from the source, would be most efficient.   But if this
can't be done, that's alright too.   We are happy to see the data available
in the current forms that it is.

Thanks in advance,
Sam Vekemans
Across Canada Trails & Active OpenStreetMap contributor
Victoria, BC
250 588 9041
acrosscanadatrails at gmail.com

Twitter: @Acrosscanada
Blog:  http://Acrosscanadatrails.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sam.vekemans
Skype: samvekemans
OpenStreetMap IRC: http://irc.openstreetmap.org
@Acrosscanadatrails

On Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 4:37 PM, <opendata-vancouver at list.vancouver.ca>wrote:

>
>
>
>
> We have just added park features as polygons.  These join the existing park
> features which are simply points.  You may find these quite useful in your
> mapping applications.
>
> Please see *http://data.vancouver.ca/datacatalogue/parks.htm*<http://data.vancouver.ca/datacatalogue/parks.htm>for further information.
>
> As always, by downloading this data, you are agreeing to the City of
> Vancouver's terms of use policy at *
> http://data.vancouver.ca/termsOfUse.htm*<http://data.vancouver.ca/termsOfUse.htm>
> .
>
> Thanks.
>
> Jonathan
> On behalf of the City's Open Data Team
>
> Jonathan Mark, GIS Manager
> IT Department
> Financial Services Group
> City of Vancouver
> 604-873-7987 phone
> 604-873-7875 fax
> *http://vancouver.ca/vanmap* <http://vancouver.ca/vanmap>
> *http://vancouver.ca/data* <http://vancouver.ca/data>
>
>
>
>
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