I was passed a message regarding your thread on this list regarding
obtaining out-of-copyright mapping.
I'm one of the mad mappers creating new mapping using GPS receivers as part
of
www.OpenStreetMap.org (OSM) and I believe some of our mapping is now
gracing the pages of wikipedia.
You might look at our recent map of Oakham from our Rutland mapping weekend
to see the sort of thing we now generate.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Image:Oakham_labelled.png
We have today been having a similar discussion about obtaining and
digitising out-of-copyright OS mapping on the talk-gb(a)openstreetmap.org
mailing list
(
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk-gb). Some of
those involved in OSM have recently got the New Popular Edition Maps for
England and Wales on the web at
http://www.npemap.org.uk/ and others,
including myself have a small collection of other out-of-copyright OS
mapping but a much more systematic and quality approach is required to
really take anything further.
The maps and their scanning for the npe site were done by Richard Fairhurst,
also an OSMer. He bore the original cost of finding the maps and getting
them scanned commercially.
So while OSM is creating new mapping we also have an interest in obtaining
and utilising digital versions of out-of-copyright mapping, both in the UK
and elsewhere (if only we could get the Imperial War Museum's stuff). Our
interest in historical mapping is too fold. Firstly it permits us to utilise
a background image to draw in data which cannot easily be collected with a
GPS unit or is not discernable from the Landsat imagery we currently use as
a back image when editing. Secondly, with time we expect much more
historical information will also end up in OSM since a large amount of our
landscape outside of the urban conurbations has changed relatively little
with time and is still just as relevant today.
It is clear from the few emails to this list I consulted that there is some
common interest here. Both OSM and wikimediauk want access to
out-of-copyright mapping, both have limited funds, neither has lots of space
to archive our own maps. Thus perhaps some cross discussion might help find
some solutions.
Look forward to hearing back
Cheers
Andy Robinson
Andy_J_Robinson(a)blueyonder.co.uk
