On Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:53:55 -0500, Yaakov Nemoy wrote: > 2009/1/21 Beartooth <Beartooth@xxxxxxxx>: [...] >> Can people without linux-savvy, cartography-savvy, nor >> electronics-savvy use OSM at all?? Will this spin, perhaps, enable the >> likes of us to use it in the same way we use Garmin, Delorme, and >> MapTech products under XP? > > I don't know yet. Part of it depends on the tools that OSM people use > for doing their things. Some of the tools require you understand a bit > about cartography. This is similar to Wikipedia requiring writers to > have some decent writing skills in their languages. But this just > applies to writing for Wikipedia, as in it also applies to editing OSM. Let's keep this on the Fedora list a while, in hopes that no one will call it too far off topic, and that others who know more than I will join in. > I'm sure you can read wikipedia already, and there are a number of tools > that render the data in OSM, and make it readable to the layman. There > are also a number of tools that can take OSM information and give you > good route planning on top of it. These are as easy to use as the > developers make them, but a number of them are in Fedora already. The > ultimate goal is to consolidate these packages into a single Spin. I've been known to do a certain amount of expository writing and make a living at it, but on very specialized topics; I wouldn't want to add anything to wikipedia. It's a reference tool to me. And similarly with my GPSs and topo maps. I bought the first one ten years back, planning on its help learning my way around a new location as soon as we both retired. To learn it, I started making my own maps, to scale (a big difference!) of a public hunting ground where I'd spent a dozen years' worth of weekends, hunting in season and doing trail maintenance the rest of the time. The results soon enthused and amazed me; two of my favorite trails ran within fifty yards of one another for a furlong, and I hadn't known it. > The second aspect is the overall user interface. There are a number of > tools people use to make decent interfaces for MID devices. The real > trick is going to be integrating them, so that people will have easy > access to the OSM related tools on their MIDs. Sorry -- what's an MID? > Are you looking to be a producer of topographical data or a consumer? Strictly a consumer, so far as others are concerned.I doubt many will be greatly interested in squirrel den trees and stands to watch them from, other than an occasional old hunting buddy; and anyway, such things change whenever a big tree falls, and also according to the mast crop. > If you're looking to become a consumer, there are a > few options, but they all rely finding a way to get the topographical > data in the database first. I have recent proprietary topo map software from Garmin and Delorme, and may yet acquire more from Maptech. Can I use those? (If I don't put them into the public database, which likely already has the same *topo* data from the same Coast & Geodetic Survey, it shouldn't violate their copyright, nor my license to it for my personal use. Things like rest stops and burger joints don't interest me; I'd prefer to delete them.) > Try lobbying your local wildlife agency that > publishes this data to participate in OSM. Once the data's there, you'll > need a tool that can display it for you on a MID or similar device. If > such a tool exists that is open source, we can look at including it in > the spin, of course. The F&W in Virginia (http://www.dgif.virginia.gov), where I live, and the one in Tennessee (http://state.tn.http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/ gis/us/twra/), where my in-laws are, both already have maps, though I don't know what sort. (VA says it has designed its own (http:// www.findgame.org/about.asp) and also mentions GIS (http:// www.dgif.virginia.gov/gis/) -- something of which I know only the initials -- as does TN, in a couple places.) Maybe they're already usable? >> Knowing of your project, I've skimmed through the lists carried >> on Gmane, and discovered, although 99 44/100% of what I see is over my >> head, that it does include some topographic stuff (I can't yet really >> tell what.) > > It's a hobby, you have to at least start somewhere ;) Precisely. Where? Is there already a site for true beginners? Or might I perhaps best wait for the new spin, and work from that? I'm strictly a user of Fedora (who wouldn't know a line of code if it bit me), but not a completely clueless one -- I've been running it since it was RH7. That might be worth a little bit. >> I am not sanguine that it may be user-friendly enough for the >> likes of me, nor become so in what is left of my time; but hope springs >> eternal .... > > This is one of my goals though. Oh good. Maybe I can help a little with that; I used to swap drafts with colleagues, asking one another, "Am I making sense to general readers yet?) > One of the first targets i have in mind > is Windows users who show up at a Mapping Party. The goal is to provide > something they can use out of the box to participate. There will be > people there familiar with the Gnome Desktop anyways, so they will be > able to show the participants where to find applications and tools. Hmmm ... I heard of these yesterday for the first time; I'll have to try to find out if any are scheduled hereabouts. Is there a central listing, like the one for LUGs? Google seems to get a lot of adventitious hits. -- Beartooth Staffwright, PhD, Neo-Redneck Linux Convert Remember I know precious little of what I am talking about. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
