Have you come across this yet? Thanks to Eddie (aka Gavin) on the TGO Message board for bringing this to my attention.
The People’s Map is a kind of public domain mapping system. I’m still trying to work out how to use it, but it looks as if — over time — it might become an important resource for us all.
You’ll need to look at the site, read its blog and navigate its forums to really understand what it is about. But any casual user can make use of the high definition photos — far better than those of Google Earth.
I’ve been taking a look at the NE Highlands. Look at the Knoydart and you can clearly see Soulies Bothy. The campsite in Braemar has only three tent son it. Alan Sloman’s favourite drinking places are all well displayed. And the Monadhliath looks very mean!
Hi Andy, maybe I can give you and your readers a bit of background on the People’s Map and how it works.
The People’s Map allows anyone, private or commercial users, to register as an editor and start contributing to the map. Map data like roads, lakes, pubs, etc can be created on top of our national Aerial Photography data set. All map data, created by the users, are then checked and verified. This is why there are two map layers (ignoring the Aerial imagery and the out of Copyright OS map data) present. One layer contains all verified and unverified map data, where as the People’s Map layer, only consist of the final verified data.
You will also notice that there are two map tabs on the site, one called “View†and the other called “editâ€. The only difference between the two, are that data is created and edited in the “Edit†mode and you have to be a registered user to access this tab. If you are only interested in viewing map data and aerial photography, then the “view†mode is the one to use.
The People’s Map beta version has now been up and running since 2007, and there are over 500 registered users. The People’s Map team have constantly been adding and improving the functionalities, but we recently decided to upgrade the entire site. This upgrade will include much better guidelines and help functionalities to assist all new users with navigating through the site and its functionalities.
The new site is due for release at the end of Jan 2009 or during the first halve of February 2009. Please keep an eye open for this launch or even easier, why not register as an editor and then we will notify you via email and the blog when the new site is launched.
We are always trying to improve our site and functionalities for our users, so please also let us know what you think of the site, what functionalities you would like to see added to the site, etc. In the mean time, if anybody wants more information regarding the People’s Map, why not send us an email at info@peoplesmap.com.