Expanding street name and number coverage

Ben_Last · 2009-11-25T05:14:30.000Z

Hi

I work for Nearmap (http://www.nearmap.com); we provide very high res images of a number of cities in Australia, and we use OSM data for our streetmap coverage. We also allow use of our images as backdrops for OSM editing.

In the areas we’re covering, the lack of full street names and property numbers in the OSM data is something we’d like to address. We have some ideas as to how we can contribute effort and money to this, but I’d like to ask the OSM community for ideas on how we can best focus this to get the best returns for us all. Our initial areas will be major cities in Australia.

So; how would you suggest we put resources to work for OSM?

Thanks
Ben

Alex_McKee · 2009-11-25T13:17:53.000Z

Ben Last:

In the areas we’re covering, the lack of full street names and property numbers in the OSM data is something we’d like to address.

Pun intended?

I’ve been using your fantastic imagery in Adelaide, the only Australian city that I have any knowledge of. The quality and detail of the Nearmap imagery is truly excellent.

I think your aim to help OSM further is very admirable. However with the imagery that Nearmap has provided, I think OSM coverage of the major cities will improve dramatically quite quickly. This is because it helps users who don’t have GPS to contribute and part of that will be in taking out Walking Papers and gathering address data.

Not knowing how large the Australian OSM community is, I would suggest that one way for Nearmap to help further is advocacy - help the community grow.

Ben_Last · 2009-11-26T00:39:25.000Z

Pun unintentional!

Thanks, Alex; we are quite open (and sometimes quite vocal) about the fast that OSM is our source data for streets, and we’ll continue to advocate.

One option we’ve considered is making it as easy as possible to add this information using our site. That is; if a road is un-named (or mis-named), or house numbers are missing, we make it very simple (just a couple of clicks) to edit the OSM data. Think of it like a very cut-down Potlatch, hosted on our servers, just for adding geocoding information.

Cheers
Ben