Is it possible to import coastline data from a public source?

General talk
1

Alaska is being re-mapped for the first time since the 1950’s and I would like to use that data to import Alaska’s coastline into OpenStreetMap.

The current coastline is atrocious: https://farm1.staticflickr.com/654/22440828679_ac3ac9aa71_b.jpg
I’ve spent hours updating mapping the coastline around where I live. http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/57.0668/-135.4520
But it will take me years to even finish the Alexander Archipelago (southeast Alaska).

Is there a way to import data for the coastline? This is the data portal for the newly mapped elevation data. http://ifsar.gina.alaska.edu/

I would be happy to do the steps required to get the coastline from this data and get it into a friendly format for import.

Thanks!

2

Yes.

Please follow the Import Guidelines. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Import/Guidelines

This mailing list thread could help https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/imports/2015-July/003997.html

3

Note that the first item in the referenced thread looks positive, but the next two basically rule out the source as being too restrictively licensed.

What would concern me about the alaska.edu site is a failure to clearly state the licensing terms. If you can possibly use data directly from USGS, it might be easier as US federal agencies commissioned work is normally in the public domain for copyright purposes, but US educational institutions cannot put things into the public domain, for copyright.

I note that the the data is on an unusual coordinate system, so will need correcting to the the system used by OSM.

I also note that USGS say that the data only meets federal mapping standards at scales about 1:24000. As noted in the referenced thread, you will need avoid over-writing higher quality data.