openstreetmap | Mapsys.info (4) Mapsys.info

Google Map Maker USA

Google Map Maker USA Launches

Start adding your local knowledge to the map.

Add businesses and building outlines.
Move place markers to the right locations.
Build a detailed map of your school campus.

(note: Open Street Map does have a service with one major benefit over Google Map Maker – data you create (with many thousands of others) is available to everyone for free even if commercial organization.

Google Maps retains this information only limited places have MapMaker Downloads
http://www.google.com/support/mapmaker/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156852

but read the terms… first.

8.1
You Must Be a Non-Profit Entity, a Government Agency, or an Individual. You must be a non-profit entity, a government agency, or an individual acting on a not-for-profit basis. For-profit entities and individuals acting on a for-profit basis are not permitted to use the Map Maker Source Data, but may be eligible to use Google’s other geo-related products, such as the Google Maps APIs, according to the terms of service for those products.

8.2 Your Map Project Must Be Non-Commercial and Free of Charge to Users.

(a) Your Map Project must be for non-commercial uses only. You cannot use Your Map Project to either directly or indirectly generate revenue as part of a for-profit enterprise. For example, Your Map Project cannot be hosted on the website of a for-profit company. However, Your Map Project can be hosted on the website of a validly-registered non-profit or governmental entity (as determined by the applicable law of your jurisdiction).

(b) Your Map Project must be free of charge. You may require users to log in to Your Map Project but you cannot require users to pay a fee (unless you have entered into a separate written agreement with Google or obtained Google’s written permission to do so).

8.3 Your Map Project Must Provide Google with Attribution. Unless otherwise agreed to by Google in a written amendment to these Terms, in every instance in which the Map Maker Source Data are used in Your Map Project, Your Map Project must include the following attribution notice in accordance with the requirements below:

Live (real-time) updates of edits to google map maker service – http://www.google.com/mapmaker/pulse

YouTube Video the USA MapMaker

source:
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2011/04/add-your-local-knowledge-to-map-with.html

OpenStreetMap Skiing

A few weeks ago we showed you a handful of neat tools to help you enjoy the ski season a bit more, but we missed a big one — Skimap.org.

The main idea behind SkiMap is to allow users to upload maps from various ski resorts and share them with other users. Recently, however, they added a feature that uses the OpenStreetMap API to convert OSM data into KML vector ski maps. In just the past month, 940 ski maps were generated for use on the site!

The quality of the maps varies by location — European resorts are more fully mapped than US ones, and in the US they’re in better shape on the eastern half of the country. However, with the rate at which new ones are being added, your favorite ski area will probably look good on there very soon.

To see a good example of a ski area, check out Whistler Blackcomb. They have 67 different printed maps for Whistler, along with a handful of “OpenSkiMaps”. Here’s a KML file from one of them if you want to see it in Google Earth.