OpenStreetMap (OSM) is attempting to make the capital city of Georgia the most digitally mapped city in the world. Their ambitious plan is to map everything from emergency phones to police precincts. The main difference between this project and others (e.g. Google maps) is that the data will be freely available. Developers who want to use the information will not be restricted by Google’s Terms of Use or have to license the content from elsewhere (which costs lots of money). The hope is that free data without restrictions will create entirely new and innovative applications. How are they getting this data? Well, they’ve organized a mapathon. About 200 volunteers will wander around the city with GPS devices locating everything of interest (and potentially some things that aren’t). Geo-nerds unite.
Read more on the story from the BBC.
