[GNHLUG] [DLSLUG-Announce] OpenStreetMap - Open Data for Mapping - DLSLUG Monthly Meeting 2009-06-04

Bill McGonigle bill at bfccomputing.com
Thu May 28 12:16:36 EDT 2009


***************************************************************
               Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Linux User Group
                        http://dlslug.org/
               a chapter of GNHLUG - http://gnhlug.org
***************************************************************

The next regular monthly meeting of DLSLUG will be held:

                  Thursday, June 4th, 7-9PM
at:            Dartmouth College, Carson L02

                All are welcome, free of charge.

                            Agenda

5:30  Pre-meeting dinner at EBA's.

7:00  Sign-in, networking

7:15  Introductory remarks

7:20  OpenStreetMap - Open Data for Mapping
         presented by Russ Nelson

       Russ is currently pitching Open Data. The left hand to Open
       Source's right hand, Open Data is an essential part of many
       programs. You may think "Oh, but my program doesn't use any
       data". But what about fonts? What about configuration files?
       What about any files your program reads or writes?

       OpenStreetMap is geodata, a collection of locations
       (intersections), connections between them (roads), and
       connections between the connections (bus routes). All of these
       can have arbitrary amounts of metadata stored with them, like
       names, speed limits, purpose of the road, etc. All of this is
       stored in a PostgreSQL database and available through an API
       which presents a simpler interface than raw SQL queries.

       With all of this data in hand, you can make a map. But maps
       aren't new; why is OpenStreetMap (OSM) new? OpenStreetMap is
       licensed under a community reciprocal license, so that people
       who contribute to it are confident that the people who
       distribute it will reciprocate under the same license. Unlike
       public domain data like the Census's TIGER data, OSM has a
       custodian who wants your contributions. Unlike proprietary data
       like Google Maps, or its underlying proprietary geodata, OSM
       is freely copyable and open to all for editing.

       Russ Nelson is an early Linux adopter; in fact an early adopter
       of all sorts of technology, including the first non-Compaq iPAQ
       reflashed to run Linux. He finally gave up on assembly language
       a few years ago and now programs in C and most languages
       beginning with P. He almost got a PhD from Clarkson University
       but managed to escape writing a dissertation.

       Russ has been giving away his software since he started
       writing it in 1974. Prior to his GPLed Freemacs package,
       there weren't many people to distribute it to. He really came to
       the fore with his Packet Driver Collection, begun while a
       staff member at Clarkson. A GPL'ed set of DOS Ethernet
       drivers, they arguably put GPL'ed software on more CPU's than
       anything prior to Linux. Supporting free software full-time
       since 1991, Russell is a founding member of the Open Source
       Initiative and a Cloudmate Community Ambassador. He lives in
       Potsdam, NY with his wife and two nearly-adult children, but
       was born in NYC and raised in Baldwin out in Nassau County.


8:50  Roundtable Exchange - where the attendees can make
          announcements or ask a Linux/FLOSS question of the group.

-----

                        Driving Directions

        Please see the website for links to driving directions.


                           Refreshments

        We currently lack a refreshment sponsor.  If you or your
        company would like to provide or sponsor refreshments,
        please get in touch.

                              RSVP

        RSVP by replying to this e-mail so we can give any
        refreshment sponsor a count.

                           Mailing Lists

        There are two primary mailman lists set up for DLSLUG, an
        Announce list and a Discuss list. Please sign up for the
        Announce list (moderated, low-volume) to stay apprised of
        the group's activities and the Discuss list (unmoderated)
        for group discussion. Links to the mailing lists are on the
        webpage.

                         Tell Your Friends

        Please pass this announcement along to anyone else who may
        be interested.


-- 
Bill McGonigle, Owner           Work: 603.448.4440
BFC Computing, LLC              Home: 603.448.1668
http://www.bfccomputing.com/    Cell: 603.252.2606
Twitter, etc.: bill_mcgonigle   Page: 603.442.1833
Email, IM, VOIP: bill at bfccomputing.com
Blog: http://blog.bfccomputing.com/
VCard: http://bfccomputing.com/vcard/bill.vcf
_______________________________________________
DLSLUG-Announce mailing list
DLSLUG-Announce at dlslug.org
http://dlslug.org/mailman/listinfo/dlslug-announce


More information about the gnhlug-announce mailing list