I attended an Open Street Map mapping party over the weekend. 
(http://openstreetmap.org) If you aren't familiar with it, it's the 
social creation of an open source map of the world, rivaling G Maps and 
Y Maps. It's actually amazing how much of the world has been mapped. I 
think it could be a great tool for libraries, but my first quest is to 
see if we can get as many public libraries listed as possible. I have a 
file from N Carolina that lists all of the public libraries in the state 
plus coordinates. I don't know if other states do that as well (they 
almost all have names and street addresses, but we need the coordinates 
for OSM). There is a batch import, although a bit rough.

Next, it seems that one could develop a template that uses OSM that 
could help library reference departments print out maps of their local 
area with particular items noted (e.g. parks, homeless shelters, medical 
facilities, government offices). I think it has a lot of potential, and 
I'm talking to them about doing a mapping party in Chicago around ALA so 
we can introduce more folks to the technology.

kc

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Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
[log in to unmask] http://www.kcoyle.net
ph.: 510-540-7596   skype: kcoylenet
fx.: 510-848-3913
mo.: 510-435-8234
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