9 replies to this topic

[Hans van der Maarel]

It's
official, Google has just released the map data for most of Europe in
Google Maps. Together with some very sizeable satellite data updates
(including most of Germany at high resolution), this will be a very
important step forward for free/accessible geodata in Europe and a big
boost for all the Google Maps mashups that focus on Europe.

The following countries are part of this update:

* Norway
* Sweden
* Finland
* Denmark
* The Netherlands
* Belgium
* Luxembourg
* Germany
* Poland
* Switzerland
* Austria
* Liechtenstein
* Italy
* France
* Spain
* Portugal
* Czech Republic
* Slovakia
* Hungary
* Andorra
* Monaco
* San Marino
* Vatican City

There
is partial information for Greece (Athens and surroundings), Turkey
(Istanbul and surroundings) and Russia (Moscow and surroundings), as
well as major road corridors leading there, through Serbia and Belarus.
Data for the UK and Ireland was already available.

A quick check shows that for all these areas, the data is complete.

[benbakelaar]

"Hans
this is great news, I assume ""map data"" means addresses. I know from my
studies at Rutgers that Europe was pretty provincial about its GIS
data, especially UK in terms of charing the public for information...
Could you speak to that at all about any countries you are familiar
with? How things were BG (Before Google!)? "

[Hans van der Maarel]

Ben,

I
haven't been able to make it find my address, but at least the map
image itself is there. Just the fact that maps at this level of detail
are available for free to the general public *and* with such a strong
API to go with it is a huge step forward.

[Kartograph]

"This is awesome. It only took ""us"" 3000 years. This is a giant leap for EuropeanKind. And done by someone else... "

[Hans van der Maarel]

Well,
the data comes from Tele Atlas, which is a Belgian company. Google came
up with the idea and went through the licensing deals with TA.

I
think what's been holding us back is the fragmented landscape (dozens
of nations with their own rules and regulations), combined with a
different approach to geodata than the one seen in North America.

[Kartograph]

"I
know. And TeleAtlas bases their stuff on the respective national data.
It?s just a shame that google ""gives away"" data our governments charge
us very big money for, thus needlessly limiting Freelance Cartography.
"

[Hans van der Maarel]

"

I 
know. And TeleAtlas bases their stuff on the respective national data. 
It?s just a shame that google ""gives away"" data our governments charge 
us very big money for, thus needlessly limiting Freelance Cartography.

Hmmm,
as far as I know, TeleAtlas does most, if not all, of their own data
collection. Their update frequency is a lot higher than most NMA's
(certainly here in Holland) and they collect a lof of data that is only
needed for navigational purposes, so I don't think you can say it's
'our' data.

Regardless of that, it is hard to do any sort of
freelance cartography over in Europe. I think Denmark is an exception,
but in all other countries the use of geodata, be it a commercial or
goverment source, is expensive. "

[Jason]

"

Hans this is great news, I assume ""map data"" means addresses.

http://

Google
found several of the addresses my in-laws are staying at in the Paris
area on their trip in June. Plus the updated imagery is amazing. It is
like I am there again. "

[Lui]

"

I 
know. And TeleAtlas bases their stuff on the respective national data. 
It?s just a shame that google ""gives away"" data our governments charge 
us very big money for, thus needlessly limiting Freelance Cartography.

Hmmm,
as far as I know, TeleAtlas does most, if not all, of their own data
collection. Their update frequency is a lot higher than most NMA's
(certainly here in Holland) and they collect a lof of data that is only
needed for navigational purposes, so I don't think you can say it's
'our' data.

Regardless of that, it is hard to do any sort of
freelance cartography over in Europe. I think Denmark is an exception,
but in all other countries the use of geodata, be it a commercial or
goverment source, is expensive.

http://

Well
they are not doing data collection on their own, not in Slovenia
anyway. For Slovenia data collection was made by Geodetic institute of
Slovenia.
Yes in Europe geodata is expensive, also in Slovenia. But
I think and hope that in couple of years goverment datasets will be for
'free' in Slovenia.

Lui "

[Kartograph]

"Actually
TeleAtlas ""only"" is collecting routing info, not geometries. And POI?s
of course. Nearly all geometries are government based.
"