Hey all,
I just wanted to comment on the current state of nationwide datasets (most
States/Counties have better). The United State has a baseline of "official"
data available for free (general building outlines not being one of them).
This data is available to download and called HSIP Open. More datasets are
available to federal agencies and those working on federally declared
emergencies. I used to work on this project and its great for groups with
no budget for data collection or emergency responders who get put into an
unknown area.
The Dataset link:
https://hifld-dhs-gii.opendata.arcgis.com/
When HSIP Open came out I did a small investigation in PA on hospitals to
see what one was better (HIFLD/HSIP VS OSM) and the results are mixed
(where there is active contributions OSM is better otherwise HSIP is the
only thing around).
http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/jonwit/diary/38201
Web Map showing "Official" vs OSM Sources
https://t.co/mh0LJKFiGz
Hopefully someone can do a better analysis than I can (i.e. OSM vs
State/County vs Federal sources).
The US has basic GIS data available (a few years old but ~80% correct)
already. Awareness of OSM is growing and I also hope to help to push the
use of OSM data into broader usage. Use cases like this fire will only
help to bring more emergency GIS managers on board.
Great job guys,
Jonathan
On Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 8:00 AM, wrote:
> Send Talk-us mailing list submissions to
> talk-us@openstreetmap.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> talk-us-requ...@openstreetmap.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> talk-us-ow...@openstreetmap.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Talk-us digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>1. Re: San Louis Obispo CA area - Chimney Wildfire - OSM US
> Tasking Manager Project (Blake Girardot)
>
>
> --
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2016 14:22:22 +0200
> From: Blake Girardot
> To: Mike Thompson
> Cc: OSM Volunteer stevea , Open Street Map
> Talk-US
> Subject: Re: [Talk-us] San Louis Obispo CA area - Chimney Wildfire -
> OSM US Tasking Manager Project
> Message-ID:
> com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Hi Mike,
>
> HOT has been asked 2 times in the past that I know of to help with US
> based incidents that I know of.
>
> One was another CA fire and we were contacted by a local responder who
> was already used to using OSM data, knew of its quality and potential
> limitations and asked us to fill in/update/review data in the rugged
> terrain AoI he was working in fire fighting.
>
> We also did a FEMA related project (Russ Deffner knows more about that
> one I think)
>
> And recently we did a project to update the island of American Somoa
> for the Red Cross.
>
> I have also personally mapped to support a local rural volunteer fire
> department that had no object map of their area of responsibility,
> (but I have no idea how or if they used the data I generated for them,
> I need to follow up and see if they are using the data, that was a few
> years ago when I first got heavy in to OSM). I suspect there are many
> many rural agencies just like that of all sorts that would benefit
> from OSM data and process if they only knew about them and had someone
> to help them benefit from open geo data and tools.
>
> In the developing world/global south context it is easy to recognize
> the value of OSM because it is often the most complete dataset
> available and is "easy" to get a basemap completed over a very large
> AoI, there typically are just very few other options immediately
> available or open enough to make use of the raw geo data.
>
> In the more developed countries like the US (and others) there is a
> built in bias for "official" data for a number of reasons which
> Jonathan Witcoski pointed out in the osm us slack channel from his
> experiences. Mainly "cover your butt" reasons. As he also pointed out,
> that thinking applies even if those official sources are of less
> quality and/or less accessible than the dataset in OSM
>
> But that is changing in my experience. More and more folks who work at
> these agencies are seeing the value OSM brings in having so much geo
> data all in one place and easily maintained and exported for GIS
> systems and personal devices. And typically the osm data is well
> curated as well as incorporating and improving the official data.
>
> That is one of the main reasons I was so happy to work with Jon on
> wildfire related support. I am quite convinced that OSM data and the
> OSM platform are uniquely useful and this "grass roots", bottom up,
> trend of agencies of all types using OSM data and workflows will
> continue. I hate to
