Hello guys, Some of you may already know that there is a globally available data for administrative boundaries from country level down to the sub-municipality level (depending on country). This is the Global Administrative Areas (GADM) dataset <http://gadm.org/>. They have data for the Philippines down to the barangay level. If you need a freely available data like that then you can use GADM.
The GADM data for the Philippines is in one big chunk. If you need smaller sets (e.g., just for Metro Manila or just for a single province), you can check out PhilGIS <http://www.philgis.org/> which has taken the GADM data, added PSGC metadata, and provided downloads on a per-province level. (BTW, PhilGIS contains other freely-available datasets aside from boundaries.) However take note of the restrictions and limitations: 1. License. The GADM data "is freely available for academic and other non-commercial use. Redistribution, or commercial use, is not allowed without prior permission." Same with PhilGIS: "For academic, non-profit, and non-commercial use only." This means that we *cannot* add GADM data into OSM, which allows redistribution and commercial use even without prior permission. 2. The data has quality issues. 2.1. Inaccurate positioning: Despite saying that the data is in WGS84 datum (which GPS devices use), they don't actually match what's on the ground. For example, here are two comparisons between the GADM data and the data in OSM: a. central Quezon City: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/File:GADM_vs_OSM_-_Central_Quezon_City.png b. Northern Caloocan: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/File:GADM_vs_OSM_-_Northern_Caloocan.png 2.2. Outdated data: The dataset is missing new barangays, municipalities, and cities. And the embedded data sometimes contain old names. If these restrictions and limitations are not a problem for you, then you should use them in your mapping applications, especially if the current OSM data is incomplete or inadequate for your needs. Eugene _______________________________________________ talk-ph mailing list talk-ph@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ph