Jeff, I have worked with this data before (not for OSM). The data is in the public domain. Your approach sounds sensible to me. Many of the locations are grossly wrong. So it is important to do manual cleanup. By the way, license holders are liable for a fine if the coordinates in this database are wrong. The FCC might be very interested in OSMs feedback!
Mike On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 10:47 AM, Jeffrey Ollie <j...@ocjtech.us> wrote: > The FCC maintains a database of antenna structures which includes an > approximate geographic location. Since this data maintained by the US > Government the data should be public domain. The main entry page for > the database is here: <http://wireless.fcc.gov/antenna/> > > I'd like to do some semi-automatic imports of this data in my > locality. I don't think I'll do mass automated imports for large areas > because many antennas have already been mapped and the coordinates > provided in the FCC database are only approximate. What I plan on > doing is generating a OSM file, loading it into JOSM, and then > manually de-duplicate and adjust the coordinates based upon aerial > imagery. > > Here's what a sample looks like (at least in the current iteration of > the code). I'm still looking over the data to see if there are any > other useful fields that can be pulled out of the FCC database. > > <node lat="41.732833" visible="true" version="1" lon="-93.582639" id="-5"> > <tag k="man_made" v="tower"/> > <tag k="access" v="private"/> > <tag k="tower:type" v="communication"/> > <tag k="ele" v="278.9"/> > <tag k="height" v="37.8"/> > <tag k="fcc:registration_number" v="1246498"/> > <tag k="fcc:unique_system_identifier" v="2645662"/> > <tag k="operator" v="TowerCo Assets LLC"/> > <tag k="website" > v="http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/AsrSearch/asrRegistration.jsp?regKey=2645662"/> > <tag k="source" v="Federal Communications Commission Antenna > Structure Registration Database"/> > <tag k="addr:housenumber" v="210"/> > <tag k="addr:street" v="Northeast Delaware Avenue"/> > <tag k="addr:city" v="Ankeny"/> > <tag k="addr:state" v="IA"/> > <tag k="addr:postcode" v="50021"/> > <tag k="addr:country" v="US"/> > </node> > > The "fcc:registration_number" should be posted on a sign near the > tower, which should make it easier to match up ground observations > with what is in the database. The "fcc:unique_system_identifier" is a > key into the FCC's database. My script uses the services of > <http://geocoder.us/> to parse the addresses in the database. If > geocoder.us can't parse the address I just stick the unparsed address > in a "addr:full" tag. > > I'd love to know if I'm being stupid or if there are any improvements > people have. Once the script seems fairly stable I'll upload it > somewhere and post the location. > > -- > Jeff Ollie > > _______________________________________________ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us > _______________________________________________ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
