Building your own Google Maps using a complete Open Source and Open Data stack
A brief look at different open source geospatial technologies
In geospatial applications, data and software must go hand in hand.
Software without data is useless.
Data without software is useless.
We live in interesting times, where geodata is becoming more open by government initiatives around the world. Projects like Openstreetmap are acting as huge repositories of useful, crowd-sourced, worldwide geodata. Not-for-profit organizations like OSGeo are helping to put together numerous open source geospatial software projects under one umbrella where they can start sharing resources, create software that works well together, as well as to provide representation and active participation in standard bodies related to Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Most people are starting to finally understand the importance of Location Based Services, but surprisingly, most people are only aware of the proprietary alternatives (Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, Mapquest, Navteq APIs, Teleatlas APIs, etc.)
The purpose of this talk is to make the attendees aware of the wealth of free open source and free open geodata options out there.
As a working example, we will dissect Google Maps, identify the relevant parts and show a working, free, standards compliant, open version of a web mapping application.