Last week I launched a section on themap.im to show a gallery of maps of the Isle of Man. The aim is to create localised maps for different towns and villages around the Island, so for example you could bookmark a map of Castletown, Colby or Cregneash, or any other place listed in the gallery.

The maps got some great coverage with a BBC Isle of Man article, which has generated a good amount of interest in the site. The more people the map is available to, the sooner we can iron out any issues in the map data. There may be the odd typo, things accidentally added in the wrong place, or things that are missing completely, so all feedback is welcome.

For me, building this site is a great opportunity to use Drupal to help promote OpenStreetMap data, using the OpenLayers mapping library (and Drupal module) to display the maps on the site, and I'm looking forward to building the site out further.

Re-posted from themap.im blog

With less than a week to go until the third Isle of Man mapping day - to be held in Douglas on Saturday 2nd October - we are launching a new version of themap.im with the aim of helping to promote the new map of the Isle of Man.

For over four years, volunteers have been building up the map of the Isle of Man as part of the OpenStreetMap project, creating a map of the Island that can be used by anyone, not only as an online map, but also as a source of information for their own projects. themap.im is one such project, built by Dan Karran with the aim of promoting this new map of the Isle of Man and showing what can be done with open data to help promote local businesses and organisations both within the Island and to a wider audience.

The site will continue to grow from this initial stage, to include an online directory of much of the information contained within the map, and an ability to simply update any of that information, which we will then use to update the OpenStreetMap project itself.

If you are interested in this new map of the Isle of Man, please do come along to the Velvet Lobster at 10am (or 1pm) on Saturday to the mapping day for an introduction to the OpenStreetMap project, what it's all about, how to update the map, and how to use the information in various ways.

On Saturday 2nd October we will be holding the third Isle of Man mapping day for the OpenStreetMap project and it's open to anyone.

If you're on the Isle of Man and interested in maps, new technology or are just keen to get out and about and explore Douglas for the day, why not come along to join us on the mapping day to find out more about the project and get an introduction to mapping.

We'll meet for a coffee in the morning (from 10am) at Velvet Lobster on the North Quay in Douglas, and after a short introduction to the project and chat about how to get started mapping, we'll head out onto the streets to add some detail to the open map of the Isle of Man. After a while (1pm) we'll meet back at the Velvet Lobster for a bite to eat and chat about the morning's mapping, before heading back out. At 3pm we'll meet up at the cafe again and to introduce you to the basics of making your own updates to the map.

If you're keen to use the maps yourself, we can help you get set up to do that, and point you to some of the useful services available that use data from OpenStreetMap.

Want to find out more? Drop me an email to dan at karran dot net, tweet me @dankarran or give me a shout on 07736 314138. If you'd like to come along, I'd appreciate if you could let me know in advance, so we have an idea of how many people to expect.

If you're on the Isle of Man (or thinking of visiting) and you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you may be interested in the latest mobile guide to the Island that's been released for the iPhone.

I blogged last year about a couple of specialised iPhone apps that let you see offline maps of the Island - but not much more - and I also mentioned OffMaps which at the time was simply an offline map viewer that let you download maps of anywhere in the world. Having released their latest version though, OffMaps now provides much more functionality in the form of a local guide to businesses, services and attractions, and access to Wikipedia articles about the places around you.

Now, if you're looking for a bar, cafe, restaurant, museum, tourist attraction - or, in theory, anything else - you need look no further than the guide in OffMaps. It'll show you its location, give you their address and phone number (though there aren't many of these yet) and link you through to their website if they have one. Note that not everything is in there, and in particular it's lacking in the shops it covers, as well as in some other areas.

If you run a business or service - or know of one which isn't already covered - and you'd like to advertise yourself in this guide to the Island, you can be a part of it for free.

All of the information is based on the OpenStreetMap project and Wikipedia, so you can add your information yourself. The easiest way to edit is using the free Mapzen POI collector app for the iPhone, but if you're not comfortable, just drop me an email and I'll happily add your details in to OpenStreetMap for you, for free, and you should get into the guide the next time it gets refreshed.

Note: the app is currently only listing things in certain chosen categories, so if your business falls outside of those categories it may not show up in the guide. You're still free to add your listing to OpenStreetMap though, as it could be used in the future either in OffMaps or in any other application.

Since I received the DVD of high resolution aerial imagery and maps from the Isle of Man Government last week, I've spent most of my spare time starting to digitise information for the OpenStreetMap project.

Using QGIS to load in the data, I started to gather all the names from the map that I could, including both place names (for small local areas, hamlets and villages that weren't already in the database) and also farm names. With over a thousand names, this is already a massive boost to the data in OpenStreetMap as it is data that would have been immensely difficult to gather on the ground.

The image to the left represents the shape of the Island, made up of all the points obtained from the map, and soon to be imported into the main database.

The three images below are of small areas that I have started to digitise the buildings of. I'm offering a prize (a pint at the next London mapping party perhaps) to the first person to guess all three places correctly. Two of them may well look familiar to anyone who I chatted to at the 5th birthday party of OpenStreetMap.

Most of the data in the images above (and future data others would like to extract for OpenStreetMap) would have been impossible (well, certainly extremely impractical) to gather were it not for the very generous support of the Isle of Man Survey in giving us a license to derive this information, for which I'm personally very grateful, and I know a lot of other people in the project are also excited about.

These images are licenced as CC-by-SA and the data behind them all will be in the OpenStreetMap database very soon.

In just two weeks time, on Saturday 1st August 2009, I am going to be organising a mapping party in Douglas, Isle of Man for the OpenStreetMap project. The aim of the project is to build up a map of the world that can be used without the restrictions that are typically imposed by mapping providers such as Google Maps.

The Isle of Man already has a great amount of map data in the database - as you can see on the map at openstreetmap.org - so we have a good starting point, but it isn't yet complete, so there is plenty of information that we can still add. While the road network is very close to complete, we are missing many of the points of interest you might like to see on a map, or be able to search for (perhaps through a website, or in the future from your in-car navigation device), like pubs, cafes, restaurants, libraries, hotels, historic sites or museums, for example.

We also have some Manx names for places and streets, but this isn't yet widespread, so it would be great to capture this information from street signs around the town.

As we have a good street network already, the need for a GPS isn't as important as it was earlier on in the project, so the plan for the mapping party is to use printed maps (from the excellent Walking Papers project) onto which we can add annotations during the day. At the end of the day, we can use the paper maps for reference when entering the information into the map through the OpenStreetMap website, or scan them in and deal with them later, depending on how tired people are after a day's mapping.

If you're on the Isle of Man and interested in making or using maps (or just the underlying map data), then do come along and find out more. If you're also interested in a little exercise, come out with us and explore Douglas for the day, collecting information to add to the map. You can find out more on the OpenStreetMap wiki, or alternatively contact me if you'd like more information.

If you run an organisation on the Isle of Man which uses geographic information (e.g. business listings) and would like to find out more about including your information in the map database so they can be displayed on the map, or would like to use the maps on your website with your own information displayed on top, please get in touch.

(map from OpenStreetMap, CC-by-SA)

I was looking recently to see what applications were available for the iPhone (or iPod touch) relating to the Isle of Man, and was pleasantly surprised to see that a mapping application had been released.

The application, simply called 'Isle of Man', gives users a map of the Island for use on their iPhone while they are visiting. In addition to the map, it lets users find amenities and streetnames that have been added into the OpenStreetMap database. I decided this morning to pay the 59p to download the app and try it out, but beyond the initial excitement of seeing OpenStreetMap data being used for mobile maps of the Isle of Man, I haven't been so impressed with the execution of the idea for a number of reasons...

The Mobile-Streetmaps.com website promotes this app and hundreds of other similar ones from around the world, each just a download of OpenStreetMap data packaged into an application, for which they charge 59p. While it's not a large amount to pay, the company producing the applications is profiting off the generosity of the OpenStreetMap community (and in the case of the Isle of Man, Cloud Made as well, thanks to their donation of data) with little attribution, and no mention within the app itself of the license under which the data is available.

Hopefully the company will fix the attribution issue soon, by adding a mention to the pages in the iPhone app store that the data is from OpenStreetMap, and also by adding information about the license to at least the about page of each app, and to the side bar of the pages on their website.

The app itself could be quite useful if you're visiting the Island, but it has quite a few usability issues that hamper its use:

• Zooming in to the map, you are not shown beyond a certain level, leaving many streets in the center of towns and villages left without names.
• Navigation within the app could really be improved... there's not even a back button to get back to the map from various other screens.
• After searching for items, you're taken to the map, but you are left looking at the place you were looking at before, with no obvious indication that pins have been added to the map outside of your current view.
• There is no way of clearing the pins from previous searches from the map, leading to possible confusion when searching for other things.
• Clicking on the pins for search results doesn't give any more information to the user. It would be nice to be able to get contact details where available, what the nearest street is, etc.

If you would like to access maps offline for more than just a single place, and be able to take advantage of recent updates to the maps, you will probably be better off downloading the OffMaps app which I have yet to try, but costs just a little more at £1.19 and lets you choose the area and level of detail you wish to download, and lets you do it for as many places as you wish.

While free and open geodata from OpenStreetMap gives a great boost to these applications, it also has its downfalls in that it's likely not (yet) complete for any given area. To give an example, searching for 'cafe' amenities in the Isle of Man resulted in just the Silverdale cafe being shown on the map, where in reality there are many more cafes that aren't (yet) listed.

To help improve the amount of data in the Isle of Man that's represented in OpenStreetmap, in particular relating to points of interest (POIs), I'm planning to hold another mapping party on Saturday 1st August. I'll post more information about this soon, but put the date in your diary if you're interested in helping put some of these amenities on the map. If you'd like more information in the mean time, please get in touch.

Update: having contacted the author of the apps, he's already been working with the OpenStreetMap community and has agreed to improve on the attribution, which is good. I also tried out OffMaps and liked it, but one thing it doesn't give you that the individual place-based apps do, is the access to find the location of POIs and streets while you're offline (though it does work when online).

With the British pound getting closer and closer in value every day to the euro, it's hard not to consider what will happen when the currencies align. The Guardian comments on this 'psychological moment' in a piece a week ago, when the high street rates (after commission) gave less than one euro for your pound, when a year and a half ago, you would have got around half as much again for each pound.

"Sterling's decline to a value of less than a euro, after commission charges, is seen by economists and opposition politicians as a pivotal 'psychological moment' - and evidence of declining faith in the British economy on global currency markets."

It's not a given - and there will likely be a struggle before it happens - but there is a possibility that the United Kingdom could adopt the euro, and that time may not be too far off.

The thing I'm more curious about though, more than the situation in the UK, is the situation in the Isle of Man if the UK were to adopt the euro.

The Isle of Man has it's own currency - the Manx pound - that is linked in value to the British pound. Coins are similar in overall design characteristics, portray our head of state (Elizabeth II), and have a local design on the reverse. The currency can be spent on-Island but not off, while the British pound can also be used on-Island.

Before the euro was introduced into Europe, around ten years ago, the Isle of Man Government set up a working party to investigate the implications the euro would have on the Island. They published a report titled A Review of European Economic and Monetary Union and its Implications which stated (in part):

"The Isle of Man Government is presently planning to ensure that necessary preparations will be in place for the eventuality of a single currency, irrespective of whether the UK participates in monetary union in 1999.

[...]

If the UK joins monetary union and Sterling is replaced by the euro, the Isle of Man will retain the right to issue its own currency. The provisions of the Currency Act 1992 would allow the Island to issue a new Manx currency which would be a ‘substitute Euro’, similar to the ‘substitute Sterling’ currently issued. The Government has been active in its preparations for a new currency as the retention of the Island’s own currency through issue of the Manx euro has two significant advantages:

1. It provides a positive public statement of independence for the Island; and
2. It allows for the continuation of the accrual of investment income from the issue of Manx notes and coins.

While it will clearly be necessary for the technical specifications of notes and coins to be the same as other euro issues, the Island is preparing its own designs for Manx euro notes and coins."

So, the Isle of Man could adopt a Manx euro, similar to the current Manx pound, whether or not the UK adopted it. But what would the currency have have on it?

The Island is not part of the UK, nor part of the European Union (though it has certain ties to both). It has managed with the current psuedo Sterling currency since 1971, with very little confusion other than when people try to spend the money in the UK. With the euro, where each issuing country has their own designs on one side of their coins, having a Manx euro would create one more design on the equivalent of that 'national side' as well as a replacement 'common side' that differentiated it from 'real' euro coins. There's much more potential for confusion than with the British/Manx pound.

It would be interesting to get a glimpse of the designs that the Government were preparing a decade ago to see how they have retained the basics of the euro, highlighted that it is not a normal euro while also adding a Manx look to the currency.

How would you feel if the Isle of Man were to adopt the euro? Can you see it happening any time soon? What images would you like to see on the currency if it were to be introduced?

(Image source: Wikipedia)

Change monitoring software has something that's long been desired in the OpenStreetMap community - the ability to easily see what changes have been made in your areas, and by who. I've been excited to see this week that it's finally come to fruition in the form of OSM Mapper from ITO World.

Their blog post gives some more information about what it can do:

Using this product you can set up one or more areas to monitor and analyse in a variety of ways. You can even establish RSS feeds to get alerts when other people make changes within areas of interest. You can also generate beautiful images to download and post anywhere as (CC-by-SA).

... plus all sorts of mapping products that highlight changes over time, changes by contributor, etc.

I've been trying it out this morning to try and identify people who have recently contributed to the OpenStreetMap dataset of the Isle of Man, to try and make sure I don't give anyone a big shock when importing the new dataset from CloudMade, and hopefully to encourage others to help out once it's imported, to identify if anything is still missing.

I have to say I've been pretty impressed at how well it works, and how quickly I've identified the major recent contributors and where they've been editing.

Did you know that you can list your business for free on Google Maps and have it highlighted to people who are searching the map for businesses like yours within a certain area?

When I was building the Cronk-e-Dhooney Cottage B&B website a few months back, I was looking for ways to promote it. I added it to TripAdvisor to give it some visibility in the world of travel (and it's recently had its first glowing review) and then tried to add it to Google Maps using the Local Business Center.

Trying to add it, I stumbled when it came to entering the address (which doesn't have a street name, and has a Manx postcode, which wasn't recognised by Google). Without a working address, there wasn't a chance of getting it listed.

When I saw today's release of Google Maps for the Isle of Man, I thought I'd give the process another shot this evening, and try once again to add Cronk-e-Dhooney Cottage to the map. This time it worked much better (though not painless, as it still didn't like the postcode) and I've managed to get the information (and a couple of the photos I could get it to accept) onto the map. For the extended profile that pops up on the map, you can add photos and a wealth of information about your business.

Now, do a search for bed and breakfast in the Isle of Man and you'll see the cottage come up in pole position. With free publicity like this, can you afford not to have your local business on the map?

Tip: When adding the address, type it all out except for the postcode, click the link to change the location of the pin on the map, move it to pinpoint your property, and only then add your postcode. That's the only way I could get it to accept the address.