OpenStreetMaps to relax, study and get faster where you want to go

What follows was originally a comment by Maurizio Napolitano to my article [/2011/02/openstreetmap-open-data-that-create-services-and-jobs-for-everybody/]. Then I and Maurizio decided to put it in its own page, under a CC BY 2.5 license, since it’s stuff that deserves more visibility

Hi Marco!

I’m glad you liked my post about OpenStreetMap blankets! I’ll take advantage of this opportunity to signal a couple more websites and services based on OpenStreetMap (OSM):

MapOSMatic creates maps and a street list of any place present already mapped in OSM. Once you’ve selected that place, you get two files in different formats (PNG, SVG and PDF). The first file contains the actual map of that place in a grid that letters (on the horizontal axis) and numbers (on the vertical axis) as coordinates. The second file, instead, is a list in alphabetic order of all the streets or tourist attractions in that area, each marked with the letter-number pair that indicates where exactly it is on the map.

Orienteering is a great sport that can’t be practiced without maps, but finding free maps is hard, not to mention that, in some orienteering contests require customized maps. The OpenOrienteeringMap website lets you take an OSM map OSM map with the official colours and symbols of orienteering contests, draw the path of your own contest on it, and download the result as a PDF file. The same author of that website also developed a bycicle sharing service called Bike Share Map. Other people created WheelMap, that shows which points in any given area are accessible to wheelchairs and strollers.

The OpenStreetMap Wiki lists many more projects and services like these. I (Maurizio), for example, created a map of public buses routes in the city of Padua. I’d also like to signal this video that shows several people working together on a 3d map and this mountain model building game: it’s easy to do these and lots of other things when data are freely available :-)