Let's
put Morocco on the digital map!
These
days a lot of countries have this navigation device which shows them
how to drive so they get to the destination, which is very cool. Most
often you can find the destination by just following the instructions
the device is saying, yes it talks to you. If you take the wrong road
it recalculates and shows you the new directions. You can also search
for a nearby POI (Point Of Interest, like a hotel or a pump station).
Anyway, a lot of possibilities opens with navigation devices.
There
are several companies that produces such devices like TomTom, Garmin,
Navigon etc. But these devices are useless if there is no digital
map. There are very few companies who produce digital maps, the most
popular I know of are TeleAtlas (now owned by TomTom) and Navteq (now
owned by Nokia). These maps are commercial maps and are very
expensive. These maps are not covering the whole world, only in parts
where it's economically attractive.
But
recently this year, TomTom announced that they expanded their digital
map for Morocco too. Well, it's not a bad news, but I haven't seen it
yet, so I can't tell you much about it. Also it's not free, you can
only use it with their devices they selling. This means, if you have
money, you can buy it (estimated price: 1500 DH) and use it as your
navigation device, but if you don't, bad luck.
The
reason I think why TomTom invested in a digital map of Morocco is
because they see a serious upcoming economy. The port of Tanger (in
Ksar Sghir) will be the biggest of Africa, there's the highway
infrastructure that opens doors to the increasing import/export,
tourism, etc.
Last
time I drove from Rotterdam to Morocco , my TomTom on my pocketpc
guided me well (there were a few quirks, maybe my tomtom got tired
because of the heat of the sun) until I arrived Morocco. Once I was
there, It was empty! I saw nothing, just a green screen, why? Because
there was no map data of Morocco, I was a bit disappointed. I was
hoping just to see the highway, that's all.
I
felt like we don't belong to the modern world of technology and I
didn't like the thaught. So how can we make a digital map of Morocco
possible? Well, in 2007 I saw an article about the project
OpenStreetMap in a Dutch Linux magazine and thought that might be the
solution to create a digital map of Morocco. OpenStreetMap is a
successful project now and it keeps growing.
What
are the benefits.
The benefits are huge, I think,
with a digital map. Morocco will have a big boost in economical
terms. Just to mention a few: cheap navigation devices for Morocco,
tourists, import/export, just name it!
In the early days, creating a
map was an expensive process. For countries like Morocco it was
impossible to create a digital map (walou flus). Nowadays, almost
every smartphone has a built in GPS, so collecting gps positions is
not expensive anymore, it just need some time and effort volunteers.
Which means, today we can create our own digital map for free, thanks
to OSM.
What
is OSM?
OSM is an acronym for
OpenStreetMap, it's a project aimed to create a digital map of the
whole world for the people of the world and for free. This means you
don't have to pay for expensive license fees like the commercial
ones. You can just download the map from the available databases and
use it for yourself, commercially or whatever. It's totally free :).
That's why I'm so thankful those who started OpenStreetMap.
How come it's free, you would
ask. Well, that's because the gps data is collected by the people of
the world. Everybody help each other by collecting gps data and with
special software the data will be processed and saved in the
database.
You want to see the result?
Check www.openstreetmap.org
and go to Rotterdam as an example. Zoom in to the center of the city
and see how detailed the map is. This is all realized by the
volunteers who collected gps data, that's cool right. We can do this
magic too and put Morocco on the map!
Introduction
to GPS.
This is a very short basic
understanding about how GPS works. Without going too much into
details, there are special gps-satellites in the space moving around
with the earth in a fixed position above the earth (show some
pictures). These satellites send accurate signals with very accurate
timings. Because of the signals and the timings one can calculate the
distance between the sender and the receiver. To calculate a position
on the earth, one needs at least three satellites. So if a GPS
receives for example like 6 satellites with good signal strength,
than the receiver can calculate its position with an accuracy of just
a few meters, depending on the circumstances of the location (like
buildings, trees etc.).
A GPS position consists of
Longitude, Latitude and Altitude, see picture below. for the
understanding of each. Altitude is just the height with respect to
the sea level.
Let's
start!
Well, you are already started
by reading this article :), so that's good!
There are several steps to help
build Moroccan digital map:
- Collect gps data
- Upload data to OSM server
- Edit map
- Edit data
- Render map
Collecting
gps data
Positions: You need a GPS
device, the simplest one is your smartphone (if it's built in).
Especially if there is software on your phone that can collect
gps-positions. You just connect it to your pc and upload it. I have a
HTC P3300 (WM5/6) and a HTC Desire (Android), both can run
OSMtracker. This is a software that can record gps positions and also
audio. So while you're recording gps-positions you can also record
audio, to speak in the streetnames, parks, markets, pump stations,
beaches, hotels etc... Those additional data are very valuable, so
if possible add them too.
For a list of software check
out this link:
Uploading
data
Well, there you are with your
collected data and now what. Ok, what seems important is to have your
gps data saved as GPX. So it's important to find out if the software
for your GPS device supports that. If you have some problems with
that, check for more info on
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_1.2.1
. Normally if you use software suggested by OSM, you should have no
problems with it.
Ok, than we want to upload the
data, but wait, you need an account! Relax, you don't need a passport
for that, so illegal Moroccans are welcome too :). You need an
account, so the first thing you have to do is to sign in. When you
are finished with your registration, do the following:
- Go
to the main
OSM page.
- Login (remember you
need an OSM account by signing up here).
- Click “GPS traces”
on the top.
- Click on "See just
your traces, or upload a trace".
- In the 3 boxes at the
top do the following:
- Find and select the file you wish to upload.
- Name the file.
- Add helpful tags that can be used to find it such as “Tanger MA”.
If
you would like your data to be available to others (encouraged) click
on the "Public?" box. Click "Upload" and voila!
It
will take some time to upload the data to OSM. However, once you
uploaded it, you can immediately use it.
Edit
the map
Once
done you can download the data from the editor JOSM, together with
all other data in that area. Alternatively, you can open it into the
editor Potlatch, by clicking the 'edit' link to the right of the
trace (not the one at the top). For further details on how to use
JOSM, see this link: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM
Edit
data
To
give your traces you recorded a meaning, you need to add labels or
tags to it. Like highways, streets, river, town, cities etc. check
this link for more info:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_1.4.1
By
the way, you can change language on OSM's wikisite. So if you prefer
French instead of English, than select the right language.
Render
map
Finally you can render the map
using some local tools on your pc or wait for some time and see the
result on OSM :). If you want to develop your own Moroccan navigation
software (as a project for the university or you want to earn money
with it) you can download the map data and rock like a sheikha :).
Well that's it for now, it's a
short introduction to the world of free digital map called OSM. So,
what are you looking at? Go and put Morocco on the digital map!
How
to organise?
Begin with the highway (it's
the easiest), center of the city, big streets...
Ask help from the
government...as tourism is an important sector for the future of
Morocco :). There come more about this article...
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