Canadian GeoBase Being Imported into OpenStreetMap

The GeoBase dataset which includes political boundaries, all roads, CanVec data, inland water network, and satellite imagery is in the process of being imported into the OpenStreeMap database.   The intention is to import all of the data except the elevation data.

• Political Boundaries                 Complete (Jan 2009)  
• Road Network
• CanVec data
• Web Mapping Service (WMS)
• Geodetic Network
• Geographical Names
• Hydro Network(inland Water)
• Satellite Imagery
• Elevation data                      Will not be imported

CanVec data is derived from the National Topographic Data Base (NTDB), GeoBase, and Landsat 7 imagery. CanVec contains more than 90 topographic entities organized into 11 themes including Administrative Boundaries, Buildings and Structures, Energy, Hydrography, Industrial and Commercial Areas, Places of Interest, Relief and Landforms, Toponymy, Transportation, Vegetation and Water Saturated Soils.

GeoBase is a federal, provincial and territorial government initiative of the Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG). It provides a common, up-to-date and maintained base of quality geospatial data for all of Canada which is available on a no fee basis and with unrestricted use.

A legal analysis of the  GeoBase and OSM licenses concluded that they were compatible. GeoBase and OSM agreed to include the GeoBase data in OSM because the goal of both GeoBase and OSM is to provide free geospatial data to as wide an audience as possible.

The Canadian Council on Geomatics (CCOG) is the major federal-provincial-territorial consultative body for geographic information management. CCOG advises on proposed legislation relevant to geomatics (especially land surveying), and to develop and promote national geomatics standards.