A few of us will be heading over to the “OpenStreetMap Mapping party”:http://community.cloudmade.com/event/custom/generic/show/169 this Saturday (6/20) where we’ll meet up with other mappers, grab a GPS device, and hit the streets to better map out parts of Washington, DC.

All the data we collect — like roads, businesses, landmarks, hiking trails, etc. — will then be uploaded to “OpenStreetMap”:http://www.openstreetmap.org/. The data in OSM is maintained like a wiki, so if you find a mistake, outdated information, or missing information you can do something about it. The data is made available under a creative commons license, so it’s free for anyone to use in any application. Mapping parties like the one happening this weekend are an important part of the OSM project. They help volunteers learn how to use GPS devices and upload their data, and they get more people walking around with GPS devices working to add more accurate and up-to-date the data.

For more information about the OpenStreetMap project watch the video introduction or check out the “official wiki”:http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/.

!http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3260/2765757383_6a5c2aca67.jpg?v=0! Photo by “mroach”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mroach/.