OpenStreetMap.org was covered extensively in FLOSS Weekly 81: OpenStreetMap.org . What makes this project more interesting than a lot of open source projects is that it covers not just software, but also data. The data itself is owned by the community and in a wiki style format, updated by anyone who finds something in need of correction.

All of the major mapping providers seem to use the same data set from commercial companies Tele Atlas and NAVTEQ. These companies have cornered the market for the most part because any official public domain source for the data is based on Tiger census data that is old and fairly out dated. Although I wonder with the recent census if they will come out with new information or not.

The impact of this cascades into your every day life in ways you can't imagine. Ever wonder why there aren't a lot of iPhone and Android apps using mapping data? If they aren't based on OpenStreetMaps.org data they will quickly be shut down by a legion of lawyers. Ever wonder why you can't get something fixed when you find an error on Mapquest? Same sort of reason. I did find an error on google maps when I was walking the other day and I sent it to them, they actually agreed to fix it and promised to send me an update when it was done.

So AOL recently announced that they will be investing $1M USD in open source, specifically focused on markets covered by the community site patch.com. I'm not sure what this money will be used for. I couldn't find any sort of press release on their website discussing it.

More interesting AOL is admitting that Mapquest will re-launch their UK Site. I wonder how much they paid Tele Atlas for this data. I can't imagine how much value they would get out of OpenSourceMaps.org if they invested even half that money there instead of with Tele Atlas.

I wonder if this project is a pilot project for the Unite States?