OSM-P2P

Description

Gregor MacLennan:

"OpenStreetMap tools are a great fit for our partners: they allow anybody in the community to learn and collaborate to create a map, and OSM makes no assumptions about what is mapped or how. However, collaborating on OSM requires an internet connection, and the global OSM database is not the appropriate place for more sensitive community information.

That is why we have created osm-p2p, an OpenStreetMap database that does not require a server or central source of truth. Every device – laptop, phone or tablet – can have its own database with a copy of the map. Users can synchronize edits with other users over the internet, a local network connection, or synchronize edits to a USB drive and send it on a canoe downriver to the next village." (http://www.digital-democracy.org/blog/openstreetmap-without-servers/)

Characteristics

"We built osm-p2p in response to the needs of the indigenous communities we work with:

• Editing and collaborating on map data should not require an internet connection.

• Every community should have a full copy of the data to inform the local political process and to increase redundancy

• Decisions about what data to share with whom are up to the local communities, not the software nor a remote hosting provider

• Collecting and editing map data should not require specialized expert skills."

(http://www.digital-democracy.org/blog/openstreetmap-without-servers/)

More Information

• technical intro: http://www.digital-democracy.org/blog/osm-p2p/