OpenStreetMap: User-Generated Street Maps

TLDR

OpenStreetMap is a collaborative, user‑generated street‑mapping project that provides free, editable map data licensed under new copyright schemes. The project seeks to produce map data that is freely usable, editable, and licensed under new copyright schemes. A core group of about 40 volunteers maintain the server and core software, while a broader community of developers builds tools to make OSM data available across platforms.

Abstract

The OpenStreetMap project is a knowledge collective that provides user-generated street maps. OSM follows the peer production model that created Wikipedia; its aim is to create a set of map data that's free to use, editable, and licensed under new copyright schemes. A considerable number of contributors edit the world map collaboratively using the OSM technical infrastructure, and a core group, estimated at approximately 40 volunteers, dedicate their time to creating and improving OSM's infrastructure, including maintaining the server, writing the core software that handles the transactions with the server, and creating cartographical outputs. There's also a growing community of software developers who develop software tools to make OSM data available for further use across different application domains, software platforms, and hardware devices. The OSM project's hub is the main OSM Web site.