A Participant in the Web of Platform - Participatory Mapping: New Data, New Cartography - page 46

contrary, OSM 12 aims to provide a free base map which can
be re-used by anyone. OSM is a foundation created in 2004
by Steve Coast to provide a geo-referenced database and to
sustain the life of its community (600,000 members, with
10,000 in France only, see [MUS 12]). OSM works according
to the following principle: the members create a map of the
world themselves on the basis of their own contributions in a
way similar to Wikipedia. The contributions can be of three
types:

- Creating geo-localized landmarks (points, lines, etc.)
that

are integrated into the database through various

technical supports equipped with GPS receivers.

- “Copying” open data geo-localized from different sources
in the OSM database.

- Organizing mapping parties where collective surveying
in various areas keeps the maps up to date especially around
points of interest (shops, etc.).

The combination of these three methods results in a
geo-located multisource database structured following a
system of “tags”. The database is moderated both by the
community and by robots, again, in a way similar to
Wikipedia.

Both from its technical characteristics, its community-
based structure and the license applied to the data, OSM
differs from other base map providers through APIs. Indeed,
the latter - with Google Maps up front - publish base maps
through a data library that a Web user can obtain through
queries. OSM also uses an API, but it is first and foremost a
geographical database in which maps are only one among

12 www.openstreetmap.org.