OpenStreetMap : crowd sourcing client

Location-based mobile services/applications are becoming more and more popular both on the web and in the mobile phones, according to research firm Gartner. The demand for accurate maps is rapidly growing and the possibility for the user to contribute to add details to the maps. In many parts of the world maps cost a lot of money to get and each time you want to update the maps there is a fee to update them. OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an open source project that provides free wiki-based maps. The OpenStreetMap has an engaged and active community of mappers that constantly improve the map data. One way is to record GPS tracks and upload them to the OSM web site. On the site there is a drawing tool that can be used to draw and tag objects like road, fields, houses, rivers etc. Also Points-Of-Interests (POI) can be added to the map like bus stops, train stations, stores, restaurants, tourist objects etc. This thesis work shows the process on how to contribute to OSM and presents different techniques used for collecting useful data that is used to build the maps. Also the process on how the Java ME client application was made for crowd sourcing contribution to the OSM. The client “Mobile OSM Creator” let’s you easily record GPS track points, take waypoints and record audio clips. Each of these features is saved to a file that’s in GPS eXchange Format (GPX) format, which can then later be uploaded to your OSM-account or imported to JOSM or any other map editor. Points-Of-Interests can be uploaded directly to OSM from the mobile phone by logging in with your OSM- account. The client can be customized by the user in a lot of different ways. All in all the “Mobile OSM Creator” is a feature rich application where you among many things can set GPS tracking frequency, offline/online maps and render styles for the map. This client can be downloaded from Ericsson Labs (https://labs.ericsson.com/applications).Validerat; 20101217 (root