Thoughts - They Aren't as Good as EVS Precision and That's the Fact , Jack!

Olimarao Atoll Locator Map

You all remember my last post, Olimarao Atoll? I spent a few days prior to posting it doing research into available online mapping. I checked out the standard mapping packages for Olimarao Atoll vicinity maps. Check out my results below...

Olimarao Atoll - Vicinity Map from Google Maps - Some land polygons, no labels.

Olimarao Atoll - Vicinity Map from Yahoo Local Maps - Nothing here.

Olimarao Atoll - Vicinity Map from Bing Maps - And nothing here.

Olimarao Atoll - Vicinity Map from OpenStreetMap - Land polygons and labels.

Google, Yahoo and Bing Maps rely on satellite imagery. The underlying maps of these oceanic island areas are largely neglected in map coverage. Google Maps provides land polygons from a mapping file similar to WVS 1:250,000. OpenStreetMap uses NGA PGS polygons along with NGA Country name files. Clearly the superior map product for oceanic islands is found on OpenStreetMap. But wait! What about a vicinity map using what I call EVS rough precision digitizing. Using Landsat ETM+ imagery, I could quickly digitize island polygons and reefs giving a much clearer map of the island.

Elato, Lomolior and Olimarao Atolls - Landsat N55-05_2000 Coverage

Landsat N55-05_2000 is the imagery I initially tried to work with. As you can see, The vicinity is not covered. It is a blank. So I did what any good mapper would do, improvised. Using Google Earth, I found the blank area and DigitalGlobe had hi-res imagery of the islands located within the blank area.

Elato and Lomolior Atolls - DG Preview Image from GE

Elato and Lomolior Atolls - DG Preview Image from GE Cropped

I decided to use the DG Image Preview from GE. I copied it, cropped it and georectified it. From there, I was able to complete the digitizing within a few minutes. I did this for all islands within the Landsat blank area. Atolls should have reefs digitized as they make up a critically important aspect of this feature. My finished map uses five layers - 1) land polygon 2) reef shallow 3) reef deep 4) ocean and 5) name labels. My island name layer is an extract from NGA's country files.

Olimarao Atoll - Vicinity Map from EVS Rough Precision (1-500,000)

This was all done using Global Mapper. The scale for the above map is 1:500,000. Now that is what I call a real oceanic island vicinity map.

Enjoy!

Thoughts - What If EVS Precision Maps Were Included in OpenStreetMap?

OpenStreetMap - Arutua Atoll - NGA PGS Shoreline Map

I've been making EVS Precision island maps for well over three years. Using Landsat ETM+ imagery as my base image from which I have created most of my 10,000 plus island polygons. All of my island maps currently reside on my E-Drive and on my I-Drive. Lots of islands doing few people any good. About three weeks ago a person from Google contacted me and wanted to discuss EVS Islands. I continue to hold out hope that my EVS Precision island maps will be licensed by one of the big three map folks. So far, I still have the 10,000 islands on my computer.

A number of readers have suggested I upload my island map files into OpenStreetMap. I have resisted the suggestion. I keep thinking that someone will want to pay me a fee to use my island maps.

The question I pose to my knowledgeable readers, "Who owns my map files if they are posted to OpenStreetMap? Do I continue to own them? Could I sell them to another user, yet still keep them on OpenStreetMap?

OpenStreetMap - Arutua Atoll - EVS Precision Map

If EVS Precision island maps were posted to OpenStreetMap this is what the user could view. That is if all four to five layers of information were included. I would suggest an ocean color change. My ocean blue looks a lot better than OSM's puke green color.

Depending on the answers to my previously posed questions will help me to determine whether I should post my EVS Precision island maps. Any answers?

Enjoy!