Google Maps is super useful right? The trouble is, it’s theirs, not yours. Sure you can use it to look for things and so on, but it’s Google’s to give-or-take as they see fit. Well if that bugs you, and you have cartographic desires then have a peek at the People’s Map. Created for the people, by the people, the People’s Map is open-source cartography meaning if the map of your street, isn’t curved quite right, you can dive in and fix it, or use the map for any purpose you so desire.

So far it covers over 400 sq km of London stretching from Richmond Park in the South West to Epping Forest in the North East. It’s free of Crown Copyright and derived data issues and can be used by anyone, whether they be a marketer, cartographer, GIS professional, web guru, graphic designer or member of the public. By early 2010 they’re hoping to have the entire area within the M25 available.

The People’s Map is unique, having a single database for all eleven map scales, from 1:1m to 1:12,000, with a clean, clear and consistent style across all scales, something that no other mapping achieves. There are eleven layers with over 600 different feature classifications. These layers include admin boundaries, postcodes, buildings, built up areas, coastline, drainage, land use, place name gazetteer, points of interest, roads & paths, railways, rivers and canals.

Tags: people’s+map, open+source+mapping, map+of+london