Chapter 1. Making a Free, Editable Map of the World

Maps have always been a source of power. Armies have used them to give themselves a military advantage, traders have used them to find the shortest route between places of supply and markets, and fictional pirates have used them to find buried treasure. Those possessing a map have an advantage over those that don't.

It's no wonder then that maps and the information used to create them have been fiercely protected by companies and governments that own them. Many government and commercial mapping agencies charge high fees to use their data, impose strict restrictions on what you can do with the information, and may even make you pay to use maps you've drawn yourself. The OpenStreetMap project aims to change this by giving everyone their own map, for free, and to use for whatever they like.