Non-profit project overTure maps, working under the auspices of the organization Linux Foundation, has recently announced the release of the TRANSPORTATION cartographic database. This database, which is the first of its kind suitable for widespread use, contains information about 86 million kilometers of roads around the world and is already being utilized in applications by Microsoft, META, and TOMTOM. The full archive of the database in Geoparquet format takes up approximately 500 GB, and users can load separate segments for selected territories through aweb interface with an interactive map.
The founders of the Overture Maps project, including Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom, joined forces on the neutral platform provided by Linux Foundation to create a comprehensive collection of open maps. They also developedtools for working with maps and aunified schema for storing cartographic data. The public can access these published maps and tools to create and maintain their own map services.
In building the Overture Maps collection, cartographic data from OpenStreetmap was expanded with information provided by project participants and open sources. Unlike OpenStreetmap, which is a community-driven platform for creating and editing maps, Overture Maps focuses on aggregating existing open maps from various sources. Additionally, Overture Maps allows users to transfer their maps to OpenStreetmap, distributing additional data under a compatible license.
The maps shared by project participants are distributed under the CDLA (Community Data License Agreement), while maps loaded from OpenStreetmap are licensed under the ODbL (Open Database License). These licenses were specifically designed for distributing databases and consider legal nuances related to mixing data from multiple sources and maintaining licensing conditions when altering the structure of records. The initial texts of Overture Maps are provided under the MIT license.