Thursday 22 August 2013

PfAFing About : opening UK address data


IMG_8283a
The Postcode Address File doesn't work all the time.
I recently mentioned that the Royal Mail's Postcode Address File (PAF) had elicited a lot of recent controversy. Well the controversy continues as the UK government has announced that the PAF business will be privatised along with the Royal Mail despite protests from some well-known people:

Naturally this has led to discussion on twitter as to whether one can create a fully open alternative to PAF.

The rest of this post is probably mainly of interest to mappers and OpenData advocates in the UK. To the outside world UK OpenStreetMappers seem to be oddly obsessed with postcodes. I hope some of the reasons for this may become apparent from this post.

Tuesday 13 August 2013

History Workshop at SotmBaltics

On the Sunday morning of the State of the Maps Baltics Susanna Ånäs had organised a workshop on mapping historical geographies.


Getting the History mapping workshop underway
Senate Room, University Main Building, Tartu


Saturday 10 August 2013

Cats in Riga

Knitted Cats on stall in Egle
Craft Market, Riga
Last week I was on the bus from Riga to Tallinn when I checked my twitter stream to find that Zverik had asked me to look out for this souvenir:


Unfortunately the message arrived too late. Knowing the fondness for cats of many OSMers in Eastern Europe I thought I'd check a few souvenir shops in Riga on my return. I didn't know of Riga's association with cats, especially black ones, but soon found out.


Latvian folk-beliefs about cats
from sign on Craft Stall (Egle)
For cat lovers here are a few photos of cats and feline iconography around Riga.

Detail of Laba Kompanija / Good Company by Andra Kurzemniece
Exhibition of textile art, St. Peter's Church, Riga

Park Cat
Souvenir Cat
(outside shop which sells wooden cats seen above)

Street Cat

House Cat
Hotel Cat

Cat House

Fed Cat