ArcGIS 10 Editing Add-in For OpenStreetMap

ArcGIS 10 introduces a new add-in model making easier for developers to customize and extend certain functionality. Leveraging this model, a new editing add-in has been developed for OpenStreetMap.

For a while, ArcGIS users have been able to use the OpenStreetMap (OSM) content as a basemap in ArcGIS Desktop or in web applications thanks to a republishing of this content through ArcGIS Online. After the earthquakes, we have received many requests from users of ArcGIS who want to contribute to OSM, but who prefer to use the editing capabilities of ArcGIS Desktop.

This free add-in is designed to help ArcGIS users become part of the OpenStreetMap community providing functionality that allows users to download data from OpenStreetMap servers and store these locally into a file geodatabase. Users can then use the advanced editing environment and rich editing features of ArcGIS 10 to create, modify and delete data. Once editing is complete, these changes can be posted back to the OpenStreetMap servers for the community to use.

The interaction with the OSM server is accomplished using as set of geoprocessing tools to download, to manage, and to upload data.

A total of six tools support the a disconnected editing like workflow: download data from OSM, edit locally, and upload the result back to OSM.

Marten Hogeweg has provided a detailed write up of exactly how this add-in works and how to go about using this add-in. Information on this can be found here: http://martenhogeweg.blogspot.com/2010/…

This is a first version of the add-in and the team is looking for feedback so try and submit as much as possible. This ArcGIS 10 editing add-in for OpenStreetMap can be downloaded here: http://esriurl.com/osmeditor