CloudMade: Open Data on Cloud Nine

It's always good to see people who have given to the commons finding a way to make some dosh too. I've written before about the worthy OpenStreetMap, and now it seems that Steve Coast, the man behind it, has started a new outfit, Cloud Made, that aims to put it to commercial use. Alas, its Web site isn't very informative yet:

Building on our expertise in the fields of community mapping, open data and open systems we offer innovative solutions customised to your needs.

CloudMade approach problems differently.

Applying agile techniques to heavyweight problems, we can help you make the most of exciting new opportunities that commons based production methods offer.

Er, right.

Bit more info here, though:

ZXY, the company behind Cloudmade, is comprised of London-based entrepreneurs Nick Black and Steve Coast. They are two of the proprietors of Open Street Map (Steve launched the project and is on the board; Nick is a spokesperson; Both contribute to the map). ZXY is also behind geo-advertising company Mappam (Radar post). As two of the leaders of a large, open source project the pair will have to balance the needs of their business with the needs of the project -- luckily these will usually be in sync. OSM now gets over 1000 contributions a month (a huge milestone). I suspect that commercial deals will be viewed as validation by the community.

Indeed.

Up and At 'Em, Mappam

OpenStreetMap has always been one of my favourite open endeavours. It's a fine example of people getting fed up with official intransigence - in this case of the UK Government refusing to release public geodata - and getting off their bums to do something, rather than just whinge about it as others (like me) do.

So it's particularly gratifying to see that the chaps behind it are launching a geodata-related business, called Mappam:

Mappam helps you make money by adding relevant ads targeted to the exact place your visitors are browsing.

It's easy to set up and works with all the big web map services - Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, MultiMap and OpenStreetMap/OpenLayers.

Let's hope they've, er, found a way to make lots of dosh. (Via OpenBusiness.)