Virtual USA and OpenStreetMap are very different things. OpenStreetMap isn't just about merging together data, it's about community engagement and citizen participation in creating and maintaining their own local data. OpenStreetMap is global and allows anyone to freely contribute, edit, update and use the geographic data.
The Virtual USA projects, while valuable, are more about building "common operating pictures" and possibly sharing out the data, although I haven't seen this happen yet.
The USGS National Map is another example of aggregating and pulling together information that has actually talked about exactly this idea of using citizen mapping and data creation as a way to have the entire nation help maintain the national map. http://cegis.usgs.gov/vgi/
Agreed! Virtual USA is developed and used by government agencies (as I understand it) and OpenStreetMap is developed and used by everyone. . . but for different levels of government and different agencies to collaborate and share information, well, that's revolutionary on its own!
Thanks for sharing the USGS link. Hadn't seen it before.
An excellent example of a large effort that uses collaborative governance is the organization that handles wild fire and forest fire. I believe in collaborative governance because I have used it on a smaller scale in reinvention labs that are still alive and well and constantly changing. A word of caution: the lines of busines -- if they are internal to an organization -- have been known to become electronic stove pipes.
Thanks much for sharing this! Have forwarded the link to the local government councils in my area.
Mike.