I first heard about the new Natural Earth data set at a cartography conference in Sacramento a few months back. I was very excited about it and I am glad to see it released. This is a great volunteer effort to improve geography, cartography, and society at large. I know if will fill an important need for quality global geospatial data sets.
I wasn’t sure where to post this first message, but I am a land surveyor so this seemed like the best place. (I almost put this message in the introductions section.)
I’m interested in learning more about how I might be able to contribute to improving the Natural Earth Vector data sets. I figured administrative boundaries would be a natural fit!
Is there a mechanism for coordinating volunteers? Are you guys using any type of version control system for contributions like open source software projects?
How can I help with the administrative boundaries data sets? Can I do more than submit corrections? Has there been any thought about data sets for things like natural park boundaries, adminstrative forest boundaries, land description system boundaries, and things like that?
At any rate, I know the project is new, so there may not be a mechanism for people to contribute in this way, but I am interested in doing so. I can sling a little code, and I am familiar with open source software development, so if I can help set up the mechanism, let me know.
The Sunburned Surveyor
@ The Sunburned Surveyor: We’re manually making edits right now but it’s possible to set-up a SVN repository if edits pick up.
Tom is most the way thru getting a National Parks theme for the US up and running. I don’t think that includes national forest or other “park-like” boundaries. Let me connect the two of you 
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