OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.

To download the OSM data for a specific region in the world, you can click here and then click export. However, if you need to download a map of an area consisting more than 50000 nodes, you should visit their planet website.

Conducted at the Chair of Information Technology (Communication Electronics), Navigation and Localization group, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörn Thielecke of the Electical Engineering Department at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU).

The downloaded files will be in the XML form and with .osm extension. You can refer to sample_map.osm as an example, which shows an area in Erlangen, Germany.

Also, the OpenStreetMap describes the world with 3 major elements,

1. Node: Every node indicates a point in the world.
2. Way: A combination of multiple nodes, which creates an open curve, e.g. a highway.
3. Relation: A combination of all the 3 elements, e.g. a building.

Every single element with its information in a given area will be extracted. Then related elements will be grouped together to identify an object. Doing so, we can recognize every object (of course if it is mentioned in the OpenStreetMap), with its further information given by people, in any area of the world.

As you can understand from the above explanation, the improvement potential of this project is non-ending, so feel free to fork it!