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Having had a look at the mapy.cz maps I was curious as to the source of the base mapping data they use: from a look around their website it seems like they use a mixture of OpenStreetMap data for paths and features etc., combined with elevation data from https://sonny.4lima.de/ for the UK, it looks like they use the official Czech government data for the maps in CZ, and data from e.g SwissTopo for Switzerland.
OpenStreetMaps is an open-source project that works in a similar way to Wikipedia, but for mapping: they offer a freely accessible and modifiable map that is created by individual contributors, versus something like Google Maps where the maps and data are owned by a company. The project has been around for years but the community-created nature of it means that data may be/is incomplete in sections, and quality control is dependent on other members of the community.
The elevation data seems to be put together as a volunteer project by someone called Sonny, in Austria, using openly available data from aerial/satellite laser scans and surveys. His website states that the data he’s using for the UK is a mix of the openly-accessible Ordnance Survey data, combined with data released by the Environment Agency and the Welsh, Scottish, NI and IoM governments (some of these government data sources seem to be a higher resolution that what is provided by OS, but I couldnt find out from a brief Google whether the data that OS use to produce their maps/what they offer commercially is of a higher resolution than what they offer ‘for free’, but I’d hazard a guess that would be the case).
Obviously OS maps can and do have errors, and the UK elevation data on mapy.cz seems to be largely sourced from the same (or at least similar) sources as those used for the OS maps but i think this will differ between countries.
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