weeklyOSM 545

22/12/2020-28/12/2020

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OpenTopoMap now for Garmin worldwide 1 | © OpenTopoMap | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

About us

Mapping

  • Comments are currently being sought on the following proposals:
  • Voting has started on these proposals:
    • Pumping Proposal: to add more detail to something tagged man_made=pump.
    • Rescue Stations: to extend the list of values for the emergency key to better map facilities involved in rescue operations.
  • Voting has closed on the following proposals:
    • Hazard: was approved with 35 votes for, 0 votes against, and 1 abstention.
    • Vaccination: was approved with 25 votes for, 0 votes against, and 4 abstentions.
  • Anders Torger asked the tagging list ‘Fuzzy areas again: should we have them or not?’. Fuzzy areas are things such as the Libyan Desert or Dinaric Alps, which everyone can point to on a small scale map, but as we zoom in the more arguments you’ll get.
  • Carlos Brys has written (es) > en an introduction to editing OpenStreetMap using OSM Go!
  • Taylor Smock, the maintainer of the JOSM Mapillary plugin, has added new functionality called ‘Smart Edits’, which allows mappers to add missing features detected by Mapillary’s object detection to OSM. Clicking on the markers opens a pre-filled edit dialogue with the relevant properties.
  • Mappers in Poland processed over 2000 notes during December 2020. It is the highest number since notes were added to OpenStreetMap. It is worth noting that these notes were actually processed and not just blindly closed. See the note situation in you country and maybe solve some of them! And thanks to eBin who processed a massive amount of notes which encouraged others to do the same.
  • Paul Dutronc (user polo0000) has analysed (fr) > en the mapping of glass bottle recycling collection points in Lyon for accuracy and completeness. He found that OSM is more precise about where the collection points are located, than the Métropole de Lyon’s dataset, but less complete, with only 33% of points currently mapped.
  • Tobias Jordans reported, in his diary, about a camera tripod prototype he has developed for capturing Mapillary pictures by bicycle.
  • Map Bundles is a new service by Protomaps for downloading vector basemap tiles based on OpenStreetMap data updated minute by minute. Example HTML and map styles are included. Bundles are designed to encourage rapid integration of OSM edits into custom slippy maps. You can find more details in Brandon Liu’s diary entry.

Community

  • Pointing out the discouragement felt by some new mappers within the OSM community and supporting a free and more inclusive approach, Jikka Defiño shared some tips for new mappers and described how to use the #newbie tag in her diary.

Local chapter news

  • FOSSGIS is the largest German-speaking user conference for free geographic information systems and free geodata. The organising committee is calling (de) > en for expressions of interest from people who want to present at the conference, to be held 6 to 9 June 2021 as a hybrid online and in-person event (at Rapperswil if the pandemic situation allows). Submissions from those who wish to participate must be in by 7 February 2021.
  • Nominations for the OpenStreetMap US 2021 Board election opened on 1 January 2021 and close on 24 January. Nominations can be made on the wiki page. 29 January 2021 is the deadline to become a member and be eligible to vote.
  • Inspired by Projet du mois (fr) > en and Wochenaufgabe, OpenStreetMap US has launched ’12 Months of OpenStreetMap’. January’s theme is ‘Let it Snow! A Celebration of Winter’, concentrating on snowmobile routes, ski resorts, and emergency snow routes. Suggestions of themes for future months can be made on the wiki page.

Humanitarian OSM

  • Oğuzhan Er reported on the progress being made by Yer Çizenler using their HOT community development microgrant. Their aim is to add Turkish language support to OpenStreetMap related tools, to translate the existing OpenStreetMap documents into Turkish, and to expand the infrastructure of Yer Çizenler’s volunteer base while considering gender equality and community diversity.
  • Yer Çizenler, a local NGO in Istanbul Turkey, has shared the data collected and report written after the Aegean Sea Earthquake, on Github.
  • Adhitya Dido Widyanto outlined what the Pacific Disaster Center Indonesia achieved in 2020.
  • Geoffrey Kateregga shared his thoughts about ‘Localising Community Support through regional hubs’. Geoffrey’s review of the mapping communities of East Africa is part of his work as the Community Programs Manager based out of the HOT Uganda office.

Maps

  • Walter Nordmann (Wambacher) has set up his ‘Healthcare Map’, which allows the display of doctors, pharmacies and vaccination centres against a selectable background.
  • [1] From 25 December OpenTopoMap now provides OSM maps for Garmin worldwide.

Software

  • ’15-minute Santa’ is a game where you deliver presents across Seattle. You earn more points delivering to high-density housing, and you need to refuel from shops, so you’ll have to understand where people live in relation to where they work and shop. You can download it to run on Windows, Mac, or Linux; or just play it online (slower and without music).
  • As we reported last week, version 2.0 of Maps.Me on Apple hardware has lost significant functionality. A thread on HackerNews provides further discussion with various recommendations for suitable replacement software.
  • Telegram is a messaging service used widely by the OSM community. TechCrunch reports that its founder Pavel Durov said that the platform needs to generate revenue starting next year to keep the business afloat. The service will introduce its own ad platform for public one-to-many channels and the question remains as to if these will be extended to groups in the future.
  • WHODIDIT is now working again after a server upgrade.

Releases

  • StreetComplete continues to have new features added and existing ones improved. These features include support for tagging shops and other objects as gone (directly within SC), improvements to the interface, and asking about the maximum allowed vehicle heights for roads passing under bridges.

Did you know …

  • … that support for Adobe Flash in major browsers was removed at the end of 2020? And that Adobe will block Flash content from running in Flash Player beginning 12 January 2021? As a result Potlatch 2 will be no more. Its replacement Potlatch 3 runs under Adobe AIR on Mac and Windows (Linux is a work in progress).
  • … Rob’s OSM Stuff includes a list of OSM objects in the UK that you’d expect to have a name, but which do not have a name tag?
  • … the OSM Editor Layer Index lists aerial imagery and map layers that can be used in OpenStreetMap? The equivalent list for JOSM can be found on their wiki.
  • … this simple calculator can show the shortest connection (geodesic) between two points on a world map? The site can also calculate other things such as distance to the horizon or distance from a point to a line.
  • … that MapRoulette has its own blog?

Other “geo” things

  • For over 100 years, King William’s College, a private school on the Isle of Man, has set a fiendish general knowledge quiz for its students. Originally the paper was examined twice: once sight unseen before the Christmas break, and once again when pupils returned to school. There are usually a number of geo-related questions or themes (for instance group 3 this year), but rest assured they’re as hard as the rest. The average score on the unseen paper was 2/180 with the best scores being around 50.
  • Analysis of data from weather stations near Mount Everest has shown that the height of the mountain measured by an altimeter (or your lungs) can vary by up to 740 m. This means that at times K2 can feel taller than Everest.
  • eBikeNews introduced (de) > en the new, very versatile Bryton Rider 750 bicycle navigation system.
  • The Australian edition of The Guardian presented the oddest (sometimes rude) names for real places in Australia.
  • The Geospatial Evaluation and Observation Lab (Geolab) shared their 2020 Annual Report. This Lab based at the William & Mary research university campus, Williamsburg, Virginia, collects and provides open GeoBoundaries data of administrative zones and other geolocated data. It also conducts AI projects.

Upcoming Events

WhereWhatOnlineWhenCountry
Missing Maps London Mapathon osmcalpic2021-01-05
Landau an der IsarVirtuelles Niederbayern-Treffen osmcalpic2021-01-05flag
San JoseVirtual Civic Hack & Map Night osmcalpic2021-01-08flag
BochumBochum OSM-Stammtisch (online) osmcalpic2021-01-07flag
DresdenDresdner OSM-Stammtisch osmcalpic2021-01-07flag
WarszawaVirtual community meeting. osmcalpic2021-01-08flag
Virtual meeting of the Polish OSM Association osmcalpic2021-01-09
ZürichOSM-Treffen Zürich osmcalpic2021-01-11flag
Chippewa TownshipMichigan Online Meetup osmcalpic2021-01-14flag
OpenStreetMap US Mappy Hour osmcalpic2021-01-14
Berlin151. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch (Online) osmcalpic2021-01-14flag
WarszawaVirtual community meeting. osmcalpic2021-01-15flag
LyonRencontre mensuelle (virtuelle) Lyon osmcalpic2021-01-19flag
Missing Maps DRK Online Mapathon osmcalpic2021-01-19
135. Treffen des OSM-Stammtisches Bonn osmcalpic2021-01-19
BerlinOSM-Verkehrswende #19 (Online) osmcalpic2021-01-19flag
LüneburgLüneburger Mappertreffen (online) osmcalpic2021-01-19flag

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by Mateusz Konieczny, Nordpfeil, Polyglot, rogehm, SK53, Sammyhawkrad, TheSwavu, derFred.