(English) weeklyOSM 454

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26/03/2019-01/04/2019

Logo

The Magic Roundabout – in OSM with some “mapping for the renderer” 1 | © Alby (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Mapping

  • User yumean1119 announced that voting has started for the improved proposal (automatic translation) on the use of highway=cycleway in Japan. The vote ends 14 April.
  • Silent Spike proposed leisure=inflatable_park for playgrounds with inflatable equipment and asks for comments on his proposal.
  • If you’ve ever wanted to add a tag to show that a railway track is not used regularly for scheduled services, including trams and subways, you might be interested in SelfishSeahorse’s proposal. The Request for Comments period has just started and feedback is much appreciated.
  • Warin proposes a new way to mark areas of steps such as the Spanish Steps in Rome. His proposal is now up for discussion.
  • The vote on the proposal that was drafted for better differentiation of various kinds of police facilities has been postponed to allow more discussion on the topic.

Community

  • A number of people have expressed concern about the way the development of iD is organised and specifically how iD is influencing tagging in OSM. This time Frederik Ramm, board member of both OSMF and the German chapter of OSM, raised (de) his concerns and asked for feedback. (automatic translation)
  • An issue on GitHub about tagging track type in the iD editor became contentious. @matkoniecz suggested that iD deliberately pushes “probably not safe for most cars” as a definition for highway=track, and Bryan Housel, iD maintainer, responded “I basically just disregard everything on the tagging mailing list and the OSM wiki”. This was used as an example in the discussion referred to in the previous item…
  • The application period for this year’s Google Summer of Code is now open and, as in previous years, OSM has been been accepted as a mentoring organisation. You, as a student, have the chance of getting paid while working on open source software projects such as OSM.
  • Former OSMF board member Ilya Zverev pens a critique (automatic translation) of OSM’s “do-ocracy”.
  • OpenStreetMap Belgium published an article titled Heritage in Flanders and Crowd-Sourced Projects. They explain how to add information about heritage sites in OSM and Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. The article doesn’t just focus on gathering and adding information but also on how to get and use information on historical places.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

Events

  • The Albanian Open Source Conference OSCAL 2019, which will take place on 18 and 19 May 2019 in Tirana, Albania, is looking for speakers.
  • For mappers who like to plan well in advance: The FOSSGIS 2020, a geospatial conference in Germany that covers many open source, open data and OSM topics, will be held on 11 to 14 March 2020 in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany. The article also features (de) highlights of the recent conference. (automatic translation)

Humanitarian OSM

  • Following requests received by HOT from several humanitarian partners they are providing support to assist on the ground teams already providing humanitarian aid in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe after Cyclone Idai. HOT is specifically looking for people with experience as Data specialist or Partner liaison. Apparently, HOT also allows applications from people requiring reimbursement for their activity.
  • After Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique and Zimbabwe, HOT is looking for help to support the local emergency response such as Doctors Without Borders. The article lays out different ways you can support the efforts.
  • The openrouteservice instance for disaster management, operated by the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology, is supporting HOT’s activation following Cyclone Idai by updating the data for routing almost hourly.

Maps

  • The MapOSMaptic instance at osm-baustelle.de has implemented a hillshading overlay.
  • Andrew Harvey announced the re-launch of a modernised version of BeyondTracks. BeyondTracks started life in 2012 with the aim of helping people find enjoyable walks around Sydney, Australia. The scope of the site has expanded to cover all of Australia and people who would like to suggest a walk are encouraged to contact BeyondTracks.

switch2OSM

  • A Spanish version of the NewsHereNow website/webapp is now available.Simply click on the “Use my GPS location” button to find the physically nearest, non-chain (“local”) restaurants. If your favourite restaurant is missing, please make sure it (including its website URL) is on OpenStreetMap. There is also a direct link to OpenStreetMap centred at your nearest intersection.

Open Data

  • EldoHub and OpenStreetMap Kenya received funding from Mapbox and the UK government to take part in the 2019 Open Data Day, on 2 March 2019. The Open Knowledge Foundation blogged about the events in Kenya. These took place in EldoHub, a technology innovation hub in Uasin Gishu County; and in Nairobi, where an open mapping track was held to discuss topics such as open spatial data and crowdsourced mapping.
  • ČÚZK, the Czech national survey agency, just published some of their data for commercial and non-commercial use as open data. We are getting another great source for OpenStreetMap in the Czech Republic.
  • The map at electricitymap.org visualises CO₂ emissions and other details about countries’ mix of the production and consumption of energy. The map is currently in German only. However, the project is open source and the developers are asking for help with translation.

Software

  • Nick Whitelegg announced the release of Hikar 0.2.0, an augmented reality app for walkers and hikers. The app is available for Android and the code is open source. The app, which helps the user with footpaths and signposts on the camera feed, now covers the whole of Europe.
  • User clementroux writes (fr) (automatic translation) in his blog about his app Next2Me, which finds and displays facilities with the key amenity=* in an adjustable radius around the current location – of course based on OSM.

Releases

  • JOSM has been updated to version 14945. The validator received various improvements and the Add Tag dialog shows now last used tags not only last added tags.
  • Version 0.12 of the GraphHopper Routing Engine has been released. Turn restrictions and turn costs are now supported in the speed mode, the Isochrone module was made compatible with public transit and the average speed calculation was improved.
  • User Wambacher is constantly updating his OSM Software Watchlist, which includes almost all OSM-related software along with the date of their latest release. Most recently Basecamp, Mapillary, Vespucci and many others received an update. Wambacher is highlighting one new addition: OSHDB, a high-performance data analysis platform for OSM’s full-history data.

Did you know …

  • … how to tag a bus bay where buses can stop without blocking traffic? The tag bus_bay can be added to the node of the stopping position of the bus – or it can be added to the road, representing the full length of the bay. JOSM’s PT_Assistant plugin provides support for adding them conveniently on ways with its double split map mode.
  • [1] … the “Magic Roundabout“? On OSM it looks like this.

OSM in the media

  • Le Monde describes (automatic translation) how local mappers in various African cities are using the JungleBus app to map local bus routes.
  • eepublishers in South Africa understand more about the threat to OpenStreetMap posed by the EU Copyright Directive than members of the European Parliament. Or should the EU MPs be interest-driven?

Other “geo” things

  • The deployment of “Strava Scramblers” to reduce conflicts at popular spots made local riders angry.(This April fool’s day article caught many readers off guard).
  • The AGILE conference in Limassol, Cyprus (17 to 20 June 2019), which is about Geospatial Technologies for Local and Regional Development, will organise a workshop called “GEOgraphical and CULTural aspects of Geo-information: Issues and Solutions” and invites you to submit a short OSM paper.

Upcoming Events

WhereWhatWhenCountry
Kawagoe川越お花見マッピングパーティ20192019-04-06japan
La RicheLa Riche (37)#Ateliers d’initiation à OpenStreetMap2019-04-06france
Kyotoお花見!オープンデータソン in 京都2019-04-07japan
RennesRéunion mensuelle2019-04-08france
BordeauxRéunion mensuelle2019-04-08france
EssenMappertreffen2019-04-08germany
TaipeiOSM x Wikidata #32019-04-08taiwan
TorontoToronto Mappy Hour2019-04-08canada
LyonRencontre mensuelle pour tous2019-04-09france
MunichMünchner Stammtisch2019-04-09germany
Salt Lake CitySLC Mappy Hour2019-04-09united states
ViersenOSM Stammtisch Viersen2019-04-09germany
CologneStammtisch Köln2019-04-10germany
Buenos AiresTaller Introducción a JOSM en FOSS4G-AR 20192019-04-10argentina
LeobenStammtisch Obersteiermark2019-04-11austria
ZurichOSM Stammtisch Zurich2019-04-11switzerland
Berlin130. Berlin-Brandenburg Stammtisch2019-04-12germany
Salt Lake CityUniversity of Utah Campus Mapping Party2019-04-13united states
BiellaIncontro mensile2019-04-13italia
Cologne Bonn AirportBonner Stammtisch2019-04-16germany
LüneburgLüneburger Mappertreffen2019-04-16germany
ReuttiStammtisch Ulmer Alb2019-04-16germany
ToulouseRencontre mensuelle2019-04-17france
KarlsruheStammtisch2019-04-17germany
BremenBremer Mappertreffen2019-04-22germany
Salt Lake CitySLC Map Night2019-04-23united states
NottinghamNottingham pub meetup2019-04-23england
Joué-lès-ToursRencontre Mensuelle2019-04-23france
Barcelona#geomobBCN2019-04-24spain
MontpellierRéunion mensuelle2019-04-24france
DüsseldorfStammtisch2019-04-24germany
Phone/Video ConferencingMappy Hour US2019-04-24united states
LübeckLübecker Mappertreffen2019-04-25germany
MontpellierState of the Map France 20192019-06-14-2019-06-16france
Angra do HeroísmoErasmus+ EuYoutH_OSM Meeting2019-06-24-2019-06-29portugal
MinneapolisState of the Map US 20192019-09-06-2019-09-08united states
EdinburghFOSS4GUK 20192019-09-18-2019-09-21united kingdom
HeidelbergErasmus+ EuYoutH_OSM Meeting2019-09-18-2019-09-23germany
HeidelbergHOT Summit 20192019-09-19-2019-09-20germany
HeidelbergState of the Map 2019 (international conference)2019-09-21-2019-09-23germany
Grand-BassamState of the Map Africa 20192019-11-22-2019-11-24ivory coast

Note: If you like to see your event here, please put it into the calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM. Please check your event in our public calendar preview and correct it, where appropriate.

This weeklyOSM was produced by Nakaner, NunoMASAzevedo, Polyglot, Rogehm, SK53, SunCobalt, TheSwavu, YoViajo, derFred.

2 Replies to “(English) weeklyOSM 454”

  1. I’m the author of the BeyondTracks site mentioned, I wanted to clarify the recent announcement we made was the launch of a new map style based on OpenStreetMap data designed to work better for Australian bushwalking, https://www.beyondtracks.com/map.

    Specifically we show most features from a much lower zoom level (based on an importance rank and density of other features).

    The database of walks on the site are not included in OpenStreetMap as these are mostly subjective opinions on good routes, but in keeping with the ODbL license are released as free and open source data.