weekly – semanario – hebdo – 週刊 – týdeník – Wochennotiz – 주간 – tygodnik – A summary of things happening in the OpenStreetMap world

07/11/2024-13/11/2024

Collage of some results Hackweekend Berlin November 2024 [¹] | © tordans, Hartmut, Christian, Wolfram | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Mapping

Requests for comments have been made on these proposals:
- amenity=travellers_lounge for mapping public seating areas in transport facilities, such as airport lounges or railway station waiting areas.
- virtual_tour=* to tag virtual 3D tours of places such as museums, hotels, or shops.
- rental:powerbank=yes, to map stations where users can rent portable power banks to charge mobile devices on the go.
- addr:milestone=* to allow the tagging of street addresses that use the distance from a reference point as part of the address.
- languages:official=* and languages:preferred=*, to enable the specification of languages for name rendering, for example the targeted display of street names in different languages or scripts in map applications.
The proposal to delete busway=* for bus lanes was accepted with 21 votes in favour, 0 against, and 0 abstentions.

Mapping campaigns

Julien Minet reported ► on the status of address completion in Wallonia, Belgium, on OpenStreetMap, noting a current coverage of 65.9% compared to the ICAR database, although progress has been slowed by recent adjustments to official address sources. A map shows completion rates per commune, highlighting areas with significant updates, and challenges due to pre-assigned addresses in undeveloped areas.
If you ever visit Mexico and want to try the delicious esquites/elotes which are sold mostly on street stalls, there’s a collaborative map, so you will know where to find them.
The 50,000th challenge on MapRoulette, created just this week, marked a significant milestone in the platform’s journey to enabling collaborative map improvement around the world.

Community

OpenStreetMap Belgium, an independent NGO since 2023, continued to work with key supporters such as TomTom and the Belgian National Crisis Centre, organising events including the first European State of the Map in a decade, and providing updated resources such as free Belgian map tiles twice a year.
Pieter Vander Vennet explained how OpenStreetMap users can verify their accounts on Mastodon by linking profiles between the two platforms (we reported earlier).

Events

^[1] Lars Lingner summarised ► the OpenStreetMap community’s Hackweekend in Berlin, Germany, where over 20 participants worked on creative projects and technical challenges while engaging in an open exchange on social and cartographic issues.
OpenStreetMap Belgium is hosting a mapathon in Bruges on Friday 29 November to support the Lili app, which helps visually impaired users navigate safely by mapping essential infrastructure such as tactile paving and audio-enabled traffic signals in Bruges.
On Monday 18 November, during the annual ‘Geography Awareness Week’, HeiGIT, in partnership with Doctors Without Borders, the German Red Cross, and the University of Würzburg, is hosting a mapathon in Heidelberg to produce essential map data for humanitarian aid. The event welcomes participants of all experience levels.
Mapping USA 2025, a virtual OpenStreetMap conference, is taking place on 24 and 25 January and will feature two days of talks, workshops, and community-driven discussions to engage mappers and advocates from across the US.
Geomob’s recent London, England, event to celebrate OpenStreetMap’s 20th birthday, on 18 September, is now available as a video, with slides and audio, thanks to volunteer Andrew Braye.
Calling all creative minds: #SotM2025 needs a logo. Submission is via email. Deadline: Saturday 30 November at 23:59 UTC. More details can be found on the Wiki page.

OSM research

A new study presented a dataset of classified building footprints for the US derived from OpenStreetMap data, distinguishing between residential and non-residential buildings. The classification, performed using an unsupervised method based on OSM tags and ancillary geospatial data, has been validated with high accuracy across different regions of the US, indicating its usefulness for urban planning, emergency response, and population studies.

Maps

2hu4u has detailed a straightforward way of creating beautiful time-lapse videos of your mapping progress from historical OSM data, all from the comfort of QGIS and without the arduous process of downloading planet files, generating tiles or running a server. In the finished video you can watch the amazing transition, from a nearly blank canvas to a comprehensively mapped Australian city, over 16 years.
The open-source DeFlock project shows the global locations of automated licence plate readers, with over 5,600 identified worldwide, to raise awareness and help people avoid surveillance; it uses OpenStreetMap to document camera directions and create warning signs.
Andy Townsend described the development of a ‘rural pedestrian’ vector map for England and Wales, focusing on offline usability. This new vector schema, created with Tilemaker and MapLibre, simplifies the original raster schema by reducing data layers and enhancing feature styling, such as UK/IE road shields and handling of previously missed features such as derelict canal bridges. The vector format reduces map size significantly, making it suitable for offline use.
Vector tiles are now available on OSMF hardware (we reported earlier). The usage policy is not yet final, but you can use them now, according to Paul Norman. The map style is accessible via the new domain vector.openstreetmap.org and the tiles are available through a MVT address (https://vector.openstreetmap.org/shortbread_v1/{z}/{x}/{y}.mvt). There is a demonstration of the tiles rendered as a map.

OSM in action

pl6025 has created a map of commercial POIs in Loire (France) on uMap, which can be reproduced > with Overpass queries.
MetroDreamin’ is an interactive platform where users can design and share custom public transit maps, creating their ideal transit systems while connecting with a community of fellow map enthusiasts.

Open Data

Daylight Map Distribution v1.58 is the final release of this open geodata project (we reported earlier), concluding its efforts to provide curated and enhanced OSM data. More details about its closure are available in the official announcement.
Frederik Ramm, of Geofabrik, discussed access to historical OpenStreetMap data, explaining the tools and datasets available to researchers, the limitations due to OSM’s growth and historical changes, and offering assistance in extracting specific data.

Software

Daniel Schep introduced ‘Ultra v3’ (formerly Overpass Ultra), an enhanced mapping tool that now functions as a MapLibre GL JS IDE. New features include query providers for multiple GIS file formats, auto-sorting of map style directives, bundled icon sprite sheets, fallback glyphs, and an HTML control for adding map titles and custom controls, extending Ultra’s utility for geospatial queries and map customisation.
The latest update of Jake Coppinger’s Australian Cycleway Stats project improved the efficiency of data processing by adding features such as exclusive cycle lane detection for safer routes on low-speed roads, parallel processing for Australian and international data, and hard-coded Overpass API endpoints for different regions, improving the reliability and speed of data collection for cycleway infrastructure across Australia.
The Every Door project, funded by NLNet’s NGI0 Commons Fund, focuses on building the best OpenStreetMap mobile editor for point of interest and address capture, with planned features such as vector tiles and customisation to improve mapping and interoperability.
PinPoi is an app for managing and navigating to Points of Interest (POI) by importing files in various formats (e.g. GPX, GeoJSON, CSV) directly to mobile devices. It supports location-based POI searches and displays results in a list or on a map, integrating with users’ preferred navigation applications.
TripGeo is offering Map Snake, an interactive map-based game where players navigate a snake on a map to explore different locations, combining geography with classic game elements.
The VeloPlanner project is an interactive map focusing on European cycle routes and points of interest such as campsites, shelters, and historic sites, using OpenStreetMap data. It’s currently a map viewer, but planned updates include a route planner and detailed surface and infrastructure data. The platform uses a robust tech stack including MapLibre, Planetiler, osm2pgsql, and Elixir, hosted on Heroku and processed by a dedicated server.

Programming

zabop shared a streamlined workflow for editing OpenStreetMap tags, combining the Overpass API, Python, and MapProxy to efficiently identify, visualise, and edit features, emphasising simplicity and fun in the process.
‘Overture to OSM’ is a Python package designed to translate map data from the Overture schema into OpenStreetMap compatible tags, supporting layers such as places, buildings, and addresses, while ensuring OSM compliance.
Gregory Peony shared a markdown-based validation feedback template for OpenStreetMap task managers, designed to streamline responses by including standard feedback, reasons for validation results, tips for revisiting tasks, and links to resources. This template aims to support efficient communication, guide contributors in accessing relevant data, and encourage constructive feedback through organised, reusable comments.
HOTOSM’s tech updates for November 2024 highlighted ongoing projects, including the alpha launch of Drone Tasking Manager with OpenDroneMap integration, testing of FastAPI for the Tasking Manager, and development of fAIr 2.0 with YOLOv8 model for building detection, as well as improvements to uMap authentication.

OSM in the media

For years, two families in Tannhausen suffered ► from unwanted through traffic from hikers, cyclists and motorists who used their garden as a shortcut. The reason was a map error on OpenStreetMap incorrectly identifying the private path as a public path. After the family discovered this, Florian Fränzl familiarised himself with the OpenStreetMap system and corrected the access to ‘private’. In addition, they have put up official ‘no passing through’ signs, which now ensure peace and quiet and protection of their privacy.

Other “geo” things

Berlin (Germany) has introduced ► a digital overview of all public car parks, which provides real-time information on availability and parking conditions and is intended to make it easier for citizens to find a parking space.
Lund University’s (Sweden) ‘mGPS’ system can identify locations with high precision using unique bacterial samples and offers new applications in medicine, epidemiology, and forensics.
In Ukraine, military GNSS spoofing to defend against Russian drones is causing problems for the civilian population, as smartphones switch to the wrong time zones and navigation services display inaccurate location data, leading to confusion and delays.
Grab has developed its own hyper-local mapping system across Southeast Asia, using input from drivers equipped with special cameras to overcome the challenges of narrow, unmapped roads and improve navigation accuracy, differentiating itself from Google Maps with its regional focus and real-time updates.
Google’s Open Buildings Dataset, now enhanced with AI-powered temporal updates, provides detailed building footprint data across Africa and Southeast Asia, supporting applications in urban planning, disaster response, and environmental research.
Last month, the US states of Oklahoma and Texas exchanged 0.54 hectares of territory within a reservoir so that a pipeline could resume sending drinking water to a water works without illegally transporting zebra mussels, an invasive species, across the state border.
South Korea has accused North Korea of using GNSS jamming signals to interfere with South Korean ships and aircraft, which represents a considerable security risk. The jamming is part of military actions that affect satellite navigation and has already disrupted civilian infrastructure and transport operations.
Transit App has introduced an offline feature to track the location of underground trains using motion detection and vibration patterns, allowing users to predict their location, update ETAs, and receive stop reminders without GPS or internet, while maintaining complete privacy.
Phoebe Yu explained, in an amusing video, how the problem of Indian addresses in Google Maps was solved. Spoiler: they include places of interest and shops in the route guidance to provide orientation points.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When
Град Зрењанин	Okupljanje u Zrenjaninu		2024-11-17
Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2024-11-18
Grenoble	Atelier du groupe local de Grenoble		2024-11-18
	Internationale GeoWoche – Online Mapathon von DRK, HeiGIT, MSF Deutschland & Österreich		2024-11-18
England	OSM UK Online Chat		2024-11-18
	Workshop: OSM tagging standards for informal settlements		2024-11-19
	Missing Maps London: (Online) Mid-Month Mapathon [eng]		2024-11-19
Lyon	Réunion du groupe local de Lyon		2024-11-19
Bonn	182. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn		2024-11-19
City of Edinburgh	OSM Edinburgh Social Meet-up		2024-11-19
	[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2024-11-20
Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2024-11-20
València	XI Jornadas Anuales de Wikimedia España		2024-11-22 – 2024-11-24
Gent	Bewakingscamera’s op de kaart (wandeling)		2024-11-22
Bangalore East	OSM Bengaluru Mapping Party		2024-11-23
Lyon	Campus du Libre 2024 – Lyon – France		2024-11-23
Gent	Bewakingscamera’s op de kaart (wandeling)		2024-11-23
명동	국경없는의사회 2024 글로벌 지오위크 매파톤		2024-11-23
Saint-Étienne	Rencontre Saint-Étienne et sud Loire		2024-11-25
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2024-11-27
Berlin	OSM-Verkehrswende #64	✓	2024-11-26
Düsseldorf	Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen (online)		2024-11-27
Lübeck	148. OSM-Stammtisch Lübeck und Umgebung		2024-11-28
Sint-Michiels	LiLi-app mapathon		2024-11-29
Olomouc	SotM CZ+SK 2024		2024-11-29
ঢাকা	State of the Map Asia		2024-11-29 – 2024-11-30