weeklyOSM 789
28/08/2025-03/09/2025
Mapping
- The wiki page for
man_made=ceremonial_gate, a new tag that was approved on 27 August, has been created.
Mapping campaigns
- HeiGIT reported on a group mapping initiative in Cartagena, Chile, aimed at strengthening disaster risk reduction efforts. Using the Sketch Map Tool, a participatory mapping method that enables offline collection, digitisation, and geo-referencing of local spatial knowledge, participants charted community areas across four categories: valued sites, local conflicts, socio-natural hazards, and evacuation routes.
Community
mensileOSM, the monthly newsletter of the Italian community, published its first ‘Italian Mapper of the Month’ interview on Monday 1 September. The project is inspired by the ‘Belgian Mapper of the Month’.
‘Time to be the change I want to see’ is the lovely realisation of mapper Quaff on learning that they couldn’t look up some addresses simply because no one had entered them yet in OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMap Foundation
- The 2025 OSMF Board Election online voting is open until Saturday 13 September at 16:00 UTC. You can see the discussion started on community.openstreetmap by one of the candidates.
OSM in action
- You can search for family names in Geneanet’s records and view the results on an OSM-based Web map.
Open Data
[1] HeiGIT showcased several open-source tools for integrating volunteered geographic information into disaster management.
The HeiGIT team has released a global road surface dataset, now openly accessible through the OCHA Centre for Humanitarian Data (we reported earlier). This dataset integrates OpenStreetMap geometries with road surface attributes, derived using GeoAI techniques from 105 million crowdsourced street-level images on Mapillary.
Programming
- Ayush Dhar Dubay shared a final report on their 3D Model Repository project for the Google Summer of Code 2025.
Releases
CoMaps has released version 2025-08-31 of their map/navigation app. Beyond updated maps, new features include CarPlay support for iOS, improved routing and, particularly interesting for OSM contributors, adding standalone addresses, and displaying the
check_date.The September 2025 release of Organic Maps has introduced a new feature that displays public transport route numbers when users select a bus or tram stop. Developers say the next update will add full route visualisations directly on the map.
Did you know that …
- … Pascal Neis has developed and maintains many OpenStreetMap-related tools?
OSM in the media
- The Geocracia portal has published ► news about the recently released book, Case studies in collaborative and participatory mapping, which presents 20 case studies, including applications that involved the adoption of OpenStreetMap and related programs such as KoboToolbox or uMap. Part I of the book, ‘Special topics in mapping with OpenStreetMap’, has chapters on mapping coastal and marine areas in OSM and a study on preferences for OSM-related topics and applications, which considered the publication profile of 10 years of weeklyOSM issues (2015–2025) and academic data.
Other “geo” things
The Spanish National Geographic Institute has launched a new version of its website, which helps in finding the solar potential of buildings in Spain. The viewer allows you to enter a location to focus the study area on and shows the potential photovoltaic capacity of the building, the average over the year, and a point grid to identify the best location for solar panels.
As part of the Silver Ways project, which seeks to enhance mobility for senior citizens through tailored routing systems, the HeiGIT team has published a new paper titled ‘Route choice to inform navigation system design and accessibility analysis for older pedestrians’. This study offers a scoping review of research on pedestrian route choice that specifically includes older adults.
This long article explains why working with geospatial data involves much more than just ‘data with coordinates’, and why specialised technologies (such as spatial databases, geospatial servers, APIs, and mapping SDKs) are essential.
Upcoming Events
| Country | Where | Venue | What | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Virtual | Mapatón Nacional de México 2025  | 2025-08-19 - 2025-09-30 | |
 | Perímetro Urbano Medellín | Parque Biblioteca Presbítero José Luis Arroyave | SotM LatAm 2025 | 2025-09-04 - 2025-09-07 |
 | Town hall of Válor, Granada, Spain | Workshop - Mobile Mapping for OpenStreetMap | 2025-09-06 | |
 | नई दिल्ली | Jitsi Meet (online) | OSM India Online (Remote) Mapping Session | 2025-09-07 |
| Missing Maps : Mapathon en ligne - CartONG [fr] | 2025-09-08 | |||
| Town hall of Válor, Granada, Spain | Workshop - Mobile Mapping for OpenStreetMap | 2025-09-09 | |
 | Salt Lake City | Woodbine Food Hall | OSM Utah Monthly Map Night | 2025-09-10 |
 | Hamburg | Voraussichtlich: “Variable”, Karolinenstraße 23 | Hamburger Mappertreffen | 2025-09-09 |
| Missing Maps - DRK & MSF Online Mapathon | 2025-09-10 | |||
| Berlin | Resonanz am S-Bahnhof Schöneberg | 207. OSM-Stammtisch Berlin-Brandenburg | 2025-09-11 |
 | Zürich | Bitwäscherei Zürich | 179. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich | 2025-09-11 |
| Bochum | Das Labor, Alleestraße 50, Bochum | OSM-Treffen in Bochum | 2025-09-11 |
| Online | OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup | 2025-09-12 | |
| München | WikiMUC | Münchner OSM-Treffen | 2025-09-11 |
 | Tours | Étape 84 | Rencontre locale Touraine | 2025-09-12 |
 | København | Cafe Mellemrummet | OSMmapperCPH | 2025-09-14 |
| Delhi | Southwest Delhi (exact venue to be finalized) | 22nd OSM Delhi MapWalk (Southwest zone) | 2025-09-14 |
 | Bistro du Châtelet, Rue du Châtelet 4, Habay | Ardenne belge - Social | 2025-09-15 | |
| Grenoble | La Turbine | Atelier de rentrée du groupe local OpenStreetMap de Grenoble | 2025-09-15 |
 | 臺北市 | MozSpace Taipei | OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #80 | 2025-09-15 |
| Rue du Châtelet 6, Habay-la-Neuve | Ardenne belge - Meeting | 2025-09-15 | |
 | Catania | Catania | 2025 Catania Mapathon | 2025-09-16 |
| Missing Maps London: (Online) Mid-Month Mapathon [eng] | 2025-09-16 | |||
| Lyon | Tubà | Réunion du groupe local de Lyon | 2025-09-16 |
| Bonn | Dotty’s | 192. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn | 2025-09-16 |
| Online | Lüneburger Mappertreffen | 2025-09-16 | |
| Girona | Facultat de Lletres i de Turisme | Jornadas de SIG Libre / SOTM España | 2025-09-17 - 2025-09-18 |
| Karlsruhe | Chiang Mai | Stammtisch Karlsruhe | 2025-09-17 |
 | Stainach-Pürgg | Online | 18. Österreichischer OSM-Stammtisch (online) | 2025-09-17 |
| [Online] Map-py Wednesday | 2025-09-18 | |||
| Ninkasi, 15, impasse du Rond Point, 69210 Saint-Ro | Réunion du groupe local de Vienne | 2025-09-18 | |
| Kiel | KITZ | OSM-Infostand bei den Kieler Linuxtagen | 2025-09-19 - 2025-09-20 |
| OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting | 2025-09-19 | |||
| Torreón | Universidad Autónoma de La Laguna | Mapeo con OpenStreetMap | 2025-09-19 - 2025-09-20 |
| Essen | Linuxhotel Essen | FOSSGIS-OSM-Communitytreffen im Linuxhotel | 2025-09-19 - 2025-09-21 |
| Parma | Parma | 2025 Parma Mapping party | 2025-09-20 |
 | Cork | Digital Arts and Humanities Learning Space @ UCC | OpenStreetMap Ireland Annual General Meeting | 2025-09-20 |
| Trento | Impact Hub Trento | 2025 Trento Mapathon | 2025-09-21 |
This weeklyOSM was produced by Raquel IVIDES DATA, Strubbl, Andrew Davidson, barefootstache, derFred.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.
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