weeklyOSM 514

19/05/2020-25/05/2020

lead picture

Akihiko Kusanagi: real-time 3D digital map of Tokyo’s public transport system 1 | © Akihiko Kusanagi | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Mapping

  • Voting for François Lacombe’s line_management=* proposal has started. The key is meant to be used in conjunction with power=line, power=minor_line and power=cable for describing particular topologies at their supports or other important points.
  • Also, Jan Michel’s proposal for the new access keys electric_bicycle=* and speed_pedelec=* has been opened for voting.
  • Peter Elderson created a proposal to add specific roles for the members of recreational route relations, namely alternative, excursion, approach, connection and — probably the most used role — main. Comments are appreciated.
  • Edits by Mateusz Konieczny, made with assistance of a script, removed over 1000 tracking parameters from links within the OSM database. See an example changeset.
  • Pascal Neis has implemented an additional parameter to allow the retrieval of the oldest entries from his OSM Notes service, which passes OSM error reports as an XML feed. However, it should be noted that some OSM notes have been carried over from the predecessor OpenStreetBugs and are still open.

Community

  • Our Q&A site help.openstreetmap.org is dying, according to Tobias Wrede.
  • Stefan Keller, professor of information systems at HSR University for Applied Sciences (Hochschule für Technik), Rapperswil, prepares (de) (automatic translation) people for the end of the lockdown with links to speciality maps of every kind of outdoor activity, from visiting caves and BBQ areas to a map of public art. Unfortunately, some of the maps are specific to Switzerland.
  • OpenCage talked with Alexis Markwick, the man behind Bexhill-OSM, a service that uses OSM to help expose both tourist information and local history for Bexhill-on-Sea, England.

Imports

  • The OSM community in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil, plans to import building data provided by the local municipality and created a comprehensive page on the OSM wiki.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

  • The minutes of the OSMF board meeting on 17 April 2020 have been published.
  • The Data Working Group (DWG) published its activity report for the 3rd quarter 2019.
  • The State of the Map Working Group invites you to submit your OSM-related artwork for the poster exhibition at the virtual State of the Map 2020. The deadline is 30 June.

Education

  • Sergey Golubev recorded (ru) (automatic translation) a podcast in which he explains how to use OSM data.

Maps

switch2OSM

  • Another example of using OSM for eco projects is in the forecasting of unpleasant smells (ru) from the landfill near the city of Klin (Russia).

Open Data

  • The OpenSpeedcam website now allows (ru) (automatic translation) its data to be used in OSM.
  • DELFI, a cooperation network of Federal States in Germany, the Federal Government and other partners, published (de) (automatic translation) a dataset under the Lex OSM licence that aims to include all public transport stops in Germany.

Software

  • The Trufi Association held its own TrufiAppHackathon on 14 and 15 May. In a blog post featuring a video they unveil what they have achieved so far.
  • Egor Smirnov in his article (ru) (automatic translation), on Habr, described how his visual data loader for OSM, YourMaps, is designed and how it works.

Programming

  • Paul Norman recommends shutting trac.openstreetmap.org down and directing users to project-specific trackers. He also noted that there is only one active project still using OSM’s trac instance. He suggests mothballing SVN, due to the connections between it and trac.
  • Paul Norman has created a prototype of a client-side rendered map based on OSM’s main map style Carto and made the code available on GitHub.

Releases

  • Version 1 of routing engine GraphHopper has been released.
  • The developers announced the release of OsmAnd 3.7, available for Android devices. Among the most relevant changes: new offline slope maps, full style customisation of favourites and GPX waypoints, customisable context menu, and more options for the Wikipedia map layer.
  • For iOS users the new release of OsmAnd 3.14 features beta functionality for public transport navigation, new offline slope maps, options to show lines and direction arrows to active markers, and a new option to switch between top bar and widget to show distances to markers.
  • Mapbox blogged about updates made to its products during May 2020. The article highlights new gestures for mobile maps and the improved Vision SDK, and provides links to some interesting tutorials.

Did you know …

  • … there is video of a talk by retired ambassador Allan Mustard titled ‘”I’m Tired of Getting Lost!” or How Open-Source Cartography Improved our Lives in Turkmenistan’, given at a North American Cartographic Information Society banquet?
  • … uMap, a tool that lets you create a map with OpenStreetMap layers and embed it in your website? Check out its guide on the OSM Wiki.
  • … that the Saint Petersburg public transport portal (ru) (automatic translation) uses OSM?
  • … about the ‘City tree map‘? (ru) (automatic translation) This project allows residents and organisations to add trees to the map of the city; you can also add information about the trees and photos.

Other “geo” things

  • ‘How the world became data-driven, And what’s next?’, an article in Forbes.
  • Outdooractive, a German outdoor planning website using OSM, among other sources, acquired Viewranger and MountNpass.
  • The New York Times carried a story by Alanna Mitchell on the ‘height modernisation’ being carried out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The programme will see the old NAVD 88 system replaced with one based on GPS and gravity observations, resulting in ‘elevations’ falling by up to a metre across the USA.
  • Yandex has published (ru) (automatic translation) a study on how cities are coming out of isolation.

Upcoming Events

WhereWhatWhenCountry
BiellaIncontro mensile2020-05-30italy
LondonMissing Maps ONLINE London Mapathon2020-06-02united kingdom
StuttgartStuttgarter Stammtisch2020-06-03germany
ArlonAtelier ouvert OpenStreetMap2020-06-03belgium
RennesRéunion mensuelle2020-06-08france
TaipeiOSM x Wikidata #172020-06-08taiwan
LyonRencontre mensuelle2020-06-09france
MunichMünchner Treffen2020-06-11germany
Zurich117. OSM Meetup Zurich2020-06-11switzerland
San JoséVirtual Civic Hack Night & Map Night2020-06-11united states
Berlin144. Berlin-Brandenburg Stammtisch2020-06-12germany
BerlinOSM Berlin Verkehrswende (Online)2020-06-16germany
LüneburgLüneburger Mappertreffen2020-06-16germany
Cologne Bonn Airport130. Bonner OSM-Stammtisch2020-06-16germany
LeobenStammtisch Obersteiermark (cancelled)2020-06-18austria
Cape TownHOT Summit2020-07-01-2020-07-02south africa
Kandy2020 State of the Map Asia2020-10-31-2020-11-01sri lanka

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 Anne Ghisla, Elizabete, Nakaner, NunoMASAzevedo, Polyglot, Rogehm, SK53, Silka123, SunCobalt, TheSwavu, YoViajo, derFred.