weeklyOSM 576

 

27/07/2021-02/08/2021

lead picture

Happy Birthday, Happy Mapping [1] | © Jessbeutler – 17th birthday 😉

Breaking news

  • [1] Quick, get your act together! As we go to press the OSM 17th birthday global mapathon will be underway. The mapathon starts at 03:00 UTC (13:00 Australian Eastern Standard Time) on Sunday 8 August with the OSGeo Oceania community. A different OSM chapter takes the lead each hour until 19:00 UTC (12:00 PDT; 17:00 EDT) when OSM US concludes the mapathon. Most communities have chosen thematic mapping activities.

Mapping campaigns

  • MoiraPrime pointed out, on the talk-us list, that the Amazon corporate mappers are now working on college and university campuses across the US. They appear to be making extensive use of existing campus maps, which may or may not be compatible with OSM.
  • Eiim set out their ambitious plans for mapping Oxford, Ohio.
  • OSM US are working to map playgrounds in Philadelphia. The project is a collaboration with KABOOM!, a not-for-profit devoted to improving access to playgrounds for poorer children.
  • OSM Uganda is joining with Nairobi-based social enterprise Upande to collect map data related to agriculture and food security.

Mapping

  • Frederik Ramm from the Data Working Group highlighted that automatic problem fixing can be considered to be an automated edit, and therefore subject to the automated edits policy. Andy Townsend, also from the DWG, provided an example of the type of issue that DWG is finding when contributors apply ‘tag fixes’ suggested by editors inappropriately.
  • AngocA continued (es) > en his series of diary posts on OSM Notes with advice about how to post a note in various applications and websites. The advice focuses particularly on people wishing to have their business mapped on OSM.
  • Another numeric milestone surpassed, user gpserror reported that the USA now contains over 1 billion nodes.
  • The proposal foraging=* to indicate whether or not foraging for plants/fruit/fungi etc. is permissible for a given location or plant is open for comments.
  • The following proposals are waiting for your vote:
    • cycle_barrier=*, cycle_barrier:installation=*, corners=*, deflection=*, spacing=*, opening=* and overlap=* to indicate type, design, size and width specifications for cycle barriers – i.e. barriers along a path that slow or prevent access for bicycle users. Voting is open until Monday 16 August.
    • maintained=no/yes/rarely/semi/intense to indicate how maintained a natural feature is. It is initially meant for mapping shrubbery as natural=scrub but can be used on any natural feature. Voting is open until Tuesday 17 August.
  • User SK53 blogged about two unusual pavement (sidewalk) features: deterrent paving and perforated kerbs. The former is difficult to walk or drive over; the latter helps to improve surface water drainage.
  • User SK53 also provided some detailed notes on tactile paving used in the United Kingdom, and recommends using them to estimate widths of crossings and pavements (sidewalks).
  • Simon Poole reported (de) > en that orthophotos from the SwissTopo geoportal are now available directly in the iD editor. Previously these needed to entered as a custom layer.

Community

OpenStreetMap Foundation

  • Allan Mustard, chair of OSM Foundation, requested for feedback to help flesh out the draft Strategic Plan for the foundation.
  • User pnorman summarised his recent SotM 2021 presentation on the OpenStreetMap Standard Layer and who is using it.

Open Data

  • Google Research Ghana has released the OpenBuilding dataset. The open dataset contains 516 million buildings, across an area of 19.4 million km² (64% of the African continent). The data are licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, which is not directly compatible with OSM.

Licences

  • OpenStreetMap France tweeted (fr) that more than 10,000 websites have integrated maps that use OSM data. For domains using such maps without attribution, of which there are over 200, a special tile is served partially replacing some map tiles.

Software

  • Mapswipe announced a new release including updated translations in various languages. Italian is newly supported.
  • WhatOSM outlined (ru) > en some developing issues with using WGS84 as a baseline for geodata, some of which we have reported earlier. These are most acute for objects located on the Australian tectonic plate which has moved 1.8 m relative to the original specification but applies elsewhere too. Most geosoftware, and data formats, including OSM, make inadequate provision for the best way to handle WGS84 coordinates, the use of epochs. For many uses, the best practice is to use a local coordinate system unaffected by plate tectonic shifts.

Programming

  • User SomeoneElse shows you how to programme a watchdog for changes to long-distance paths on OpenStreetMap.

Did you know …

  • … of the detailed map of roads throughout the Roman Empire? Known as the Tabula Peutingeriana, the existing source is a 13th century parchment map, but internal evidence, such as the presence of Pompeii, suggests the original source was compiled in the 1st century CE.

OSM in the media

  • The New York Times analysed how governments and other organisations have used geospatial data to plan COVID-19 vaccination campaigns (paywall). The article mentions a range of other purposes in using geodata and GIS during the COVID-19 pandemic by US authorities. In less-developed nations, it also features the joint mapping initiative of, amongst others, Alcis, CartONG, HOT, iMMAP and MapAction, ‘Geographic Information Management Initiative for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery’.
  • Esquire Philippines dove deep to look at the activities of Mapbeks in providing mapping of LGBTQI+ spaces using OSM data. The article provides detailed background on three of these: the LGBT Safe Spaces Map, HIV Facilities and Support Map, and Mapbeks Stories Map.

Other “geo” things

  • Twitter user RevK reported that an emergency service in England is only accepting postcodes or what3words locations.

Upcoming Events

WhereWhatOnlineWhenCountry
名古屋市まちデータ@名古屋伏見 osmcalpic2021-08-07 – 2021-08-08jp
twitch chat – OHM & OSM – different but the same osmcalpic2021-08-07
Bogotá Distrito CapitalResolver notas de Bogotá creadas en OpenStreetMap osmcalpic2021-08-07flag
OpenStreetMap’s 17th Anniversary Birthday party osmcalpic2021-08-08
BudapestOSM 17. születésnap megünneplése a Feneketlen-tónál (személyesen!) osmcalpic2021-08-09flag
臺北市OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #31 osmcalpic2021-08-09flag
HOTOSM Tech WG Meeting osmcalpic2021-08-10
HamburgHamburger Mappertreffen osmcalpic2021-08-10flag
ZürichOSM-Treffen Zürich osmcalpic2021-08-11flag
MünchenMünchner OSM-Treffen osmcalpic2021-08-11flag
Build Your Validation Skills With YouthMappers Validation Hub osmcalpic2021-08-12
OpenStreetMap Michigan Meetup osmcalpic2021-08-13
Eberswalde158. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch osmcalpic2021-08-13flag
OdenseOSM Denmark – remote mapping party osmcalpic2021-08-14flag
HOTOSM Training Webinar Series: Beginner iD osmcalpic2021-08-14
Bonn142. Treffen des OSM-Stammtisches Bonn osmcalpic2021-08-17flag
BerlinOSM-Verkehrswende #26 (Online) osmcalpic2021-08-17flag
LüneburgLüneburger Mappertreffen (online) osmcalpic2021-08-17flag
KölnStammtisch Köln osmcalpic2021-08-18flag
DRK Missing Maps Mapathon osmcalpic2021-08-19
潍坊市OpenStreetMap(中国大陆)第一次线下聚会 osmcalpic2021-08-20 – 2021-08-30flag
OSM Nederland maandelijkse bijeenkomst (online) osmcalpic2021-08-21
BremenBremer Mappertreffen (Online) osmcalpic2021-08-23flag
105. OSM-Stammtisch Viersen und Umgebung osmcalpic2021-08-24
DerbyEast Midlands OSM Pub Meet-up : Derby osmcalpic2021-08-24flag
ZürichMissing Maps Zürich Mapathon osmcalpic2021-08-25flag
DüsseldorfDüsseldorfer OSM-Treffen (online) osmcalpic2021-08-25flag
[Online] OpenStreetMap Foundation board of Directors – public meeting osmcalpic2021-08-27
Autrans-Méaudre en VercorsWikiCamp L’Escandille osmcalpic2021-08-28 – 2021-08-29flag

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 MatthiasMatthias, Nordpfeil, RicoElectrico, SK53, TheSwavu, UNGSC_Alessia13, derFred, jinalfoflia.