weeklyOSM 663

28/03/2023-03/04/2023

lead picture

River basins calculation in Europe, based on connected ways data from OpenStreetMap.

© Amanda McCann | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Mapping

  • Andres Gomez Casanova reviewed the different services and websites that are available to capture and store geo-referenced street-level photos in the world. Some of them, such as Mapillary, KartaView and Mapilio, allow the use of the images for OSM mapping.
  • CactiStaccingCrane has started mapping the forest in the Mường Tè district of the Lai Châu province. The reason is that most of Vietnam is covered with forest and there is practically no good data in Vietnam that is suitable for import. However, he also doesn’t want to spend many more months negotiating data access with the government or organisations to improve forest mapping coverage.
  • chris_debian noted 14 requirements in his ‘Thoughts on collecting road surface information’, especially for cyclists. He classified the requirements into: M=’Must Have’, S=’Should Have’, C=’Could Have=’, W=’Won’t Have’ (usually known as the MoSCoW method).
  • chris66 presented three new 3D buildings in his blog post.
  • EdoBoo demonstrated skillful micro-mapping using the example of Petronas International near Turin.
  • Rabi Shrestha described how he performs field data collection and thereby ensures data quality in OSM.
  • Voting on the proposal for a guide to classifying roads in Louisiana has started and will end on Wednesday 12 April.

Events

  • The 2023 FOSSGIS conference in Berlin was a huge hit. The organisation has posted a retrospective with pictures and quick statistics on their website.
  • HeiGIT has co-organised the upcoming GIScience colloquium ‘Advancing urban modelling with emerging geospatial datasets and crowdsourcing’ to be given by Dr. Filip Biljecki of the National University of Singapore. The colloquium will take place in Heidelberg in the Hörsaalzentrum Chemie, Hörsaal West, INF 252 on Monday, 24 April 2023, at 10 a.m. Much of the work is focused on OpenStreetMap and other VGI (Volunteered Geographical Information). The talk will cover recent investigations on data quality, data gaps, and understanding contributors.

Humanitarian OSM

  • Samson Ngumenawe blogged about a tool under development to improve data quality for the HOT Open Mapping Hub – Asia-Pacific.
  • Delphine Montagne looked back at the different stages of HOT OSM data validation in order to guarantee its quality (with wonderful illustrations).

Maps

  • Geofabrik, which offers daily updates of OSM data by country, has started making experimental vector tile packages available on their download server.
  • Amanda McCann tooted, on Mastodon, a river basin map that uses OSM data. The source is available on GitHub.
  • Walter Nordmann (Wambacher) has created a postcode map for Germany. It is intended to be used for quality analysis and troubleshooting.
  • Clay Smalley posted an April Fool’s joke on the OSM Community forum.
  • Supaplex found blurred but still recognisable examples of the OpenStreetMap Carto style in a discussion thread by Taiwan Infantry Command officers on the Taiwan BBS PTT military board.
  • timethy96, from TheMoMStudio, has published the web app swzpln.de / opencityplans.com . It offers free access to map material. In addition to figure-ground diagrams, thematic layers such as forests or bodies of water can also be added.

Software

  • Are you looking for an OSM-based vector map for cycling with turn-by-turn directions, quiet road/trail guidance, and many more details for your iPhone? Richard Fairhurst has delivered it to you. An Android version should also be available soon.

Programming

  • Kai Johnson described in detail the hardware and software requirements for building a personal Overpass server on a tiny budget. mmd commented on some of Kai’s discoveries and reminded people that Overpass questions can be asked on the OSM Community forum using an ‘overpass’ tag, or on the OSM US Slack.

Releases

  • OsmAnd 4.4 for Android and iOS was released on 1 April. For Android users tracks can be customised, localised POI names are available, and routes can be shared by link. For iOS CarPlay has been enhanced, hiking routes can be selected on the map, and tracks can be uploaded to OSM.
  • Richard Fairhurst announced the release of Tilemaker v2.4. Tilemaker is a command-line utility that takes OpenStreetMap data in PBF format and makes vector tiles out of it. The release mainly optimises the speed of the tool.

Did you know …

  • … that osm2pgsql is gradually transitioning from the use of hstore to json for storing tags?

OSM in the media

  • The Polish computer portal Pure PC recommended alternatives to Google Maps. Many of them are based on OpenStreetMap.
  • An expert policy discussion was held jointly by the Jeju Island authority and South Korea Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport to introduce the concept of ’15-minute cities’ across the island. During the discussion Kim Seonghun, team leader of the Jeju Island Urban Regeneration Support Centre, emphasised the importance of OpenStreetMap as a participatory open-source mapping platform for the foundation of pedestrian-oriented cities.

Other “geo” things

  • The Canada Bay Council in Sydney, Australia plans to remove the Heath Street cycleway due to a misleading traffic report.
  • HeiGIT participated in the second UN Maps Conference. Using their practical experience in working with open data, Professor Alexander Zipf and Benjamin Herfort joined in vital discussions around how to ‘build greater UN Maps’ based on open source software and open data. The conference made clear that most mapping and geospatial analysis carried out by UN organisations such as UNICEF, FAO, WHO and WFP would not be possible if OSM data didn’t exist.
  • The Economist looked at the future of city grids, making extensive use of the work of Geoff Boeing (on which we have reported previously).
  • Most cities do not map their own pedestrian networks. Now researchers have developed the first open-source tool to let planners do just that. MIT researchers have developed TILE2NET, an open-source tool that uses aerial imagery and image recognition to create complete maps of pavements (sidewalks) and pedestrian crossings.

Upcoming Events

WhereWhatOnlineWhenCountry
GramadoGramado-(RS) Mapeamento de Edifícios com dados da Microsoft e Editor RapiD. 2023-04-08flag
KøbenhavnOSMmapperCPH 2023-04-09flag
臺北市OpenStreetMap x Wikidata 月聚會 #51 2023-04-10flag
HOT Open Tech and Innovation WG 2023-04-11
ZürichOSM-Stammtisch 2023-04-11flag
MünchenMünchner OSM-Treffen 2023-04-11flag
Formação UN Mappers: OpenStreetMap e o mapeamento humanitário – sessão 4 2023-04-12
ZaragozaMapatón Humanitario (Médicos Sin Fronteras + Universidad de Zaragoza + Mapeado Colaborativo / Geoinquietos Zaragoza) 2023-04-12flag
Salt Lake CityOSM Utah Monthly Map Night 2023-04-13flag
IJmuidenOSM Nederland bijeenkomst (online) 2023-04-12flag
SoutheastFOSSASIA 2023-04-12 – 2023-04-14sg
OlomoucDubnový olomoucký mapathon – hybridní 2023-04-13flag
Localidad UsaquénGeoBeer – Reunámonos con una cerveza para hablar de OpenStreetMap 2023-04-14flag
Jaro#MapaTime with Central Phillippines University, Iloilo 2023-04-14flag
GrenobleMapathon CartONG 2023-04-14flag
BerlinOSM Stammtisch Berlin/Brandenburg 2023-04-14flag
BerlinOSM Hackweekend Berlin 04/2023 2023-04-15 – 2023-04-16flag
CaenCarto Party Vélo 2023-04-15flag
ToulouseRéunion du groupe local de Toulouse 2023-04-15flag
Rio de JaneiroMapeamento com OpenStreetMap 2023-04-15flag
HannoverOSM-Stammtisch Hannover 2023-04-17flag
GrenobleAtelier adressage dans OpenStreetMap 2023-04-17flag
6th Annual Humanitarian Mapathon / 6. jährlicher humanitärer Mapathon / 第6回ヒューマン・マパソン 2023-04-18 – 2023-04-20
OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting 2023-04-18
LyonRéunion du groupe local de Lyon 2023-04-18flag
Bonn162. Treffen des OSM-Stammtisches Bonn 2023-04-18flag
LüneburgLüneburger Mappertreffen (online) 2023-04-18flag
Formação UN Mappers: OpenStreetMap e o mapeamento humanitário – sessão 5 2023-04-19
HOT Open Tech and Innovation WG 2023-04-19
BerlinMissing Maps – DRK & MSF Online Mapathon 2023-04-19flag

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 ChristopherGS, MatthiasMatthias, SK53, Strubbl, TheSwavu, YoViajo, barefootstache, derFred, renecha.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.