weeklyOSM 787

14/08/2025-20/08/2025

lead picture

[1] | JPinAR discussed how lane visualisation in JOSM reveals challenges in mapping road lanes, medians, and turn lanes etc | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

About us

  • miurahr presented a talk titled ‘Behind the Scenes of weeklyOSM: How We Share OSM News Every Week’ at COSCUP 2025, Taiwan’s largest open-source conference. The conference featured a dedicated track on OpenStreetMap and Wikidata with two talks: talk 1 and talk 2 .

Mapping campaigns

  • Penegal has recently added two MapRoulette challenges for France:
    • Challenge 1 to update destination values by using destination[ref]:to=* when relevant.
    • Challenge 2 to check that motorway junction names (highway=motorway_junction, often unnamed in France) are correct, not arbitrary, and not confused with destination=*.
  • Quincy Morgan has mapped Utah’s Jordan River Water Trail in OpenStreetMap. He contributed with dozens of canoe trails and you can access this one at OpenTrailMap.

Community

  • [1] JPinAR discussed how lane visualisation in JOSM reveals challenges in mapping road lanes, medians, and turn lanes, and they proposed new tagging concepts like neither_direction or buffer_space to better represent real-world road features and improve the consistency between vehicle and bicycle lane mapping.
  • Jake Low outlined methods for utilising LiDAR digital elevation model data to enhance the accuracy of lake polygon mapping in OpenStreetMap.
  • Janjko detailed a step-by-step JOSM workflow for importing precise admin_level=8 boundaries into existing admin_level=7 boundaries in Croatia, preserving history and using Overpass API, splitting, copying, and conflating techniques.
  • KennyDap shared their progress mapping Jebudo Island in South Korea.
  • silversurfer83 shared their plan to document Korbach and its surroundings using a new GoPro Max and a 150 cm selfie stick mounted on a bicycle, with the 360° images uploaded to Panoramax. They are offering to lend their equipment to interested mappers under certain conditions.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

  • Dorothea Kazazi announced that the manifestos and official question responses from OSMF Board candidates have been published on the OSM wiki. The community discussion period is scheduled to run from Saturday 16 August till Saturday 6 September, concluding at 16:00 UTC, after which voting will begin.

Local chapter news

  • Nyampire has published a detailed overview explaining how Japan’s Survey Act applies to OpenStreetMap. It also highlights cases where OSM contributors can trace directly from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan map tiles or approved aerial imagery without additional paperwork, as well as instances where usage or duplication applications must be submitted to the relevant authority.

Events

  • State of the Map Europe 2025, taking place in Dundee, Scotland, has released their early bird tickets. It’s the cheapest OpenStreetMap conference in Europe for 10 years, and the website has links to special offers on travel and accommodation providers. The event will take place on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 November.
  • The call for posters for State of the Map (SotM) 2025 is now open, with submissions accepted until Monday 15 September. The organising team plans to select up to 20 posters, which will be published on the official website and other SotM channels under the CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

OSM research

  • A recent Scientific Reports article demonstrated how OpenStreetMap building footprints, combined with satellite imagery and deep learning, can be used to estimate building heights in Nairobi, Kathmandu, and Quito with high accuracy, supporting urban risk and population studies in data-scarce regions.

OSM in action

  • Kelsey Taylor reported that Stamen recently collaborated with MetroMatch to update their OpenStreetMap-based map design. MetroMatch is a transit-focused travel planning and discovery site that connects travellers to destinations within walking distance of rail stations in Washington DC.

Software

  • Solal Gendrin and Hugo Lager have developed Pausevitale (Vital break), an application to find water fountains and public toilets. They built the app to combat the current heatwave of at least 35 °C.

Releases

  • uMap version 3.3.0 has been released, featuring several changes such as moving edit actions from left-click to right-click, integration with OpenRouteService, and an experimental print feature.
  • Version 2025.08.13 of CoMaps, the OSM-based navigation app for walking, biking, and driving, has been released on iOS and Android. Updates include improved search, better support for RTL languages, and better contour lines.
  • Pieter Vander Vennet has released a new version of MapComplete on the Google Play Store and on F-Droid.
  • Leaflet has announced the release of version 2.0.0 alpha 1, introducing a major modernisation of its codebase. The update officially drops support for Internet Explorer and makes Leaflet available as an ECMAScript Module.
  • Rphyrin has released Sakumaps version 2, a web tool designed to aid field mapping on mobile devices while driving.

Did you know that …

  • … the BeforeAfterOSM Mastodon account re-shares before and after pictures and GIFs of beautiful OSM edits? Ping the account for a re-share.

Upcoming Events

CountryWhereVenueWhatOnlineWhen
flagVirtualMapatón Nacional de México 2025 2025-08-19 – 2025-09-30
flagYouTube @IVIDESMOSTRA DE PROJETOS – WORKSHOP MPCS 2025 2025-08-20 – 2025-08-22
flagMadridOnlineMappy Hour OSM España 2025-08-21
flagRichmondNew York DeliMapRVA Carytown Meetup + Survey Trip! 2025-08-22
OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting 2025-08-22
flagHannoverHannover Congress CentrumOSM auf der Maker Faire Hannover 2025 2025-08-23 – 2025-08-24
flagValmeriana Mapping party 2025-08-23
OSM World Mappy Hour 2025-08-23
flagHannoverKuriosumOSM-Stammtisch Hannover 2025-08-23
flagDelhiHarkesh Nagar Okhla Metro Station21st OpenStreetMap Delhi MapWalk 2025-08-24
flagBerlinOnline BigBlueButtonOSM Radinfra-Mapathon #3 2025-08-26
flagYouTube @IVIDESWORKSHOP MPCS 2025 + BOOK RELEASE 2025-08-27 – 2025-08-29
flagDüsseldorfOnline bei https://meet.jit.si/OSM-DUS-2025Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen (online) 2025-08-27
[Online] OpenStreetMap Foundation board of Directors – public videomeeting 2025-08-28
flagBochumDas Labor, Alleestraße 50, BochumOSM-Treffen Bochum mit Workshop JOSM + Overpass-API 2025-08-28
flagMadridOnlineMappy Hour OSM España 2025-08-28
UN Mappers Mappy Hour 2025-08-29
iD Community Chat 2025-09-02
flagSalzburgBewohnerservice Elisabeth-VorstadtOSM Treffen Salzburg 2025-09-02
Missing Maps London: (Online) Mapathon [eng] 2025-09-02
OSM Indoor Meetup 2025-09-03
flagStuttgartStuttgartStuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen 2025-09-03
flagBrnoKvartální OSM pivo 2025-09-03
flagPerímetro Urbano MedellínParque Biblioteca Presbítero José Luis ArroyaveSotM LatAm 2025 2025-09-04 – 2025-09-07
flagMadridOnlineMappy Hour OSM España 2025-09-04
UN Mappers #ValidationFriday Mappy Hour 2025-09-05
flagनई दिल्लीJitsi Meet (online)OSM India Online (Remote) Mapping Party 2025-09-07

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 115c7a5fac, MatthiasMatthias, Raquel Dezidério Souto, Andrew Davidson, barefootstache, derFred, miurahr.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

2 Replies to “weeklyOSM 787”

  1. Hello!

    Is it just with me, or is this topic buggy? The page layout is totally broken past middle in the first Mapping item.

    1. Yes, your are right, thank you for the quick hint. The `[:ref]` in `destination[:ref]:to=*` broke the layout, because our translation plugin uses the same syntax. We had to remove the colons in the text in order to get the rendering correct.