02/05/2023-08/05/2023
Streets GL, a real-time 3D map renderer [1] | ⓘ Mapbox © powered by Esri | map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Mapping
- Following a workshop held by UN Mappers, a group of students from the Erasmus Mundus Masters program in Geospatial Technologies at the University of Jaume I, in Castellón de la Plana Spain, analysed campus safety and identified potential vulnerabilities by mapping street lights in OSM.
- PhysicsArmature has some tips for mapping rivers: staying simple.
- Valerie Norton has written an article discussing various tags related to hitching posts and resting places for trail riding. She explored the uses and popularity of tags such as
amenity=hitching_post
,tourism=trail_riding_rest
,amenity=animal_hitch
, andamenity=horse_parking
. The author contemplates the advantages of different tags and their hierarchical nature, highlighting the need for clearer guidelines, and additional tags in order to enhance mapping accuracy.
Mapping campaigns
- Marjan Van de Kauter, from TomTom’s OSM team, has announced their plans to conduct edits in Luxembourg based on feedback received for their upcoming new TomTom map, ensuring that the edits add value to OpenStreetMap and do not conflict with recent community updates. The team will focus on editing highways, addresses, POIs, land use, buildings, and water initially, expanding to other features in the future. They will use the hashtags
#tomtom
and#tt_mapfeedback
to provide updates on their progress and welcome feedback from the OSM community during this activity.
Community
- In connection with the survey on communication in the OSM community (we reported earlier), Imre Samu clarifies the cultural differences in communication in different countries. He quotes from his sources and backs up his statements with three links that everyone who enters the international arena should read.
- mapmeld blogged about the border of Belgium’s Baarle-Hertog and the Dutch Baarle-Nassau, which overlap in one town riddled with border crossings and enclaves. He included pictures of the weirdest places, including borders intersecting buildings.
- Sango Bishiri Narcisse, based in Chad, is the UN Mapper of the Month for May.
OpenStreetMap Foundation
- The Board of the OpenStreetMap Foundation has invited its members and the OSM community to participate in revising its Strategic Plan. The plan will be discussed in four phases over the next two months, starting with a focus on ‘Cluster B: Community Development for OSM’.Feedback is requested on missing elements, plan inconsistencies, urgent stratagems, and which ones are important for the success and growth of OpenStreetMap. Comments can be shared on the OSM Community forum or mailing list and private feedback can be sent to the strategy team or individual board members.
- The OSMF Board has written draft Fundraising Guidelines and is seeking feedback from the community about them. You can provide any feedback on the OSM Community forum, in the blog comments, or directly to the Board.
Education
- Denrazir Atara, from HOT Open Mapping Hub Asia-Pacific, is hosting an online training session on Sunday 14 May for beginners and experienced mappers on how to use uMap.
OSM research
- Ulrich et al. have assessed the potential of OSM to quantify land use and land cover change related carbon fluxes to the atmosphere for a regional case study, in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in their new paper.
Maps
- [1] Streets GL is an impressive real-time 3D map renderer designed to showcase OpenStreetMap data with stunning visual effects. This TypeScript project utilises WebGL2 and a render graph implementation to generate dynamic geometry, allowing for the visualisation of complex building shapes, roads, trees, and more.
- karlos on Mastodon pointed out that while weeklyOSM provides a comprehensive list of events, it lacks a corresponding map to visualise their locations. He shared a test map featuring pins with some event information. The Calendar Widget from Jonathan Beliën shows how it could look.
Open Data
- Jeff Underwood tweeted about recent enhancements to building height data in downtown Phoenix, comparing the information available in OpenStreetMap and Overture. He acknowledged the positive development and noted that Overture’s coverage extends beyond downtown, encompassing the entire region.
Software
- Bellingcat’s latest geolocation tool, based on OpenStreetMap data, simplifies the process of identifying the location of images for investigative purposes. By selecting key features from an image, such as landmarks or structures, users can narrow down their search within a specified region of interest. The tool provides a list of potential matches on a map, enabling users to pinpoint the exact location for further investigation. With this tool, geolocating images has become more accessible for open-source researchers and investigators.
- Wille Marcel, in a recent presentation during the OpenStreetMap US Mappy Hour, showcased OSMCha, a powerful tool for OpenStreetMap data analysis and quality control. The tutorial dives into the various functionalities starting at the 5:14 mark, providing a valuable resource for OSM enthusiasts.
Releases
- Magic Lane has unveiled a new Android version of its Magic Earth navigation app, offering users privacy, offline capabilities, and advanced driver assistance features.
Did you know …
- … about Open Etymology Map? It is a web application for displaying historical information about people whose names have been used as street or place names. This application uses information from the
wikidata:*
tag in OSM. - … using Ctrl+F5 instead of F5 to refresh a webpage? Ziltoidium pointed
out that after an edit, if you press F5 the map is reloaded, but the images continue to come from the cache. He recommends Ctrl+F5 instead and says that changes to the map are visible after 1 to 2 minutes.
OSM in the media
- Researchers from the Simon Fraser University have developed Canada’s first national open-source dataset of cycling infrastructure, aimed at promoting active transportation options, and assisting decisionmakers. The dataset, derived from OpenStreetMap, provides consistent information on bicycle infrastructure, allowing for better planning decisions.
- In an interview with the Lower Saxony Tourism Network Marie Witte, from Mittelweser-Touristik (MWT), reported
►
on the useful cooperation with OSM mappers to optimise cycling and hiking tours using digital maps. In order to implement this cooperation, the MWT, together with Tof99 and OSM_RogerWilco, have set up a working group in which mappers and tourism experts exchange information. The cooperation has allowed MWT
►
to improve its suggestions and to ensure the data quality of the routes with the help of the OSM mappers.
Upcoming Events
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, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, darkonus, derFred, isoipsa, rtnf.
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