Silent Spike proposedleisure=inflatable_park for playgrounds with inflatable equipment and asks for comments on his proposal.
If you’ve ever wanted to add a tag to show that a railway track is not used regularly for scheduled services, including trams and subways, you might be interested in SelfishSeahorse’s proposal. The Request for Comments period has just started and feedback is much appreciated.
Warin proposes a new way to mark areas of steps such as the Spanish Steps in Rome. His proposal is now up for discussion.
The vote on the proposal that was drafted for better differentiation of various kinds of police facilities has been postponed to allow more discussion on the topic.
Community
A number of people have expressed concern about the way the development of iD is organised and specifically how iD is influencing tagging in OSM. This time Frederik Ramm, board member of both OSMF and the German chapter of OSM, raised his concerns and asked for feedback. (automatic translation)
An issue on GitHub about tagging track type in the iD editor became contentious. @matkoniecz suggested that iD deliberately pushes “probably not safe for most cars” as a definition for highway=track, and Bryan Housel, iD maintainer, responded “I basically just disregard everything on the tagging mailing list and the OSM wiki”. This was used as an example in the discussion referred to in the previous item…
The application period for this year’s Google Summer of Code is now open and, as in previous years, OSM has been been accepted as a mentoring organisation. You, as a student, have the chance of getting paid while working on open source software projects such as OSM.
Former OSMF board member Ilya Zverev pens a critique (automatic translation) of OSM’s “do-ocracy”.
OpenStreetMap Belgium published an article titled Heritage in Flanders and Crowd-Sourced Projects. They explain how to add information about heritage sites in OSM and Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons. The article doesn’t just focus on gathering and adding information but also on how to get and use information on historical places.
OpenStreetMap Foundation
The minutes of the OSMF board meeting held on 20 March 2019 are now available.
The Albanian Open Source Conference OSCAL 2019, which will take place on 18 and 19 May 2019 in Tirana, Albania, is looking for speakers.
For mappers who like to plan well in advance: The FOSSGIS 2020, a geospatial conference in Germany that covers many open source, open data and OSM topics, will be held on 11 to 14 March 2020 in Freiburg in Breisgau, Germany. The article also features highlights of the recent conference. (automatic translation)
Humanitarian OSM
Following requests received by HOT from several humanitarian partners they are providing support to assist on the ground teams already providing humanitarian aid in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe after Cyclone Idai. HOT is specifically looking for people with experience as Data specialist or Partner liaison. Apparently, HOT also allows applications from people requiring reimbursement for their activity.
After Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique and Zimbabwe, HOT is looking for help to support the local emergency response such as Doctors Without Borders. The article lays out different ways you can support the efforts.
The openrouteservice instance for disaster management, operated by the Heidelberg Institute for Geoinformation Technology, is supporting HOT’s activation following Cyclone Idai by updating the data for routing almost hourly.
Andrew Harveyannounced the re-launch of a modernised version of BeyondTracks. BeyondTracks started life in 2012 with the aim of helping people find enjoyable walks around Sydney, Australia. The scope of the site has expanded to cover all of Australia and people who would like to suggest a walk are encouraged to contact BeyondTracks.
switch2OSM
A Spanish version of the NewsHereNow website/webapp is now available.Simply click on the “Use my GPS location” button to find the physically nearest, non-chain (“local”) restaurants. If your favourite restaurant is missing, please make sure it (including its website URL) is on OpenStreetMap. There is also a direct link to OpenStreetMap centred at your nearest intersection.
Open Data
EldoHub and OpenStreetMap Kenya received funding from Mapbox and the UK government to take part in the 2019 Open Data Day, on 2 March 2019. The Open Knowledge Foundation blogged about the events in Kenya. These took place in EldoHub, a technology innovation hub in Uasin Gishu County; and in Nairobi, where an open mapping track was held to discuss topics such as open spatial data and crowdsourced mapping.
ČÚZK, the Czech national survey agency, just published some of their data for commercial and non-commercial use as open data. We are getting another great source for OpenStreetMap in the Czech Republic.
The map at electricitymap.org visualises CO₂ emissions and other details about countries’ mix of the production and consumption of energy. The map is currently in German only. However, the project is open source and the developers are asking for help with translation.
Software
Nick Whitelegg announced the release of Hikar 0.2.0, an augmented reality app for walkers and hikers. The app is available for Android and the code is open source. The app, which helps the user with footpaths and signposts on the camera feed, now covers the whole of Europe.
User clementroux writes (automatic translation) in his blog about his app Next2Me, which finds and displays facilities with the key amenity=* in an adjustable radius around the current location – of course based on OSM.
Releases
JOSM has been updated to version 14945. The validator received various improvements and the Add Tag dialog shows now last used tags not only last added tags.
Version 0.12 of the GraphHopper Routing Engine has been released. Turn restrictions and turn costs are now supported in the speed mode, the Isochrone module was made compatible with public transit and the average speed calculation was improved.
User Wambacher is constantly updating his OSM Software Watchlist, which includes almost all OSM-related software along with the date of their latest release. Most recently Basecamp, Mapillary, Vespucci and many others received an update. Wambacher is highlighting one new addition: OSHDB, a high-performance data analysis platform for OSM’s full-history data.
Did you know …
… how to tag a bus bay where buses can stop without blocking traffic? The tag bus_bay can be added to the node of the stopping position of the bus – or it can be added to the road, representing the full length of the bay. JOSM’s PT_Assistant plugin provides support for adding them conveniently on ways with its double split map mode.
Le Mondedescribes (automatic translation) how local mappers in various African cities are using the JungleBus app to map local bus routes.
eepublishers in South Africa understand more about the threat to OpenStreetMap posed by the EU Copyright Directive than members of the European Parliament. Or should the EU MPs be interest-driven?
Other “geo” things
The deployment of “Strava Scramblers” to reduce conflicts at popular spots made local riders angry.(This April fool’s day article caught many readers off guard).
The AGILE conference in Limassol, Cyprus (17 to 20 June 2019), which is about Geospatial Technologies for Local and Regional Development, will organise a workshop called “GEOgraphical and CULTural aspects of Geo-information: Issues and Solutions” and invites you to submit a short OSM paper.
Upcoming Events
Where
What
When
Country
Kawagoe
川越お花見マッピングパーティ2019
2019-04-06
La Riche
La Riche (37)#Ateliers d’initiation à OpenStreetMap
2019-04-06
Kyoto
お花見!オープンデータソン in 京都
2019-04-07
Rennes
Réunion mensuelle
2019-04-08
Bordeaux
Réunion mensuelle
2019-04-08
Essen
Mappertreffen
2019-04-08
Taipei
OSM x Wikidata #3
2019-04-08
Toronto
Toronto Mappy Hour
2019-04-08
Lyon
Rencontre mensuelle pour tous
2019-04-09
Munich
Münchner Stammtisch
2019-04-09
Salt Lake City
SLC Mappy Hour
2019-04-09
Viersen
OSM Stammtisch Viersen
2019-04-09
Cologne
Stammtisch Köln
2019-04-10
Buenos Aires
Taller Introducción a JOSM en FOSS4G-AR 2019
2019-04-10
Leoben
Stammtisch Obersteiermark
2019-04-11
Zurich
OSM Stammtisch Zurich
2019-04-11
Berlin
130. Berlin-Brandenburg Stammtisch
2019-04-12
Salt Lake City
University of Utah Campus Mapping Party
2019-04-13
Biella
Incontro mensile
2019-04-13
Cologne Bonn Airport
Bonner Stammtisch
2019-04-16
Lüneburg
Lüneburger Mappertreffen
2019-04-16
Reutti
Stammtisch Ulmer Alb
2019-04-16
Toulouse
Rencontre mensuelle
2019-04-17
Karlsruhe
Stammtisch
2019-04-17
Bremen
Bremer Mappertreffen
2019-04-22
Salt Lake City
SLC Map Night
2019-04-23
Nottingham
Nottingham pub meetup
2019-04-23
Joué-lès-Tours
Rencontre Mensuelle
2019-04-23
Barcelona
#geomobBCN
2019-04-24
Montpellier
Réunion mensuelle
2019-04-24
Düsseldorf
Stammtisch
2019-04-24
Phone/Video Conferencing
Mappy Hour US
2019-04-24
Lübeck
Lübecker Mappertreffen
2019-04-25
Montpellier
State of the Map France 2019
2019-06-14-2019-06-16
Angra do Heroísmo
Erasmus+ EuYoutH_OSM Meeting
2019-06-24-2019-06-29
Minneapolis
State of the Map US 2019
2019-09-06-2019-09-08
Edinburgh
FOSS4GUK 2019
2019-09-18-2019-09-21
Heidelberg
Erasmus+ EuYoutH_OSM Meeting
2019-09-18-2019-09-23
Heidelberg
HOT Summit 2019
2019-09-19-2019-09-20
Heidelberg
State of the Map 2019 (international conference)
2019-09-21-2019-09-23
Grand-Bassam
State of the Map Africa 2019
2019-11-22-2019-11-24
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.
electricitymap.org has multiple translations, auto-detected from the user’s browser locale. It can be overridden by attaching &lang=en (or other language code) to the URL. See https://github.com/tmrowco/electricitymap-contrib/tree/master/web/locales for the list of translations – some are incomplete and help completing or updating them is always welcome 🙂
I’m the author of the BeyondTracks site mentioned, I wanted to clarify the recent announcement we made was the launch of a new map style based on OpenStreetMap data designed to work better for Australian bushwalking, https://www.beyondtracks.com/map.
Specifically we show most features from a much lower zoom level (based on an importance rank and density of other features).
The database of walks on the site are not included in OpenStreetMap as these are mostly subjective opinions on good routes, but in keeping with the ODbL license are released as free and open source data.
Hello,
electricitymap.org has multiple translations, auto-detected from the user’s browser locale. It can be overridden by attaching &lang=en (or other language code) to the URL. See https://github.com/tmrowco/electricitymap-contrib/tree/master/web/locales for the list of translations – some are incomplete and help completing or updating them is always welcome 🙂
I’m the author of the BeyondTracks site mentioned, I wanted to clarify the recent announcement we made was the launch of a new map style based on OpenStreetMap data designed to work better for Australian bushwalking, https://www.beyondtracks.com/map.
Specifically we show most features from a much lower zoom level (based on an importance rank and density of other features).
The database of walks on the site are not included in OpenStreetMap as these are mostly subjective opinions on good routes, but in keeping with the ODbL license are released as free and open source data.