weeklyOSM 719

25/04/2024-01/05/2024

Mapping

• ivanbranco discussed the mapping of trees on OpenStreetMap, emphasising the importance of using detailed tags for leaf type, leaf cycle, and species to improve the utility and accuracy of the map, and presented resources and tools to assist in the accurate tagging of tree data.
• Lucas Longour presented a project to prioritise updates to OpenStreetMap by focusing on the ages of points of interest. The project uses a web tool to input locations, fetches data using the Nominatim API to derive bounding box coordinates, and generates queries to the Overpass API to identify points of interest such as restaurants and hotels.
• The following proposals are waiting for your comments:
  • a tagging scheme to further describe industrial works, factories, or plants which are tagged man_made=works
  • biosafety_level=* to tag a laboratory’s biosafety level.
• Voting is underway on the open=* proposal until Tuesday 7 May. This proposal originally suggested the use of opened=* but has been changed to make it more grammatically correct.

Community

• [1] Bryce Cogswell has updated his list of OpenStreetMap users who map every day, highlighting Aurimas Fišeras, who has been mapping continuously for over 10 years, with other users also maintaining long streaks of daily contributions.
• Pieter Vander Vennet has created a puzzle to help learn the names of neighbourhoods in Ghent, Belgium, by adding them to OpenStreetMap, then using MapComplete to create a custom theme and exporting the map as a PNG. The background uses a modified style sheet from Protomaps.
• The French Free Software and Digital Commons Mission interviewed ► Delphine Montagne, an OSM and Wikipedia contributor. She shared her passion for open-source software and the digital commons, and how they are used as part of her job as an engineer in geographic information sciences at the University of Pau, France. From May 2024, she will be in residence for a year at the URFIST ► (Regional Training Unit for Scientific and Technical Information) in Lyon, France, to train civil servants on Wikipedia projects.
• FargoColdYa discussed the potential of AI-generated changeset comments in OpenStreetMap, suggesting that AI could generate concise comments based on edit locations and feature types, saving users time and allowing them to focus on more complex tasks. Implementation challenges such as resolving disputed boundaries and managing technical resources remain significant.
• OpenStreetMap India has highlighted the Rosedale Garden Complex, in Kolkata, in their #NicelyMappedIndia series. Community members are encouraged to suggest or showcase well-mapped locations via the OpenStreetMap community forum under the ‘Showcase NicelyMappedIndia Places‘ topic.
• rtnf tooted that a very rewarding aspect of contributing to OpenStreetMap is the unexpected joy of seeing where your contributions will appear next.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

• OpenStreetMap US is looking for two full-time remote employees; a programme coordinator and a mid-senior level geospatial software engineer.

Events

• Médecins Sans Frontières is organising ► a mapathon in Potsdam, Germany, to support humanitarian efforts by mapping areas that are not yet covered by digital maps. No previous experience is required and the event is open to everyone.

Education

• Dr Raquel Dezidério Souto, president of the IVIDES Institute, delivered a keynote lecture at the 19th Latin American Free Software Install Fest Rio 2024 on creating a web map with uMap and OSM data. In her diary she mentioned ► the collaborative mapping pilot project, which she is developing with a group of mappers from YouthMappers UFRJ, on the theme of disaster risk reduction while using uMap.

Maps

• OpenStreetMap Belgium has updated its base maps, which are now available in three languages. These updates are part of an effort to improve usability for projects that require map tiles. The style includes minor adjustments to better highlight local features. The community is invited to contribute further customisation of the map style to represent local elements such as specific Belgian icons.

OSM in action

• Eurogamer reported that Pokémon Go has introduced Wigglet, a new creature, which is primarily spawning in the game’s beach biomes (specifically, any OSM objects tagged as natural=beach and natural=coastline) according to a fan-made tool. The tool uses OpenStreetMap data to help players locate potential Wigglet spawning sites, even in inland areas that are tagged as beaches in the map data.
• Rtnf explored the complexities of local toponyms in OpenStreetMap, discussing the challenge of mapping ‘forgotten’ or unofficial local names that are still in active use despite not being recognised by official maps and address systems.

Open Data

• OpenCage has released address-formatting, an open database of the various address formats used in territories around the world.

Licenses

• The city of Erlangen, Germany, is now offering ► open government data and geodata under the CC0 licence.

Software

• The EveryDoor 5.0-beta1 release includes new features such as Estonian opening hours and a drawing mode for field notes that are synchronised with JOSM, which users are encouraged to test. The production release is expected next week, and there are plans to create a tutorial video on how to use the new mode. Further details and instructions for other editors can be found on the OpenStreetMap Wiki on the GeoScribble page.
• The OSMChina community will be collaborating with Tsinghua University’s TUNA ► Association to participate in OSPP, a summer camp sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences , aimed at encouraging students to contribute to open-source projects during the summer break. They plan to develop an easy-to-use public transportation editor ► . This project is recruiting students up till Monday 3 June at 7 am (UTC). Currently the project’s documentation is only available in Chinese, but students from outside of China will also be considered.

Programming

• AlexSpritze showed ► how you can display your mapping history in overpass turbo.
• Kraina AI has released QuackOSM, an open source tool for reading OpenStreetMap PBF files using DuckDB.
• RicoElectrico presented ‘Road Watcher’, a Python bot that monitors changes to road classifications in OpenStreetMap to help manage contentious edits and notify users of changes to road classifications via Discord, demonstrating the bot’s utility in preventing edit wars.
• Andy Townsend is looking for volunteers to test and review the new guide to manually build a tile server on Ubuntu 24.04, to catch any bugs before it is officially released.

Releases

• MapTiler has released OpenMapTiles version 3.15.

Did you know …

• … Amanda McCann has developed the ‘osm-mapping-party-before-after’ tool? This enables users to visualise the changes made to a certain OpenStreetMap region over time, useful as a before-and-after comparison of the progress made during a mapping party campaign, providing valuable insights into the impact of collaborative mapping efforts.
• …that the JOSM ContourMerge plugin helps OpenStreetMap users to streamline map editing by merging multiple strings of lines, such as contours, into a single object? This tool is particularly valuable for simplifying complex shapes, reducing data redundancy and improving the clarity of the map’s visual elements.
• … Strubbl has written ► an easy-to-follow tutorial for the map-machine renderer? It describes how to generate maps using the map-machine renderer, written by Sergey Vartanov (aka Enzet).The tutorial gives instructions on how to install Docker, covers cloning the repository, building the Docker image, and explains in great detail the commands required to generate the map.
• … there is a list of TV series that are either about OpenStreetMap or use OpenStreetMap and have given credit?

OSM in the media

• The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s repair work on the Johnson’s Pond Dam is still ongoing, with further inspections required despite some progress. The Warwick Post article on the subject includes an OpenStreetMap visualisation to show the effect of water level changes in the area.
• Matt Forrest noted that both OpenStreetMap and OSRM are explicitly referenced in the American TV series Super Pumped, which chronicles the rise and fall of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who was ultimately ousted in a boardroom coup.

Other “geo” things

• This study has used OpenStreetMap data to conduct a spatial analysis of damage to critical civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip during the Israeli military campaign from 7 October to 22 November 2023. The analysis reveals the significant effect on essential services and the wider humanitarian situation, highlighting the usefulness of OpenStreetMap in crisis mapping and damage assessment.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
Essen	FOSSGIS-OSM-Communitytreffen 2024 Nummer 20		2024-05-03 – 2024-05-05
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Mejorando el mapa de tu casa		2024-05-04
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Aprovechando las fotos de tu ActionCam (GoPro)		2024-05-04
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Vuelo de drones con propósito.		2024-05-04
Bochum	OSM-Workshop		2024-05-05
臺北市	OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #64		2024-05-06
Rio Paranaíba	Capacitação em Mapeando Colaborativo – Editor JOSM (Youthmappers UFV)		2024-05-08
	Missing Maps London Mapathon		2024-05-07
	Encontro OSM Brasil (online)		2024-05-08
Berlin	OSM-Verkehrswende #58	✓	2024-05-07
Bruxelles – Brussel	Notes meetup		2024-05-08
Lorain County	OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup	✓	2024-05-09
München	Münchner OSM-Treffen		2024-05-08
Stuttgart	Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen		2024-05-08
Potsdam	191. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch		2024-05-09
	Forum governance team meeting		2024-05-09
Rio de Janeiro	💻 Oficina de mapeamento de waterways no OpenStreetMap – YouthMappers UFRJ		2024-05-10
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2024-05-10
Mainz	OpenStreetMap-Stammtisch Mainz		2024-05-11
	SotM Asia 2024 monthly meeting		2024-05-11
Zürich	163. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich		2024-05-13
Grenoble	Réunion groupe local Grenoble : Panoramax – L’alternative libre pour photo-cartographier les territoires		2024-05-13
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2024-05-15
Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2024-05-15
Zagreb	State of the Map Croatia 2024		2024-05-16 – 2024-05-17
	[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2024-05-16
Salt Lake City	OSM Utah Monthly Map Night		2024-05-17
Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2024-05-16

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, SeverinGeo, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, derFred, euroPathfinder, mcliquid, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.