Author: weeklyteam

(English) weekly 244 – 17.03.–23.03.2015

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17.03.–23.03.2015

Latest OSM Changeset Discussions from Pascal Neis
Latest OSM Changeset Discussions from Pascal Neis [1]

Mapping

Community

  • Mapillary give some initial feedback for traffic sign recognition.
  • Simon Poole describes in his diary the journey to pick-up a server donation and his experiences with OsmAnd and Mapillary.
  • User mmd asks for help to supplement the Overpass sample collection. He is looking for translators for the new page Overpass API/Overpass API by Example. mmd states on demand that this is important because students will create a learning platform for the Overpass API in “Google Summer of Code” and they should be able to use it.
  • How important is voting on new OSM tags? Opinions … differ.
  • Colin Broderick describes how one can see the mapping progress in Lesotho with a “punch card”.
  • [1] Pascal Neis shows an overview of recent changeset discussions. In the future, more opportunities for discussion should be added.
  • Edward17 created a weekly exercise in Ukraine as well. The current can be found in the forum. (choose your language)
  • Jaisen Nedumpala noticed that the authorities still prefer mainly printed maps in his native India. When he travels in the Panchayat near Koorachundu, he notes that there is not even a survey or cadastral map. To change that, he held a mapping party. In addition to the very extensive report, there are also many beautiful photographs in the article. 🙂

Imports

  • In Borno, a state in north-eastern Nigeria, there will be an import of healthcare facilities.
  • An import of railway data in the Netherlands has been discussed on the Dutch mailing list and in the forum. Frederik is among the people with objections.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

  • The OSMF Board is considering setting up a support force for the board. Frederik asks on the OSMF talk list if anyone has experience in organisations with such a support. The question triggers an extended discussion. In the course of discussions Frederik gives a brief insight into the functions and activities of the board.
  • Paul Norman published a first draft of the meeting on 16th February 2015 in Berlin.
  • On April 18, will be held the annual general meeting of the Swiss Association OpenStreetMap (OSM Switzerland) in Biel.
  • The OSM administrator Firefishy is looking at options for new digital certificates for the various OSM websites.

Events

Humanitarian OSM

  • OSM may use the current aerial photographs of Vanuatu from Airbus D & S. The images are available as a TMS, but have an offset to OSM and Bing.
  • PierZen and Severin Menard are candidates for the HOT Board.
  • The minutes of the March meeting of the HOT Board has been published. (via HOT-List)
  • Some before/after images show the destructive force of the cyclone Pam, which devastated the island nation of Vanuatu.
  • Epworth, a suburb of Harare where 150,000 people live, is fully traced and validated. (via Twitter)

Maps

  • The default map style to OSM.org has been updated to version 2.29.0. Details of the changes can be found here.

Open-Data

Software

  • The beta testing of the newly developed navigation program Terra! has begun. Interested parties with iOS 8.1 or above devices can register here.
  • The command-line tool geotool converts raw geographical data into ASCII art.
  • Style development is great to see, but sometimes new icons suggested for the openstreetmap-carto (“Standard”) style don’t always suggest the right feature to other style maintainers 🙂
  • The first applications for the OSM projects for the Google Summer of Code arrive – and questions of the candidates to the projects as well.
  • Tom MacWright writes “More than you ever wanted to know about GeoJSON”. (in your language)

Did you know about …

Other “geo” things

  • YellowPages.ca is no longer a data supplier to Google Maps. (via @Anonymaps)
  • Dane Springmeyer from MapBox reports about “Mapbox Vector Tile Specification by Esri”.
  • Landsat satellite images can now be virtually displayed quasi in real time on the services of MapBox (MapBox Studio).