Hello OSM community,

I’m excited to share my experiences as a participant and trainer in the OM Guru Fellowship, 2024. My name is Kyaw Zayar Linn, and I’m from Myanmar. I work as a GIS officer at CDE Myanmar. I’ve mostly used GIS software like ArcGIS and QGIS but have limited experience with OSM. So, this program has been an incredible journey of learning, growth, and community engagement.

My Journey Before joining this fellowship program, my experience with OSM was primarily limited to downloading OSM data and using it in GIS software. While I knew that I could edit and contribute to OSM, I lacked the practical knowledge on how to effectively edit and contribute data. Also, thanks to the Person who encourage to do OSM contribution and explain opportunity of OpenStreetMap for Myanmar that Myanmar is lacking free vector map.

From the moment I joined the OM Guru Fellowship, I knew I was embarking on a unique adventure. The fellowship provided a structured platform for me to enhance my mapping, validating skills, collaborate with fellows and contribute to meaningful projects on HOT Tasking Manager. One of the highlights was working on HOT Tasking Manager Projects, where I learned the HOT Tasking Manager plays a crucial role in leveraging the collective efforts of a global community of volunteers to improve mapping data where it is most needed. It supports humanitarian organizations and local communities in making informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date geographic information.

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The problem

We are generating an increasing level of data as a society. An unstated goal of openstreetmap that many contributors subscribe to is “completeness” or “accuracy”, which works fine when you dataset is small, local and high level detail, but less so when scaled up to determining if every traffic light crossing in the world has tactile paving.

So naturally, automation and data imports are where people start to look; and very sensibly there’s a process to propose, review and ingest large datasets.

However, this relies on:

• Expertise and peer review
• Honesty and diligence of the importer to have and execute a QA plan
• A second level of QA tools and mappers to QA and maintain data

What could we do differently?

In the semantic web/linked data world, two big concepts emerged. The first is the semantic web layer cake, which talks about going from “machine readable” to “schemas” to “query” to “proof” to “trust”. In OSM terms these are poi, tags, overpass, a lot of tools like keep right or osmose, and at the moment, human boots on the ground survey.

The concept of 5 star open data is focused on the idea that we have a lot of data locked up in silos - and while it would be ideal to align it to every standard and have the highest quality possible data; 95% of the time it’s better to publish anything at all rather than wait until it’s perfect. So long as data consumers have an idea of the limitations, they can apply judgement when attempting to use it.

What is the current state?

A number of open data portals provide basic indicators of “5 star open data” quality.

In our wiki, we maintain documentation which describes the OSM community’s view on data quality of an external dataset.

We have tags for change sets describing the source.

What specifically would we change?

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Even though I have not been able to write a diary entry every day, I have managed to map a village or more every day.

Now I am at the airport of Athens, waiting for the airplane to travel back home, and found the time to write this diary entry. In the past days I have mapped the villages Pac, Gjergjan, Kaçinar, Romës, Selckë, Bukmirë and many smaller villages surrounding the above-mentioned villages.

I would also like to publicly thank again perenniallylate for mapping other two villages in Albania, Rusinjë and Kuqar.

“#100villagesin100days “

Tasking Manager, an open-source project, recently undertook a significant migration: transitioning from Flask to FastAPI for our web framework and from psycopg to asyncpg for our database interactions. FastAPI offers substantial performance improvements by leveraging asynchronous programming and simplifying API development with automatic interactive documentation and modern Python features. asyncpg enhances database interaction throughput with its asynchronous design and high optimization. Despite challenges like the learning curve and extensive code refactoring, this transition promises enhanced performance and scalability, providing valuable insights for the community and encouraging the exploration of FastAPI and asyncpg for similar projects.

For a detailed account of our migration journey, read our full post here. We invite the community to get involved, share feedback, and contribute to Tasking Manager. Your insights and collaboration are invaluable as we continue to innovate and improve in the world of open-source software.

Welcome to the fifteenth OpenStreetMap NextGen development diary.

I am sorry for the delay in the development diary! Due to my participation in the recent State of the Map EU 2024, I had to dedicate some of my time to making the presentations and attending the event. Nonetheless, thanks to other project contributors, we have more highlights to show off! This is the beauty of an open community collaboration 🙂.

🔖 You can read other development diaries here:
osm.org/user/NorthCrab/diary/

⭐ This project is open-source — join us today:
https://github.com/openstreetmap-ng/openstreetmap-ng

🛈 This initiative is not affiliated with the OpenStreetMap Foundation.

Multiple Changeset Bounding Boxes

OpenStreetMap-NG is resolving one of the most common newbie issues on OpenStreetMap while making area monitoring more accurate. Changesets now support incremental and deterministic clustering of changes, enabling multiple bounding box support.

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Collaborators

Department of Disaster Management (DDM) , Thimphu Municipality (TT) and BSc. Environment Management, Royal Thimphu College (RTC) and the Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific (OMH-AP)

Initiative

Since OpenStreetMap (OSM) is the most accessible data for individuals and agencies for map visualization, geospatial analysis, research, and decision-making, the DDM and TM conducted a one-day session on using spatial data in urban planning and humanitarian efforts. During this session, students learned how to update or contribute point data or Point of interest (PoIs), such as shops, offices, and hotels, to OSM using a mobile app called Organic Map. A session was also included by Mr. Mikko from OMH-AP, the Philippines.

Who maps the most

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Today I realised that it’s probably significantly more efficient (in terms of effort and time) to simply state the reason(s) for (in)validating a task in the task comments, and ask contributors to read the project comments where I can post some more detailed comments, explinations, pictures etc. related to common mistakes I find while validating the project.

This efficiently accomplishes at least four objectives;

1. Contributors who read the comments recieve feedback regarding their contributions
2. It is easier to get an overwiew of quality issues in the project.
3. It saves time in comparison to giving feedback on each individual task.
4. Contributors to the project who map areas yet to be mapped and read the project comments can get a heads up, before contributing increasing the likelihood that they will avoid making the same mistakes.

Farewell to giving feedback on every task, unless it is truly unique. 😌

My journey with mapping began during my undergraduate studies in geography at Eastern University, Sri Lanka. My fascination with maps and the potential of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to solve real-world problems sparked a deep interest that would shape my career. In 2019, I joined OpenStreetMap (OSM), an open-source platform that allows users to create and share maps of their communities. This was the beginning of a transformative experience. Through OSM, I discovered a vibrant community and shared my passion for open data and community development. I quickly became an active contributor, dedicating countless hours to mapping underserved areas in Sri Lanka.

As my involvement with OSM grew, I became proficient in using various mapping tools and mobile applications, which allowed me to conduct efficient and accurate mapping projects. I got appointed as the YouthMappers Chapter Secretary at Eastern University, where I played a pivotal role in promoting open mapping practices among students and local communities. My commitment to mapping and community development led me to join Sarvodaya Fusion, an NGO dedicated to empowering communities through technology. At Sarvodaya Fusion, I organized workshops and training sessions to teach others how to use OSM and GIS tools. These initiatives not only enhanced the mapping capabilities of participants but also fostered a sense of community and shared purpose.

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President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on strengthening support for teachers and advancing education at #SONA2024 #Mapper

I wish an Irish wristwatch.

P.S. The wristwatch shall be wish-washed

I am mapping every day, but i am unable to write a diary entry for every day i map. due to limited internet access and being on the move most of the time.

During the past 4 days, including today, i have mapped Villages Mesul, Cerjan, Bishqem and Papër and i have done a lot of mapping in Kosovo.

I have also gotten some private message these days to whom i have been unable to respond, so i ask you to bear with me. I will be back home in a week and will catch up with you all. Thanks a lot for contributing on mapping Albania! <3

“#100villagesin100days “

Hello, I am logus and I am from Vietnam. It would be amazing if all of us from South East Asia collaboratively map for OpenStreetMap’s 20th birthday at August 9th. Right now, I am currently mapping Hanoi’s center at here. If you are interested, do leave a comment below. Thank you!

Good morning!

This is my first diary entry. I am new to OSM and have a lot of learning and growth to do. I have to say I knew nothing about OSM and am absolutely blown away by how many companies use OSM in their mapping efforts. Truly awesome!

I am starting out building a interactive eruv map using OSM. I am getting lot of help and I am learning all the code words of the OSM community. Learning what for instance nods are points, I think they are called wazes or lines, and relations are a combinations of points and lines. Learning to Tag as well. I am also learning and trying to learn daily the LearnOSM website. Going through the tutorials are very good. I am enjoying doing it, yes it is frustrating at times but that is learning.

I am building this eruv map for my community and looking to embed it on the Synagogues website. Learning right now I am learning about the editor and how to place points and lines.

I will keep posting every so often my wins, loses, and how it worked for me.

by:

New OSMer

Jason

On May 24, 2024, I led an “Introduction to OpenStreetMap (OSM)” training session at the Geography Department of the University of Laos in Vientiane. The session was organized with the help of Professor Sonnasack Phaipasith, who provided translation support and organized the venue and invited his students. We had 15 participants, all students of Geography - eight women and seven men.

This training was part of my assignment with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team’s (HOT’s) Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific (AP Hub) Guru Fellowship program. The Guru Fellowship program is a program aiming to engage with and upskill OSM mappers to fully utilize their knowledge and experience in advancing the Open Mapping movement in the region. Within this Open Mapping Guru Fellowship program, I also organized a Happy Hours OSM mapping meetup in Vientiane as well as 2 online trainings about “Mapping Relations” and “Good practices of Tagging Names in OSM”.

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Getting to know OpenStreetMap (OSM)

I love maps. Since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the old atlases and maps I found in my grandfather’s drawers. I could spend hours learning about countries’ borders, historic events, and the world through those thematic and topographic pieces of art and science.

Circumstances had it that eventually I ended up with a Masters Degree in Geography, unleashed onto the professional world, trying to make some positive contributions, some might say, “to change the world”, on the beautiful island of Lombok, Indonesia.

I still remember, when back in 2008, my colleague showed me an article about a crazy project to make a free map of the world, basically by using GPS tracks as the main data source – high resolution satellite imagery as we know it now, was not yet accessible. Crazy idea, impossible, overambitious, were a few thoughts that popped up. Though, “why not give it a try” and add a few roads and places in my neighborhood. I don’t think those few edits made a big difference to OSM – but it thought me of how to use and contribute to OSM.

Becoming an OSM contributor

The following year I ended up living and working in the town of Putussibau, Kapus Hulu District. Take a dart, throw it somewhere onto the middle of a map of Borneo, the biggest Island in Indonesia, and if you slightly missed the exact middle a little bit to the north-west - that’s where I found myself. Surrounded by amazing nature, amid local Dayak, Iban, Punan and Malayu as well as other Indonesians who had moved there more recently from other parts of the archipelago, I was teaching GIS and conservation, mapping forests, customary boundaries and the manifestations of an increasing human footprint there – road infrastructure, oil palm plantations, gold mining areas and the like.

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These days i am very busy and i have not been able to write a diary entry as I do every day, but i have mapped some villages and improved some already mapped villages. Too tired, to remember the names or go back and look them up. Hopefully ill get some more free time in the next days to make a more detailed diary entry.

“#100villagesin100days #day41&42”

This week, I am attending State of the Map Europe 2024, where I’ll be a speaker on at least two occasions. Because of that, I have been working on material for the conference, and I would like to include it in my development diaries. However, to avoid spoilers, this must obviously be done after the conference :P. Please expect development diary #15 to be published shortly after SOTM EU, which ends on Sunday. I will also try to get the video recording of my talks in case you miss them. Cheers 🦀!

Are you familiar with the OpenStreetMap Statistics created by Piebro? It’s a handy tool that analyzes OSM changeset files and creates graphs from various perspectives.

• https://piebro.github.io/openstreetmap-statistics/
• https://github.com/piebro/openstreetmap-statistics

The project’s README also indicates that analysis can be performed for individual countries or regions. I analysed the Japanese region in my local environment, so I’ll summarize the procedure.

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a

I started contributing some edits to OSM using StreetComplete, it’s nice to be able to help!