The SMCoSE YouthMappers Chapter, renowned as one of Tanzania’s largest mapping communities, hosted a transformative mapathon on April 14, 2024, at the esteemed Sokoine University of Agriculture. This event marked a pivotal moment of collaboration, extending invitations to other YouthMappers chapters in Morogoro, thus amplifying the inclusivity and impact of the initiative. Central to the mapathon’s objective was the concerted effort to contribute to Project #15530 within the HOT Tasking Manager, focusing on mapping cities across the Eastern and Southern Africa Region. By leveraging the power of open data, participants aimed to craft detailed base maps crucial for diverse applications, ranging from urban planning to efficient disaster response strategies.

Amidst an atmosphere described as “fantastic,” the event witnessed a remarkable accomplishment, the successful mapping of approximately 25,000 buildings. This feat not only underscores the collective dedication of the participants but also showcases the tangible outcomes of community-driven endeavors. Moreover, the mapathon served as a platform for new mappers to acquaint themselves with essential mapping tools such as ID Editors and JOSM, empowering them to contribute meaningfully to the OpenStreetMap ecosystem.

Special recognition is duly owed to the Open Mapping Hub Eastern and Southern Africa (OMHESA) for their unwavering support, notably through the prestigious Spatial People Award. This acknowledgment not only highlights the significance of collaborative partnerships but also accentuates the pivotal role of organizations in facilitating impactful mapathons and community initiatives. In essence, the event epitomized the ethos of collaboration, learning, and contribution inherent within the mapping community, further advancing the cause of open data dissemination and spatial awareness in the region.

… See full entry

Theatro da Paz, Belém/Pará - Brasil

O Theatro da Paz foi fundado em 15 de fevereiro de 1878, durante o período áureo do Ciclo da Borracha, quando ocorreu um grande crescimento econômico na região amazônica. Belém foi considerada “A Capital da Borracha”. Mas, apesar desse progresso a cidade ainda não possuía um teatro de grande porte, capaz de receber espetáculos do gênero lírico. https://www.theatrodapaz.com.br/

Credito da Foto; Wikipedia, https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Wiki_Loves_Par%C3%A1#/media/Ficheiro:Teatro_da_Paz_3.jpg Theatro da Paz, Belém/Pará - Brasil

… See full entry

I am currently on a visit to Ireland 🇮🇪 and a lack of proper office space makes it difficult to stay productive. I will try to prepare something cool to show off this week. Sorry for keeping you waiting!

🍟

Why is OpenStreetMap ID not updated like OpenStreetMap ArcGIS? These are two different datasets that need to be linked/updated! Is ArcGIS taking over for OpenStreetMap and requiring a fee? ArcGIS needs to update OpenStreetMap ID if they participate! OpenStreetMap ArcGIS has not updated dataset in months! Please help with coordinating these two data set updates! Otherwise this in-browser edition will soon be obsolete! Use ArcGIS to compare your area with the link listed: ArcGIS OSM Are there any differences? Can anyone explain why? On the ArcGIS OSM there are more buildings that they imported from datasets. They should have updated the OSM ID data sets to match their information. Now there is a ArcGIS OSM version 2 that appears to be replacing ID OSM…

Introduction

In this post, I will try to explain my process how to get best out of Insta360 ONE RS 1-inch camera and successfully upload images to Mapillary. It started out of my frustration of dealing with this camera and Mapillary and I hope you will not have to go through what I have been🙂. I will be focusing here more on software side (how to deal with data) rather than on hardware side (how to set up rig for image capture).

Let me first start with disclaimer that this is not easiest camera to work with Mapillary (hence this guide) and that not even Mapillary is recommending it. It definitively captures better images than GoPro 360, but everything with GoPro is more smooth over whole process, so be aware of this. Camera needs to record in video mode and it relies on additional GPS dongle you have to buy.

… See full entry

We created a F-Droid repository for all Agroecology Map applications.

F-Droid is an open source app store and software repository for Android.

Agroecology Map is a Free Software, based on OpenStreetMap, citizen science platform that aims to assist in mapping and exchanging experiences in Agroecology.

• How to add the Agroecology Map F-Droid repository?

1. Settings
2. Repositories
3. Add (+) Repository (https://fdroid.agroecologymap.org/repo/)
4. Scan QR Code or Enter repository URL manually

Step-by-step https://youtube.com/shorts/4Cw3jPzmS2I?si=zYxrgR1fHMfHEDq7

Pipelines are notoriously tough to map. They lie mostly underground, often with little to no visible trace on aerial imagery. What may look like a pipeline route on the ground may actually be a tangled bundle of pipelines, and even if we can figure out an individual pipeline’s true route, imagery tells us nothing about its name, who operates it, or what substance it carries.

Fortunately, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation, publishes authoritative, open data on pipeline routes. The NPMS Public Viewer, however, presents this data as raster images and limits how far you can zoom in. Despite this, we can use it quite effectively to identify pipelines and trace their precise routes.

Workflow

Requirements: JOSM, with Expert Mode enabled (this can be found at the bottom of the View menu).

Choose a county

… See full entry

English below / Português abaixo

---

Dans mon précédent post, mon propos visait à promouvoir la cartographie de terrain comme première activité concrète de cartographie OSM proposée à des débutants, plutôt que l’hégémonique cartographie des bâtiments, mais pas du tout à dénigrer la cartographie des bâtiments en tant que telle : alors que certaines personnes dans la communauté voient essentiellement OSM comme une base de données de navigation et jugent les bâtiments comme un objet secondaire voire assez inutile, pour ma part, je reconnais tout à fait leur importance pour divers aspects, comme par exemple, participer à représenter (notamment avec les barrières et les arbres) ce qu’on appelle en géographie le tissu urbain, ou servir comme approximation de l’effectif d’une population. J’ai d’ailleurs enseigné pendant quelques années InaSAFE pour QGIS, qui utilise notamment les bâtiments OSM comme données de vulnérabilités, ou coordonné la cartographie de tous les bâtiments dans les préfectures et sous-préfectures de la RCA pendant la crise de 2012 -2014.

Pour autant, je ne fais pas des bâtiments l’alpha et l’oméga de la carto OSM, et en fait, surtout pas l’alpha. En effet, ce n’est pas le premier objet que je ferais cartographier sur imagerie par des débutants :

… See full entry

It’s summer in the Philippines, and even at 08h, the sun’s already ablaze, and a friend with an umbrella is always welcome sight.

Our Tuesday morning in Tagbilaran started with a field mapping exercise with volunteers from the University of Bohol YouthMappers Club, gathering by the bandstand in Plaza Rizal for last minute rejoinders.

… See full entry

Welcome to my fifth OpenStreetMap NextGen development diary.
This week has been mostly focused on GPS Traces 🛰.

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

🐙 This project is open-source and publicly available:
https://github.com/Zaczero/openstreetmap-ng

GPS Traces Demo

It’s best to experience the refreshed traces in a video form, so I prepared a short demo (no audio):
⏯️ https://files.monicz.dev/osm/traces-demo.mp4

For comparison, here’s how the same trace looks on the current website:
osm.org/user/bielebog/traces/11326871

You will quickly notice the super-fast upload speed and the new trace animations. If there’s something wrong with the file you attached, you will receive instant feedback on the upload page. One new feature is possibility to edit trace name. Previously, this feature has been hidden behind API 0.6.

One more planned feature is rendering the map behind the trace animation. Now that the system works on individual coordinates, it will be fairly easy to implement. Traces without a human-understandable point of reference are not as useful as they could be.

Unified Traces URLs

Let’s start with discussing the current URL routes.

• If you want to access a way, you visit /way/<ID>
• If you want to access a note, you visit /note/<ID>
• If you want to access a trace, you visit /user/<USER>/traces/<ID>

Which is not consistent. OpenStreetMap-NG unifies this experience by introducing a new URL route: /trace/<ID>. All existing URLs remain backwards compatible and are automatically redirected.

Short-Term Development Plan

There’s just a few things left before reaching the core feature parity with the existing website. Those are the things I want to finish before inviting new contributors ツ.

• Elements sidebar (50% work in progress)
• User Diaries
• User Profiles
• Applications (OAuth) settings

Contributor Benefits

… See full entry

Having both GoPro Hero11 and Max360, I was curious whether there would be any use from running both cameras at the same time. While Max 360 captures all around, would Hero 11 possibly have better resolution, which could be useful for streetview platforms like Mapillary and Panoramax, thus also providing additional detail for OSM mapping?

Here’s the same object - a surveillance camera - from both action cameras. Hero11 is even a little bit further away.

Max360:

… See full entry

My first diary entry in thirteen years, and so much has changed on OSM. The editing tools have come on so much, and there is now an incredible level of detail, even in the rural town I’m living in now. I think I need to go back to the documentation to refresh my memory and look at adding all the things missing in my neighbourhood.

It is for doing mapping so I can get better, so thank you guys! Google Maps is my main option but I am in Rank 149 of OpenStreetMap! Thank you for @DavidDean as he said he was in the top 50 in 2008! I specifically like you guys! Kind Regards, Brilloant

On April 3, 2024, an earthquake happened outside the coast of Hualien, which caused serious roadblocks and human casualties. OpenStreetMap Taiwan has opened 3 projects for mapping affected areas, requesting worldwide mappers to map buildings, landuses, missing roads or waterways in Hualien.

• Central Cross-island Highway eastern section: https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/16508
• Suhua Highway: https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/16507/
• Hua-Dong Valley northern part, Sincheng, Siulin, Hualien, Ji’an, Shoufong: https://tasks.hotosm.org/projects/16505

We are talking if there is a possibility to donate the newest satellite image after the earthquake to map the after-earthquake situations. And the possibility of hosting mapping events on-site after the affected area returns to normal, helping locals by mapping the newest map data.

That’s the name of the workshops I facilitated last week, with the goal of introducing/promoting OpenStreetMap, along with introducing tools like FieldPaper, OpenAerialMap, Sketch-Map Tool and Umap, to meet the objectives of local DRR practitioners’ upcoming mapping initiative.

Last Friday I had conducted two workshop in Iloilo, one (unplanned) for Iloilo’s Provincial DRRMO (disaster agency), and another for Iloilo City own DRRMO. In the Philippines, city charters may provide them autonomy from the geographic province they’re part of. These Disaster Risk Reduction Management Offices (a tongue-full, I know) are the government agencies responsible for mitigating localized disaster risks, and planning for disaster prevention for their respective territories.

… See full entry

While commercial map providers like Google, provide map data in local Indian languages, the local language labels are usually transliterated from English, resulting in errors. OSM, Wikidata and Wikipedia platforms provide a way to improve the local language maps leveraging multilingual labels through Wikidata identifiers on OSM, through semi automated updates. For good quality maps on Wikipedia and OSM, the Wikidata location needs to be accurate and Wikidata identifier should be uniquely mapped to the actual OSM geometry. I worked on removing the mismatches for villages of a district in Andhra Pradesh. I have documented my experience as clearly as possible, so that even users with less programming and tools skills can contribute to the work. As an example, identifying and fixing errors in Wikidata location is given below.

Identifying and fixing error in locations on Wikidata pages

… See full entry

As we announced in a previous post, we continue to inform the OpenStreetMap LATAM community about the SOTM LATAM 2024 committees, and now we present the Programming Committee.

The main functions of this committee are:

• Propose the activity program during the days of the SOTM
• Design protocol activities
• Design the event Tracks
• Design parallel activities
• Design recreation activities
• Coordinate with the speakers what is necessary for their participations
• Evaluate the carrying out of recognition of mappers in the region

The committee members are:

… See full entry

Well did that alone

As we announced in the previous post, we continue to inform the OpenStreetMap LATAM community about the SOTM LATAM 2024 committees, and now we present the Academic Program Committee.

The main functions of this committee are:

• Evaluate the presentation proposals received
• Evaluate scholarship applications received
• Management of travel and accommodation scholarships

As additional information for those interested in presenting a talk or presentation, the topics may be (but are not limited to):

… See full entry

So I thought surveys meant that I go out and ask people… conduct a survey, but apparently it means that you have been there personally to check it… so… that means I didn’t tag any of my entries where it would apply with this… lol