Hello everyone,

I would like to request the addition of a missing village to OpenStreetMap. The village is called Charchall, located in the Akre District, Sawsana Subdistrict, Duhok Governorate, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Basic information:

🏘️ Village name: Charchall

🗺️ District: Akre

🏞️ Subdistrict: Sawsana

🏴 Governorate: Duhok – Kurdistan Region, Iraq

🧾 Postal Code: 24005

🛣️ Main connecting road: Charchall Road

📍 Nearby village: benatah

This village is recognized by local government maps, but it is still missing from OpenStreetMap. We kindly ask for it to be added so that the area can be better represented for residents, navigation, and future development.

Today is my introduction to OSM through an internship process by Mr Samson who take as through an online intern, we are getting into it before you know it and this will mark the start of one of the greatest open street mappers who has ver been born, am actually learning a lot from this process and looking forward to contributing so much to the members of the community, we wanna make Uganda great and make my village the best in the world #2025OptusAcademyInternship

• URL: https://osmapp.org
• Full changelog: https://github.com/zbycz/osmapp/releases/tag/v1.7.0

OsmAPP is the one integrated app for OpenStreetMap ecosystem for both web and mobile. It should be as easy to use as Google Maps, but fully open-source using all the great services around. It was first aimed at broad public, but now it becomes apparent, that it works best for the OpenStreetMap contributors, who want better UX or share OSM around.

Special thanks to all our 6 contributors in this release. 🎉

The new Relation editor

The main feature of this release is the reworked Edit dialog with the new Relation editor. That took a lot of work and refactoring. Now if you click (or create) a relation, you can browser through its members and its parents and easily edit metadata accross whole hierarchies.

It is the most useful on hierarchies like the climbing=area, climbing=crag and routes (example here), but it is written in general manner and can help OSM contributors in unexpected ways.

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The goal of https://openclimbing.org is to offer a non-commercial alternative to traditional climbing apps. Instead of filling private databases, we decided to design a structure for mapping climbing routes directly into OpenStreetMap.

This way, all data in the app is fully open and can be freely used or edited by anyone.

Image: Crag with marked climbing routes in Hlubočepy, Czechia

Key Features of openclimbing.org

• Both the database and the code are completely open, so anyone can contribute with content or code. Thanks to the open data approach, anyone can create new ways to use or visualize the data.

• Each climbing route has defined GPS coordinates, making it easier to find in the terrain. This is big advantage but also a limitation – you cannot add routes without it.

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UM980 is relatively affordable chip allowing multi-constellation multi-frequency GNSS with capability to provide raw phase measurements and hence potentially suitable for use in OpenStreetMap environment for precise mapping susing RTK.

In this post (or potentially series of posts), I will document my experiences with using UM980 with RTKLIB and other open-source or free tools.

Hardware

• UM980 RTK GNSS USB Dongle with SMA antenna - ELT0222 (from gnss.store)
• EM-FD700 antenna (form AliExpress)

The module can easily be configured using UPrecise tool coming with UM980. It is advisable to have faster than default COM port rate ~~~ CONFIG COM1 230400 ~~~ and use the signal group 2 (note that this leads to reset of the UM980 module ~~~ CONFIG SIGNALGROUP 2 ~~~

If you need to stop the stream of measured data, you can use ~~~ UNLOG ~~~ You can also UNLOG just specific messages.

If you want to store your config of the module so that it survives unplugging and restarting the module, use ~~~ SAVECONFIG ~~~

Software setup on Android

RTKGPS+ - collecting raw phase measurements

This is to collect the raw data in real time. The last RTKGPS+ tool is release is unfortunately relatively old and hence does not support, so the native UniCore support, which is available in demo5_b34L version of RTKLIB, is not yet available in RTKGPS+. Hence it is mostly useful for collecting raw data, rather than providing real-time solutions. If you want to collect the data, choose BINEX as the format and just log the input stream from the USB. This is how to configure the module:

CONFIG PPP DISABLE

OBSVMB 1

GPSEPHB 120
BDSEPHB 120
BD3EPHB 120
GLOEPHB 120
GALEPHB 120

GPSIONB 120
BDSIONB 120
BD3IONB 120
GALIONB 120

If you want to have faster measurements, you can use ~~~ OBSVMB 0.2 ~~~ But it may be then advisable to use at least 240kbaud rate of the COM port (which is generally well supported by RTKGPS+).

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I recently updated this map:

and this one:

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I had a fantastic time at SOTM US. Thanks to all at OSM US for their work putting the event together.

I gave two presentations, one on MapRoulette and one on the new Meet Your Mappers tool. I posted annotated slides for the MapRoulette talk on my blog.

UPDATE: Overture has since addressed many of my concerns regarding the language on their website. See here for more.

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Dear Overture Team and OpenStreetMap Community,

This diary entry is a follow-up to an in-person conversation I had with some of the Overture team at State of the Map U.S. To their credit, they were quick to admit to and apologize for some of these omissions and verbally committed to making appropriate changes. I am therefore posting this entry for the following reasons:

• to fully document my concerns,
• to invite others to (respectfully please!) share their perspectives,
• to hold the Overture team accountable for making these changes.

Clarity on Attribution Page

In my opinion, Overture does not take care to spell out the necessity of OpenStreetMap attribution on their Attribution and Licensing page. After an optional citation comes the following language:

The Overture Maps Foundation does not require text attribution or an OMF logo on maps, visualizations, and graphics created with our datasets. If you would like to credit Overture, we suggest: © Overture Maps Foundation.

So far it seems pretty easy to use Overture data. We can attribute…but only if we want. Easy peasy! After that, the potential for additional attribution requirements is raised:

Some of the data sources we use in Overture datasets do require their own attribution, according to their licenses. For example, our Explore tool displays several Overture datasets that are made wholly or in part from OpenStreetMap data, so we added the following line of attribution to adhere to the requirements of the Open Database License: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Overture Maps Foundation.

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Just reached 1000 edits, so thought it would be good to dump what I have learnt so far.

I started using OSM during the COVID 19 lockdown living in Hampshire, there were many walks available but the routes were not always clear on google maps. OSM was far better and I used it for information about walks before proceding. The level of detail was great and really useful.

Fast forward to 2023 and I decide to start contributing using StreetComplete and MapComplete. I drive an Electric vehicle and the information on charge points is so obscure I wanted to contribute. This led me down a rabbit hole of StreetComplete, filling in addresses, road surfaces, bus stop shelter. Anything and everything. I learnt the importance of information that would be useful to users.

Only in the last year, have I picked up mapping, this time using ID editor, chnaging tags was a little daunting but I slowly got there. I noticed some areas around me were missing house numbers. I learnt the importance of doing a survey on foot. There’s so much to learn from looking around IRL.

The last few weeks, I have been mapping out areas that had no buildings, only Residential Areas. A few thousand terraced houses later (feels like it) and quite a few places are on the map around Yarmouth (yeah I moved from Hampshire in this time!). Most imporatntly, check the alignment of background layers before starting a new edit! It is also useful to turn off layers not used, really makes things easier to see.

Latest update, I own a drone and can produce aerial images, very useful for areas not on Bing maps. This also gives me access to a 3D view of the area, very useful for double checking my survey notes!

Maybe I’ll do another one of these at 2000 edits?

Didn’t think would see a day(again) where I have to use tor with bridge as proxy AND a vpn for accessing internet including OSM and it’s wiki but here we are… Sighs 🤦🤦🤦

Those guys at government always can and will shock/surprise civilians to the death (yet again)

Never a dull moment!

Hi everyone. I recently started contributing to the map around my university’s campus, and I thought I should get in touch with the community a little. I’ve only labeled major buildings in the campus plus some road fixups, but I hope to continue contributing more to the map around here.

Oh yeah, this account is old, but I don’t even remember having it until I tried to sign up lol.

I typically write my notes in English when they can be resolved by anyone. Even residents from another country than Sweden.

Om anteckningarna pekar mot att en behöver kunna förstå svenska för att fixa ett problem så tenderar skriva jag på svenska istället.

Spending countless hours terracing thousands of buildings yet didn’t even bother to correct the errors caused by it?

Hello OSM community,

My name is Nicole and I’m on the governance team at MapSwipe a humanitarian mobile phone app and web app where volunteers can contribute to geospatial data projects.

I presented a talk, “MapSwipe Today and Its Future in OSM” at State of the Map US 2025 in June in Boston, Massachusetts. The talk had two main purposes:

1. Let people know more about MapSwipe, its history, and what it can do with it today

2. Begin a discussion within the OSM community about what it might mean for MapSwipe to become its own OSM editor, especially if AI or machine learning models are involved.

You can view the talk on YouTube.

And view the presentation slides here.

Whenever mapping and AI or machine learning come up in the same sentence, it’s logical that folks get worried. There are a lot of unknowns, and the potential for poor data quality edits to get out of control. MapSwipe’s community wants to ensure that if we are going to move forward with any ideas and planning around becoming an editor that has any AI in the mix, that we also make sure the OSM community is present in our discussions.

This diary post is to collect thoughts from the OSM community on this topic.

Some items we’d like to discuss with the OSM community are:

• Are there legitimate uses of AI in mapping? And can MapSwipe use it ethically?
• Would MapSwipe be a great beginner editor for newbies to OSM?
• Would folks use MapSwipe as a map editor?
• Is there anything else should we consider?

Looking forward to the discussion!

Nicolelaine

This week I’ve been mapping rural communities in Honduras, focusing on areas within the Tegucigalpa Health Region. My work has included adding paths, correcting road alignments, and identifying visible structures such as houses and community centers.

Today we at Unique Mappers did our weekly presentation were I made a presentation on Humanitarian Use of OpenStreetMap where i talked about OSM what it is why it is crucial in Humanitarian context how it provides critical data in poorly mapped or un mapped areas. I still talked about the basics( getting started with OSM), the intermediate OSM data use(Analysis and virtualization) and advanced used of OSM. I still talked about the tools and resources( software) used with OSM and example is the HOT tasking manager, QGIS [qgis.org], Umap and many other software, site, organisation using OpenStreetMap

Hi :) I am mapping Eritrea these days and found some objects I am not able to identify. Can you help me with your wisdom?

1

I suspect those are some living buildings, but I might be wrong.

2

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As I write in my profile, I was really peeved off, that dozens of “Camino Apps” (apps used to track users along the Ways of St. James, the Caminos de Santiago) did ask their users for updates to opening hours or bed counts in albergues, but never contributed back to OSM what they’d discovered.

I launched a “test balloon” in 2023, renaming an accommodation to reflect its real name, and lo and behold, of the 23 apps I checked, 22 had suddenly also changed the name, meaning they used OSM data, but didn’t ever give back to the community.

So I changed it, wrote a Camino App that did contribute back. We don’t expect our users to have OSM accounts. Instead, we recruited a bunch of volunteers, who are served the changes, check them personally, and then contribute them back to OSM.

First step: fountain potability. Along the Caminos are thousands of fountains providing drinking water to the 500k pilgrims walking the Way every year. Spain is excellent, when it comes to drinking water quality, but sometimes fountains dry out, become undrinkable, or become drinkable again. Nothing sucks more than going 1000m out of your way to find out that fountain has been closed.

I’ll semi-manually start updating fountain “drinking_water=” tags over the next 30 days along the most famous route, the Camino Francés. Once that’s stable and enough volunteers have been trained and shown that they can do this without harming the dataset, we’ll expand to hostel data.

This blog was originally posted on my personal site:

Prograham.net - Strava Workouts Make OpenStreetMap Stronger

I’m not much of an armchair mapper. Partly because ground surveying with Everydoor and StreetComplete is what got me started mapping in OSM. But I think it’s also because I hate having to decipher blurry aerial imagery. I still do it from time to time, but ever since I discovered how to use the Strava heatmap, I’m hooked.

To hopefully sell others on the dataset and walk you through some ways I’ve found it helpful, I’ve collected some examples below of ways you can use the Strava heatmap data.

Context

For those of you who don’t know, Strava is used around the world to record all kinds of workouts. Strava has moved to using OSM data in their apps and to give back they’ve allowed use of their GPS traces as a source when contributing to OSM!

To get it set up you can reference the OSM wikipage for Strava.

Usecase 1: Misaligned Paths

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Just a quick blog post on some coastline work I was doing.

For the OSMF Shortbread vector tiles I had to identify when coastlines has changed. The solution I came up isn’t specific to Shortbread, but is useful for anyone using the tiled ocean shapefiles.

I’m going to start by assuming that the old ocean data is in water_polygons and the new data is in loading.water_polygons. Other parts of my code already handle this. The shapefiles are loaded into tables that have the columns x int, y int, way geometry.

To start I want to find any geometries that have changed. For geometries in the new data that aren’t in the old data, I can get this with a LEFT JOIN. I want a set of geometries that includes any geometries from the new data that aren’t in the old. This set can be made by excluding any geometries in the old data that have identical x, y, and binary identical geometry to a new geometry. It’s possible this set includes extra geometries, but that’s okay.

A RIGHT JOIN would find geometries in the old data that aren’t in the new. Combining these gives a FULL OUTER JOIN. If I then collect the geometries in each shapefile tile I can compare them to find the geometries

SELECT ST_SymDifference(ST_Collect(old.way), ST_Collect(new.way)) AS dgeom
    FROM water_polygons AS old
    FULL OUTER JOIN loading.water_polygons AS new
        ON old.way = new.way and old.x = new.x and old.y = new.y
    WHERE new.way IS NULL OR old.way IS NULL
    GROUP BY COALESCE(old.x, new.x), COALESCE(old.y, new.y)

This gets me the difference in geometries for the entire world in about two minutes. But I need tiles, which is it’s own complication.

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