OpenStreetMap
Keeping OSM updated and in sync with the real (changing) world is in my opinion one of the key challenges for OSM. Adding new roads and POIs is fun - keeping them up to date is less so!
Have you ever come across POIs or roads and made a mental note to yourself to check later in e.g. JOSM if they are on OSM and tagged correctly? I have, and unless I document in detail what I am seeing with photos, there is a good probability that I miss some essential details. Also with photos, I often have lots of photos recording stuff that is already correctly tagged in OSM. Thus the hit/miss ratio is becoming smaller and this will continue as OSM mature.
To help myself spotting differences between the OSM database and the real world I wrote a small Android app that can display OSM data for nearby objects. With this its easy and efficient to be on the lookout for OSM updates.
The app looks like this:
and it can be found on google Play: OSMfocus
I’m hoping this will be useful for others and that it will results in more OSM updates.
Абмеркаванне
Камэнтар nlehuby ад 5 Кастрычнік 2014 у 10:18
Great app ! Thanks ! I was using the Layers > Map Data checkbox on the official OSM website for this purpose, but it’s not very usable on mobile phone…
Камэнтар Takuto ад 5 Кастрычнік 2014 у 11:24
Very nice! now this app needs ability to add notes in some format, field mapping will be piece a cake then. I think user should be able tap on one of those “tag tables”, then add some note, which can be saved in OSM iNotes, or, if its too hard to program - in *.gpx file, like Favourites in Osmand (which I use for field mapping with meduim success).
Камэнтар stephan75 ад 5 Кастрычнік 2014 у 12:22
Not bad … will try it later when enough time.
This app needs an own article in the OSM wiki!
Many users will benefit from creating a new page there for your app.
Камэнтар RobJN ад 5 Кастрычнік 2014 у 14:32
Sounds great. Is it possible to download data prior to going out surveying (that is, an offline data mode)? I’ve tweeted this at https://twitter.com/mappamercia/status/518770161021886464
Камэнтар MichaelVL ад 5 Кастрычнік 2014 у 14:47
Currently there is no support for ‘offline’ mode, but if there is sufficient interest I might add this.
Currently I think some way of taking notes is the most urgent feature that needs adding - maybe by adding the capability of taking pictures.
Камэнтар Sanderd17 ад 5 Кастрычнік 2014 у 16:33
If you want it to make notes, it could be good to couple it to OSM Tracker.
Via a big “note” button, you launch the OSM Tracker intent (either integrated or installed separately), where you can have all kinds of notes: photo, plain text, presets, audio, …
But it’s a great app so far.
Камэнтар DTHG ад 5 Кастрычнік 2014 у 19:28
Is OSMfocus open source? If it is where can I view or download the source code?
Камэнтар DaCor ад 6 Кастрычнік 2014 у 01:20
This is brilliant.
For future development something I would recommend from a personal point of view would be:
Камэнтар stragu ад 6 Кастрычнік 2014 у 04:07
Great, looking forward to trying it. Woud it be possible to add it to the F-Droid repos (if it is open source) ?
Cheers!
Камэнтар Lindroid ад 6 Кастрычнік 2014 у 05:38
Great idea! Thanks a lot!
Камэнтар mhenson ад 6 Кастрычнік 2014 у 16:44
Great Idea, I like to see all the tags, I already found some tag mistakes. Could you show map (browse map) with out requiring a GPS lock? I like that I can browse the map after a GPS lock. I would like to see tags of a restaurant real quick while waiting for food. If there are tags missing, I would want to edit tags or create an OSM note. Taking a photo and placing it where the cross hairs are would be nice (great for taking a picture of Open Hours). I then could use the picture and location of picture on the map for later editing in JOSM.
Камэнтар HannesHH ад 7 Кастрычнік 2014 у 21:33
Any chance to get this for Android 2.3? It looks fantastic.
Камэнтар Klumbumbus ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 10:22
Great App. Thanks.
Камэнтар Klumbumbus ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 10:46
I noticed that addr:postcode and addr:country are not displayed. Is this by design? Are there more key which are not displayed?
Камэнтар kay_D ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 11:18
Fantastic app, easy and on the spot. Just became my favourite “is this shop still open?” app :)
Only sucks a little bit when values are lengthy (as sometimes the case with opening hours) as boxes become too wide. Apparently there is no limit to box width and no text line breaking.
I love it so much, if it could easily edit (add+modify) tags+values for existing geometry, it would be a perfect lightweight POI editor. At least for people like us knowing the tagging scheme good enough.
Камэнтар Klumbumbus ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 13:58
OK, I just read the description in the play store. Can we use the description text in the play store to create a osm wiki page?
Камэнтар MichaelVL ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 16:36
Yes, you can definitely use the text for the OSM wiki. Any volunteers for creating a wikipage… please go ahead.
There will be an update soon which implements a limitation on legend-box size and wrapping of long lines.
Wrt. support for Android 2.3 - I dont think that will happen. The current implementation use features from Android API level 14, and although I might be able to decrease the required API level, I probably will not get down to Android 2.3.
Камэнтар MichaelVL ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 17:37
A new version with the changes below has just gone out to beta-testers. I expect to promote it to production in a day or two.
Limitations on legend box size implemented. Legend boxes no longer can fill the entire screen. Long lines are wrapped as indicated by a curved arrow and excess lines are indicated by an arrow ‘going below a line’.
Use of most recent location instead of waiting for GPS fix. This will make it possible to use OSMfocus while waiting for the GPS.
Improved internal vector rendering, especially related to multi-polygon rendering.
Камэнтар Klumbumbus ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 18:47
New osm wiki page is here: osm.wiki/OSMfocus
@MichaelVL: Can you upload the icon and a screenshot to commons, which can be used in the wiki?
Камэнтар Klumbumbus ад 8 Кастрычнік 2014 у 18:59
I collected some improvement suggestions which were mentioned here at the osm wiki talk page
Камэнтар nidi0 ад 11 Кастрычнік 2014 у 00:18
This is looking very interesting! I’d appreciate a lot if it’s released as free software. This allows to release the app on the F-Droid market (many privacy aware people don’t use Google Play) and generally encourages contribution.
Камэнтар Zian Choy ад 13 Кастрычнік 2014 у 05:07
This is fabulous!
I love the user interface and the clever way you handled the overwhelming amount of information that even a single point can have.
I’d like to echo the call for offline data and suggest a possible solution. There is already an offline OpenStreetMap program called “OsmAnd” and they have set up a fairly solid system for offering regular up-to-date downloads of the entire world, broken down in chunks by country or province. Perhaps you could take advantage of the OsmAnd OBF files in 2 ways:
Камэнтар Zian Choy ад 13 Кастрычнік 2014 у 05:08
Correction:
“Provide a way to create offline OsmNotes” should be its own item (as “#3”). And, you can probably copy & paste the existing OsmAnd code that implements that feature already.
Камэнтар AgusQui ад 18 Кастрычнік 2014 у 00:10
would be nice to be opened what is being viewed on the Vespucci application and to correct at the time, that can also leave notes.
Камэнтар Joško Horvat ад 8 Лістапад 2014 у 10:55
Well done. Keep on.
Камэнтар 0x1fff ад 10 Верасень 2015 у 20:02
Is OSMFocus aplication open source (any github link)? Are you planing to add edit tags function, or other functions which mentioned DaCor on 6 october 2014 at 01:20?
Камэнтар MichaelVL ад 12 Верасень 2015 у 05:31
It is my intention to make OSMfocus open-source eventually. I was reworking it when I got caught up in other OSM-related projects (more on that soon) and it has kind of been on the backburned since then. Rest assured that its not forgotten…
Камэнтар 0x1fff ад 12 Верасень 2015 у 06:56
@MichaelVL - ok :). When it will be OpenSource just send info to FDroid repos :). I would love to see some tag edit options in OSMFocus. The interface is very nice, and i think it would be very easy to edit tags even for non technical users. If it will be available on mobile you can edit this stuff when you waiting for something.
For me it would be perfect to edit opening hours in restaurants that I use, update/set number of floors in building which I’m passing by (number of floors will be used to create 3D representation of building), adding a website address for interesting places, names of companies which are located in building (most places are mapped correctly, but there are no such specific information).
I don’t know any of the OSM product with that kind of functionality on the mobile (Android) - maybe you know what should I use to be able to edit only tags in simple way?
Камэнтар MichaelVL ад 13 Верасень 2015 у 05:51
I have put my OSM Analytic Difference Engine on github. In short its a backend for a live service providing realtime insight into edits within a region of interest. Special focus has been made to analyse the changesets and provide a concise description of what has changed.
Some of purposes of this engine:
Find it here:
[OSM Analytic Difference Engine for Denmark] http://osm.expandable.dk [OSM Analytic Difference Engine on github] https://github.com/MichaelVL/osm-analytic-tracker
Камэнтар RobJN ад 23 Студзень 2018 у 00:02
I love the OSMfocus app. Did you get anywhere with the open source release?
Камэнтар RobJN ад 8 Ліпень 2018 у 21:26
The OSMfocus app has stopped working on my phone. I now says “Could not download area!”. Great shame as this was a wonderful app.
@MichaelVL: Do you still have the source code for this? Any chance of a fix/open sourcing it?
Камэнтар MichaelVL ад 9 Ліпень 2018 у 18:22
The source for OSMfocus is now available on github:
https://github.com/MichaelVL/osm-focus
Камэнтар Bexhill-OSM ад 13 Ліпень 2018 у 00:36
I think you just need to update your api connections to use https.
Камэнтар Bexhill-OSM ад 13 Ліпень 2018 у 00:40
This line: https://github.com/MichaelVL/osm-focus/blob/5b781c989acd7cda5a58fb7e6174bf52a8ac78e9/src/dk/network42/osmfocus/OsmServer.java#L22
Hopefully you can update the Google Play Store version :)
Камэнтар dikkeknodel ад 19 Ліпень 2018 у 09:07
Yes, it would be great if the app is back on working. I used it quite frequently while being out in the wild. Unfortunately I do not have any programming experience.
Камэнтар RobJN ад 23 Ліпень 2018 у 18:16
Hi Michael, Are you thinking of pushing an update now the error has been identified? If not, then I can help search for alternate maintainer.
Камэнтар MichaelVL ад 27 Ліпень 2018 у 05:24
I am not able to give OSMFocus any priority soon. Alternative maintainers are welcome :-)