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Java uses its own SSL stack, and it is rather special. Java 6 and 7 won’t talk to servers patched with Logjam. This means that the JOSM welcome screen won’t load, and you won’t be able to download or upload any data from the OSM API, because both servers have been diligently patched.

Last night, I thought this was due to my Internet connection being dodgy. Reading about Logjam this morning made it click.

And, yes, this will affect a whole lot of people outside of OSM-land…

I’ve been mapping for a while now. I have some issues with the way OSM currently works.

… See full entry

I’ve been contributing to OpenStreetMap for a while now, but I actually put OSM data to the test today.

A family member bought a new vehicle recently which has a built-in manufacturer-supplied GPS with proprietary mapping data on it. We decided to have a drive today to test it out. I brought along my Garmin eTrex 20 loaded up with OpenStreetMap-derived TalkyToaster maps. TalkyToaster’s maps are routable and have a large number of points of interest.

We did a 35 mile drive down to Dungeness in Kent. While there, I did some site surveying in the freezing cold and have made a few updates to OSM.

The routing mostly worked. And the data was good. On the outward journey, I checked a lot of the side streets we passed by, and all those I checked had the correct name and There was only one problem I found with the data: there was a tiny little cul-de-sac I spotted that wasn’t on the map. I added it as a waypoint on my Garmin and will add it to the map when I next transfer data off.

The routing had only one problem and that was on the return journey, while driving along Lower High Street, Wadhurst. Rather than continue on to the High Street, the Garmin device instead said that one should turn into Church Street. Church Street is a tiny single-width street that is only used for access and is tagged highway=residential. You wouldn’t drive up it, especially in a larger vehicle like a van. It actually has a warning sign forbidding HGVs from entering. But the Garmin was quite insistent that one should drive up there. The manufacturer-installed GPS accurately stated to carry on along the High Street.

… See full entry