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Wednesday, 06. December 2023

OpenStreetMap User's Diaries

Libya Floods 2023 activation debrief and after action review

Activation info:

Activation: Libya Floods 2023

Activation Declared: Sep 14, 2023

Activation Concluded: Nov 9, 2023

Debrief Conducted by: Pete Masters, HOT, Activation Lead

Relevant statistics

Contributor statistics over the lifetime of the activation

Tasking Manager project statistics for the activation

Narrative summary:

In

Activation info:

Activation: Libya Floods 2023

Activation Declared: Sep 14, 2023

Activation Concluded: Nov 9, 2023

Debrief Conducted by: Pete Masters, HOT, Activation Lead

Relevant statistics

Contributor statistics over the lifetime of the activation

Contributor statistics over the lifetime of the activation

Project stats from the Libya Floods activation

Tasking Manager project statistics for the activation

Narrative summary:

In collaboration with OSM Libya and supported by UN Mappers a HOT activation was declared to map areas affected by floods following Storm Daniel, with a specific focus on Dernah due to the collapse of the dams in the city. As the activation unfolded, priority areas were added (areas for which were prioritised by OSM Libya) as projects on the HOT Tasking Manager for urban areas including Bayda, Susah and Al Marj as well as the rural area surrounding Al Marj after (unconfirmed) reports from UNDAC of damage to a third dam. As the priority areas are now well mapped and validated (the last building project is 99% mapped and 97% validated), the Activation is now concluded.

Dernah post-floods on openaerialmap

Dernah post-floods on openaerialmap

During the activation, in addition to the tasking manager mapping, the MapSwipe community completed four projects (see example) as part of a collaborative effort with MapAction to identify all affected settlements (unfortunately, MapAction ceased their activities before this could be concluded). The MapSwipe data was subsequently used to optimise tasking manager projects.

Open aerial imagery was also requested and received through the Maxar Open Data Programme. This imagery was hosted on OpenAerialMap and used by mappers to ensure up-to-date data and also by a UNDAC Dam specialist (introduced to HOT through the MapAction connection) in an attempt to validate reports of damage to the third dam. The analysis of the imagery was used to inform a Joint Environment Unit report on the dams.

Communications could have benefited from a more timely central comms approach in that shares and amplification sometimes lagged the response so the info shared was already out of date. The HOT website was underutilised (the response used social media, community channels and OSM diary as vehicles for mapper mobilisation and partner engagement).

A special mention for validators for this activation as the validation kept pace with the mapping throughout and we saw amazing commitment from the HOT Global Validator Team and OSM Libya in this regard.

The conclusion of the activation is a collaborative decision with OSM Libya. They will continue to lead on mapping to support recovery activities and HOT has supported through the integration of MapSwipe data into their existing tasking manager projects in order to help mappers prioritise their efforts. OSM Libya will also compile a comprehensive report detailing all activities undertaken in the past two months since the activation’s launch in collaboration with HOT to be shared with the broader community and potentially offer insights to other communities facing similar disasters to that experienced by Libya.

Successes, issues and lessons learnt

[SUCCESSES] What went well?

  • Clear coordination between central and hub team (WNA) - HOT internal
  • Collaboration with OSM Libya throughout (launching activation, defining priorities, technical support)
  • UN Mappers collaboration on launch
  • MapSwipe to tasking manager workflow for rural areas
  • Good quality tasking manager projects (right size, constrained to priority features)
  • Great validation progress (core group of validators has been thanked!)
  • Wiki page kept up-to-date and coordination good in disaster mapping channel
  • Maxar responsive through Open Data Program

[ISSUES] What could have gone better?

  • Confusion over Libya responsibility (in a HOT priority region, but not a HOT priority country)
  • Activation ‘could have’ started 2-3 days earlier (UN Mappers feedback)
  • OSM Libya upgrading existing general projects to urgent as a response not ideal (projects too big and unspecific)
  • Neglected HDX update until it was flagged by a partner
  • Discussions with OSM Libya on activation didn’t happen in a publicly accessible forum (live chat) so OEG compliance tricky
  • HOT comms around the activation was sometimes lacking / lagging
  • Need a better process for working with responders. They don’t necessarily use slack or want to.
  • Should we have methodology for requests like consolidated settlement layers?
  • Hard to know to what extent HOT has capacity for technical GIS / data analysis requests.
  • Didn’t make use of the karta view data for Dernah

[SUGGESTIONS] What lessons should influence how we activate in future?

  • Smaller tasking manager projects (less tasks ~700 per project worked well for this activation) that focus on one feature each
  • MapSwipe affected rural areas immediately
  • Tasking manager activation projects should be reviewed asap and support provided for improvements
  • Project creator role to answer queries / do problem solving, especially early on
  • Need to think about how we engage orgs like Digital Egypt (did a lot of damage mapping)
  • Need a clear view / publicly available list of possible service offers for responders
  • We need to think about the recovery and the map - updating to post-event data
  • We don’t have great arabic language capacity in our core community and networks - something to develop?
  • Mechanism to alert or at least ask to local communities if mapping is needed in the case of a natural disaster event, by monitoring in real time natural disasters happening across the globe (UN Mappers)

Follow up:

If you have questions and / or comments related to the activation or this documentation, please contact Pete Masters at HOT


لولب ام اخويط

لولب ام اخويط

لولب ام اخويط


Thiên Long

Lấy vị trí khu công nghiệp Tân tạo

Lấy vị trí khu công nghiệp Tân tạo


Penonome

Penonome is a city lacking infrastructure in the center & historical sections, where most of the foot traffic happens. On the other end, there are bustling new malls and neighborhoods that cater to those who drive on the interamerican highway.

This ‘small town’ is set to grow well over 100,000 people in population and is starting to seem crowded. The rural communities that head North

Penonome is a city lacking infrastructure in the center & historical sections, where most of the foot traffic happens. On the other end, there are bustling new malls and neighborhoods that cater to those who drive on the interamerican highway.

This ‘small town’ is set to grow well over 100,000 people in population and is starting to seem crowded. The rural communities that head North and Northeast are gems that is rarely visited by foreign tourists.


Streetcomplete: an easy tool to improve OpenStreetMap

Video showing the easiness of streetcomplete

Link to the original message in mastodon.social

Short video showing the easiness of using @streetcomplete to improve OpenStreetMap and all projects which rely on it e.g. #cyclosm

Link to a Peer2Tube video on urbanists.video

Feel free to spread the video to promote Streetcomplete use!

Video showing the easiness of streetcomplete

Link to the original message in mastodon.social

Short video showing the easiness of using @streetcomplete to improve OpenStreetMap and all projects which rely on it e.g. #cyclosm

Link to a Peer2Tube video on urbanists.video

Feel free to spread the video to promote Streetcomplete use!

Tuesday, 05. December 2023

OpenStreetMap User's Diaries

Detecting missing ways in OSM from Strava heat maps

Version française

Introduction

Many paths, tracks and even small streets are missing from OSM. And yet, these paths are often used by Strava users, who upload their traces there. So I thought it would be interesting to use these data to improve OSM.

That’s why I wrote a Python program which, by analyzing Strava data, is able to detect missing paths in OSM, then generate files to

Version française

Introduction

Many paths, tracks and even small streets are missing from OSM. And yet, these paths are often used by Strava users, who upload their traces there. So I thought it would be interesting to use these data to improve OSM.

That’s why I wrote a Python program which, by analyzing Strava data, is able to detect missing paths in OSM, then generate files to create MapRoulette challenges so that each missing path can be added to OSM.

What is Strava?

According to Wikipedia, Strava is a website and mobile application used to record sports activities via GPS. Its members use devices such as a GPS watch or smartphone to record their running activities, and send these to Strava. Currently (2023), there are over 100 million members.

Strava heat maps

On its website, Strava publishes a heat map showing the aggregation of all its users’ tracks.

Example: Strava heatmap example

The more a route is ridden, the brighter its track appears on the heatmap.

In fact, there are several Strava heatmaps, one for each activity (running, cycling, skiing…). We use the running map, which is the most accurate due to the low speed of runners, and which reflects all paths, even those impassable in other activities.

Precautions to take when using Strava

You shouldn’t always blindly trust the tracks on the Strava heat map. Indeed:

  • Tracks may be obsolete, following a major climatic event that destroyed paths (for example, in 2020, storm Alex destroyed many paths in the French Alps).
  • Tracks may correspond to trail runs that have taken off-trail routes or private property.
  • Ski runs and ski lifts may appear on the running map, if users have not indicated that they practice winter sports.

Principle of missing ways detection

The software analyzes the Strava heat map to detect bright trails near which there is no path in the OpenStreetMap database.

The detection threshold can be set according to three criteria:

  • minimum brightness level (from 0 to 255).
  • minimum distance from an OSM path.
  • minimum track size.

The Strava heat map is supplied in the form of 512 x 512 pixel tiles. Each tile is analyzed independently of the others. To avoid detecting the same path twice when it straddles two contiguous tiles, it is possible to analyze only one tile out of four. This means you need to perform four analyses and update the MapRoulette challenge each time.

MapRoulette challenges in progress

Metropolitan France

Overseas

Installation

The source code is available in this Github repository. The installation procedure is described in the README.md file.

How to add a new challenge for another area

If you want to add a new MapRoulette challenge for another area, the principle is as follows:

  • on the OSM-Boundaries site, download the boundaries of the area you’re interested in, choosing the Land only option. You’ll get a file in GeoJSON format.
  • run the strava.py program, passing the boundary file as a parameter. For example, for the Principality of Andorra:

python strava.py -v -a Andorra.geojson -g Andorra_Missing_Ways.geojson

  • Create a MapRoulette challenge and select the I want to upload a GeoJSON file option to upload the Andorra_Missing_Ways.geojson file.

More information in the README.md file of the Github repository.


The Beginning of my Journey

👋🏼 Hello and welcome to my blog space where I share everything about my journey with Outreachy, HOTOSM and more. Thank you for joining me on this exciting journey! I am very excited to be part of the Outreachy program and If you’re interested in knowing the rest of my story, which I am willing to share it all :), please subscribe to my posts, so you get notified every time I publish a blog on my

👋🏼 Hello and welcome to my blog space where I share everything about my journey with Outreachy, HOTOSM and more. Thank you for joining me on this exciting journey! I am very excited to be part of the Outreachy program and If you’re interested in knowing the rest of my story, which I am willing to share it all :), please subscribe to my posts, so you get notified every time I publish a blog on my journey. Just like everything that ever existed, there’s always a beginning. So let’s zoom🔍 out a little bit to where it all began 😊.

image that says "the journey is on"

Introduction

My name is Eden Oluigbo. I am a full-stack developer, artist and creator living in Abuja, Nigeria. I'm an open-source advocate and love contributing to the improvement of open source software. I started an active contribution to open-source projects in 2022. I joined different communities, made contributions and got PR merges (that excitement of having your PR merged never gets old haha😁).

Why Outreachy?

In the process of my active contribution to open source, I found out about [Outreachy](www.outreachy.org) on twitter (now X). I did my research and was excited about their commitment to diversity within the open source community, so I applied for the December 2023 cohorts and I got selected for a 3 months internship at Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team [HOTOSM](www.hotosm.org) , where I will be making contributions as a "Tech Community Engagement Intern" staring from December 4th, 2023 to March 1st, 2024.


The contribution phase was quite busy, but it got fun as we attained more clarity in my group at HOTOSM. The collaborative spirit was culpable and I cannot overemphasise how amazing and patient my mentor, Petya Kangalova is. If you’re an Outreachy applicant reading my story, and maybe wasn’t accepted for the internship, do not be discouraged. Our stories are different and so is our journey. Continue your journey in open source, improve more on your skills, and apply again. I’ve read stories of people who got accepted on their second application. In the meantime, celebrate with me and keep learning! 🎉 meme about beginning

My Core Values

Core values are important personality traits. In the intricate essence of our lives, core values serves as the foundational layers, binding together the fabric of our characters and defining the essence of who we are. Here are the core values that inspired my journey with Outreachy and HOTOSM.


1. Diversity:

I love and celebrate Diversity. The recognition that each unique expression of our differences contributes to the richness of the whole. In a world adorned with varieties of cultures, perspectives and backgrounds; embracing diversity expands our horizons, fostering an environment where every voice is heard. Outreachy and HOTOSM are vivid homes of diversity😊

2. Curiosity:

Curiosity is the spark that ignites discovery. I was that kid that would open up a toy car, or a TV remote, because I wanted to see what's inside that makes the car move or what makes the remote control the TV. My mom liked that I was curious to learn, but didn't like the part I was destroying things😅. I love to ask questions, I want to know how things work, seeking to understand and venture into the unknown. That's how I learnt the things I know today, and I don't intend to stop. A commitment to curiosity fuels perpetual learning, turning every encounter into an opportunity for growth and broadening our perspectives.

3. Creativity & Excellence:

I have a mantra that guides my output to anything I'm doing, and that is "If it's not good enough for me, then it's not good enough for the next person". So, I commit to delivering my very best, not as a destination, but as a means, which results to a relentless pursuit of high standards. I consider myself VERY creative, and that allows me to bring a brush of originality and innovation, not to reinvent the wheel, but to improve on what already exists.

Conclusion

These core values are my anchors and inspiration for being part of the Outreachy programme (fiscal sponsored by Software Freedom Conservancy). I have no regret in joining Outreachy and more so, I am super excited to be selected to work in an organisation in line with my values and passion for humanity, HOTOSM.

I love it here at [HOTOSM](www.hotosm.org) ; the community is diverse and inclusive. The staff are super kind and teachable; eager to share what they know and open to learn from you. Work-life balance lives here. My mentor [Petya Kangalova](www.twitter.com/PKangalova) ; she's just amazing!💯😎

I look forward to making a positive impact and leaving a good example for the next intern at HOTOSM. For a quick start, I created this guide to contributing to HOTOSM projects. Please click [here](https://youtu.be/fHnWWxBNSTg) to watch the video. I encourage you to [join HOTOSM](http://slack.hotosm.org/) and build a career through open-source contribution in a diverse and inclusive community!


New York

New York is the most beautiful city I have visited but it also needs more green areas in general

New York is the most beautiful city I have visited but it also needs more green areas in general


A Local Knowledge Dilemma? - A Data-Driven Alert for OSM

This is a cross post from the HOTOSM blog.

As Community Strategist and Research Lead at HOT, I would like to take a closer look with you all at the evolving landscape of OpenStreetMap (OSM) contributors, especially in the context of local knowledge and its crucial role in our mapping efforts.

Summary

Our recent study reveals a trend in local knowledge contributions in OpenStreet

This is a cross post from the HOTOSM blog.

As Community Strategist and Research Lead at HOT, I would like to take a closer look with you all at the evolving landscape of OpenStreetMap (OSM) contributors, especially in the context of local knowledge and its crucial role in our mapping efforts.

Summary

Our recent study reveals a trend in local knowledge contributions in OpenStreetMap: a small but dedicated number of local mappers, making up just about 3% of contributors who are in the area mapping, is responsible for approximately 75% of the detailed mapping contributions.

This significant finding underscores the vital role of local knowledge and expertise in creating comprehensive and accurate maps, especially in humanitarian and unmapped/under-mapped regions. Despite a general decline in new OSM contributors, the impact of this core group of local mappers remains profound and indispensable for the future of the project.

We would like to engage researchers and mapping communities to unveil what are the implications of these numbers and the opportunities to use them to better support mappers.

The Spark of Inquiry: Simon Poole’s Analysis

Our journey began with Simon Poole’s important observation: a 20% drop in new OSM contributors. This sparked intense discussions within our team and motivated us to investigate further, particularly focusing on regions where HOT is actively involved.

Our findings validated a consistent decline in the number of contributors in most of the 33 countries analyzed over the past five years. However, intriguingly, the volume of mapped elements, like buildings and roads, has been on the rise. This disconnect between contributor numbers and mapping activity led us to delve deeper into the nature of these contributions with deeper analysis.

Why Understanding Local Contributions in OSM Matters

Grasping the dynamics of local contributions to OpenStreetMap is more than just number crunching – it’s about ensuring that maps reflect the lived realities of communities worldwide.

In regions facing humanitarian crises or high poverty levels, local knowledge in mapping becomes invaluable. Accurate maps created with local insights can significantly aid in delivering effective aid and developing sustainable solutions. Our focus on this aspect underscores the need to nurture and support local mapping communities.

Pioneering Methodologies: Towards a Better Understanding

One of our main challenges was to distinguish between local and remote contributions. With the support of Caleb Fagunloye, our Data Analytics and Insights Intern, we developed a pilot methodology focusing on data contributions indicative of ground surveying or field mapping. This innovative approach, though not without its limitations, allowed us to isolate mapping contributions that are likely to come from local knowledge.

We took Rebecca Firth’s illustrative humanitarian mapping framework and isolated the contributions in levels 2-4, essentially excluding edits to the map that could be made using satellite imagery.

We then looked at the users (usernames) who made these changes to try and understand who was adding local knowledge to OSM in these countries in 2022.

Key Insights: The Role of Local Champions

Average: Percentage of contributors and changes they made

  • Our analysis showed that a small proportion of contributors (~3%) were responsible for the majority of local knowledge changes (~75%). This highlights the significant impact of a few highly active local OSM champions.
  • However, this also points to a potential vulnerability in terms of sustainability and depth of community engagement. What happens if these key contributors reduce their activity?

Here you can see a table with the full data for some countries we analyzed, note how just a few contributors are responsible for most of the changes:

Country Total changes to elements (2022) # contributors who made these changes % (#) of contributors responsible for 50% of the changes % (#) of contributors responsible for 75% of the changes % (#) of contributors responsible for 95% of the changes
Nepal 50239 713 0,4% (3) 1,8% (13) 12% (86)
Senegal 2338 172 1,7% (3) 7% (12) 43,6% (75)
Kenya 7415 313 1% (3) 2,6% (8) 28% (87)
Mexico 38556 1078 0,5% (5) 2,6% (28) 21,1% (227)

Some of the numbers here were very surprising. For example, three people in Kenya, Senegal and Nepal were responsible for 50% of all the local knowledge changes to OSM in those countries in 2022.

Forward Path: Expanding Research and Engagement

  • We welcome improvements to the methodology! The more solid it is, the better our understanding of the OSM community landscape will be.
  • Our early research has opened avenues for more comprehensive analysis, especially focusing on the long tail contributions of casual mappers and social science / anthropological explorations
  • We think we still need to understand this analysis in other locations and analyze the evolution and trends over time.
  • HOT will keep the peer to peer support to individuals and communities to implement collective and collaborative actions, improve resources and skills and enable tech to empower and facilitate these local knowledge edits.
  • We have also published a notebook with the code to replicate this user extraction and analysis, for the countries and years of your interest. It shouldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes to get some results.

Limitations

The pilot methodology above is far from perfect. For example, we know that it is possible to add ‘local knowledge’ data to the map remotely (MapRoulette campaigns and imports are two examples).

The tag list used for the analysis also has some known flaws, such as road names being excluded even though they are likely to indicate local knowledge.

It is also really important to say that a Kenyan or Mexican mapper who only does mapping using satellite imagery is still a very valid member of that community of contributors! Although we did this research because we believe in the value of local knowledge in the map, it is not a judgment on other mapping methods!

Also note that the analysis includes people who are mapping on their employee capacity for a corporation/organization, who tend to contribute in high volumes. Taking this into account for a follow-up study and finding ways to exclude them from the numbers, might provide a more realistic picture of paid and not-paid contributions.

Open questions from SoTM EU presentation

This analysis was presented by Pete Masters during the recent State of the Map Europe 2023 and some interesting discussion followed.

  • The situation was familiar for members of more mature OSM communities. Those with now very active local knowledge contributors recognised that, in the past, a small number of very committed mappers did the majority of the field mapping and surveying.
  • Could these ‘core mappers’ end up being gatekeepers and discourage newer mappers from developing their OSM contribution?
  • Where should we allocate resources in supporting local knowledge contributors - new people to OSM, mappers who have shown inclination to add local knowledge or the core mapper group? Do efforts tend to focus on new mappers to the detriment of other groups?
  • Why do mappers do what they do? One hypothesis is that people contributing high quantities of local knowledge data do so because they have a purpose for that data. Is this true? If not, what drives core mappers?
  • How does this analysis look spatially? Does a core mapper in Nepal mean that their home town is very detailed with towns further away increasingly lacking in local knowledge?
  • How does 2022 compare with 2023 or 2021? This is a snapshot, not a trend at the moment.

A Call to Action

Our journey doesn’t end here. We see this as a stepping stone towards a more extensive, nuanced analysis of OSM contributions. We invite community leaders, social scientists, and OSM enthusiasts to join us in this endeavor. Your insights and expertise are invaluable in shaping the future of open mapping.


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Monday, 04. December 2023

OpenStreetMap User's Diaries

PnM 2023 - 2nd Journey

Another year, another Pista ng Mapa 2023 in Tacloban City!

Hosted by UP Visayas Tacloban YouthMappers, it’s a gathering celebrating open mapping, data, and an unforgettable journey. I am grateful to the organizing team for the scholarship grant and the chance to present. Thank you, UP Tacloban Youthmappers, for the warm welcome and for keeping our surroundings pristine.

The confe

Another year, another Pista ng Mapa 2023 in Tacloban City!

Hosted by UP Visayas Tacloban YouthMappers, it’s a gathering celebrating open mapping, data, and an unforgettable journey. I am grateful to the organizing team for the scholarship grant and the chance to present. Thank you, UP Tacloban Youthmappers, for the warm welcome and for keeping our surroundings pristine.

The conference was a three-day journey packed with eye-opening lightning talks. From Leanne Caye D. Obispo’s “Data: A Story to Tell” to Sir Denrazir Atara’s spatial analysis of tree species, each session was a revelation. Erika Del Rosario Pauline Jen Madrona’s drone training and Oriel Jay Ibañez’s insights on community development through drone imaging were inspiring. Sir Ben Hur Pintor’s discourse on data management and Ms. Dinnah Feye Andal’s introduction to Mapillary were eye-openers. And oh, the endless field trip—such a blast! where I can say I shall return to Tacloban

Meeting old friends, making new ones on social nights, connecting with mentors again like Sir Mikko Tamura, Ms. Feye Andal, Leigh Lunas, Sir Ben Hur, and Sir Aimon, and connecting with the local YouthMappers chapters were a highlight! This was my 2nd Pista ng Mapa 2023, a great adventure with a small team with Dora (Me), yet the knowledge gained, networks built, and friendships forged were beyond measure. Here’s to hoping next year brings even more from our chapter.

I look forward to creating new memories and deepening my mapping passion at the next Pista ng Mapa (also SotM, manifesting!). Huge thanks to everyone who made this event an unforgettable experience!


Florian Lohoff

Geometry antipattern: Background filling

Continuing the OpenstreetMap antipattern blogpost series here is another one.

This is a single landuse, spanning 12km. It follows streets in a tree like shape.

As for the obvious, this kind of landuses are prone to break. People tag highway tags on them, move them around by accident, and as they ALWAYS span more than your edit area nobody really is brave enough to do something wi

Continuing the OpenstreetMap antipattern blogpost series here is another one.

This is a single landuse, spanning 12km. It follows streets in a tree like shape.

As for the obvious, this kind of landuses are prone to break. People tag highway tags on them, move them around by accident, and as they ALWAYS span more than your edit area nobody really is brave enough to do something with them. So this way/landuse stayed in the Database for 12 years, despite beeing semantically nonsense.

In this case we have a landuse=grass which is in itself a broken tagging as its not a use in itself. The Wiki article about landuse=grass tells you that most likely your tagging is wrong and you should use something else.

In this case the mappers intention was to not let any gap show up on the map between roads and landuses. We know about mappers glueing landuses to roads which is a semantic error in the OSM dataset as linestring object do not have a dimension as areas do have. This is another hack to eliminate the gaps between roads and adjacent landuses.

Nevertheless this is broken. The road itself is never a landuse=grass, its not even a landcover=grass, its tarmac or asphalt. Adjacent to the road there are the shoulders, which may carry grass from time to time, or a ditch which has grass on its banks.

Concerning the tracks, these carry a surface tag themselves so this landuse just trys to map for the renderer to get gaps in the background of the map closed.

So the antipattern is to not hack OSM data to do background filling. Not with glueing landuses to linestring objects, not by filling these with huge landuses as a last resort.

As long as we dont have a language/tags to fully describe road areas (which the shoulder and the ditch belong to) we should not hack around and fake objects to close gaps.


OpenStreetMap User's Diaries

Asante from GIS Day Tanzania 2023 Conference

Thank you

Asante sana

Your participation in 2023 GIS Day Conference was hugely appreciated

"Geospatial technology stands as a cornerstone for fostering a robust digital economy in Tanzania,serving as a catalyst for achieving sustainable development that will secure a prosperous future for forthcoming"

Dr. Moses Nkundwe Mwasaga, DG ICT Commission

Throughout the conferen

Thank you

GISDAY2023

Asante sana

Your participation in 2023 GIS Day Conference was hugely appreciated

"Geospatial technology stands as a cornerstone for fostering a robust digital economy in Tanzania,serving as a catalyst for achieving sustainable development that will secure a prosperous future for forthcoming"

Dr. Moses Nkundwe Mwasaga, DG ICT Commission

Throughout the conference, we witnessed over 200+ participants gathered at the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) in Dar es Salaam to exchange knowledge and participate in dialogue on utilising geospatial technology for sustainable development in Tanzania.

The conference brought together geospatial enthusiasts, leaders, and practitioners across industries, the private and public sector, academia, and civil society organizations to promote changes that can be made at the community, producer, and government levels for sustainable development.

Engaged participants included:

  • 20+government officials from Tanzania
  • 90+donor partners, CSO reps, and experts in the geospatial field
  • 30+academicians
  • 60+secondary students

RECAP

Session 1: Welcoming and History of GIS in Tanzania

Aim: Setting the context and history of GIS technology and its evolution in Tanzania.

Summary: Chief Edwin Mugerezi provided insights into the historical journey of GIS in Tanzania, acknowledging GIS pioneers and sponsors. This section aimed to contextualize the significance of GIS Day in the Tanzanian context.

Session 2: Opening Panel: Status of Geospatial Technology

Aim: Assessing the current state of geospatial technology, the policy landscape, challenges, and opportunities

Summary: Dr. Moses Nkundwe, Dr. Zakaria Ngereja, Ibrahim Mambo, and Antidius Kawamala led discussions on the comprehensive analysis of geospatial technology in Tanzania, emphasizing policy aspects and exploring the challenges and opportunities in the field.

Session 3: Revolutionizing Agriculture with Geospatial Technology

Aim: Exploring how geospatial technology contributes to the agricultural revolution and food security.

Summary:Dr. George Mulamula, Dr. Beatrice Tarimo, Erick Tamba, and Dr.Rose Funja discussed the transformative role of geospatial technology in agriculture, focusing on its implications for food security and innovative approaches to farming practices.

Session 4: GIS in Climate Risk Assessment and Disaster Management

Aim: Analyzing the use of GIS in climate risk assessment and disaster management strategies.

Summary: Abdullasat Ghaamid and Studio delved into the application of GIS in climate risk assessment, disaster management, and the critical role of geospatial data in mitigating environmental risks.

Session 5: Geospatial Technology in Tourism and Blue Economy

Aim: Highlighting the significance of geospatial technology in tourism development and the blue economy

Summary: Dr. Atupelye Komba, Simon Machera, Samira, and Steven Kangaile discussed geospatial technology's impact on tourism development and its role in fostering sustainable practices in the blue economy.

Session 6: GIS Water Project: State of the art

Aim: Showcasing the power of geospatial technology in water sector

Summary: Xavier Torret and Antidius Kawamala discussed the power of geospatial tools and solutions from B GEO and how the technology is revolutionizing the water sector.

Session 7: GIS User stories and use cases

Aim: Showcasing innovative GIS projects and how best the technology is being utilized.

Summary: Different projects from TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks Authority), GST (Geological Society Tanzania), NBS (National Bureau of Statistics), Tukutech (Geophysical Survey), and many more were presented on how they have been utilizing GIS in their day-to-day activities.

Session 8: Exhibitions

Aim: Showcasing innovative GIS projects in wider aspect and how best is the technology being utilized.

Summary: Different exhibitors from ESRI East Africa, Youth Mappers, GeoTE, Alpha Infinity Company Limited, AM3, and Info bridge actively engaged with conference participants, showcasing how they have been utilizing GIS in their day-to-day activities.

Session 9: Our Cities Mapathon

Aim: To create and produce basemaps in cities across Eastern and Southern Africa.

Summary: Conference participants came together and joined hands in creating free geospatial data that will help in producing basemaps in cities across Eastern and Southern Africa. This mapathon focused on mapping Langata Nairobi through the Cities Spatial People Award.

Conference Materials

You can now access the photos.

Session notes and videos will soon be available with other GIS Day Tanzania 2023 Conference Materials HERE.

Media

You can read more about ROOTGISand GIS Day through their website.

Events

GIS Day 2024 will be hosted by ROOTGIS and other partners to be confirmed , if you are interested in taking part next year send as an email through info@rootgis.org or visit our offices.

Inquiries

Front Desk - info@rootgis.org or 255769806836


Природный памятник «Родник на улице Мира» во Владимире

Где находится: г. Владимир, на расстоянии 300 м к западу от пересечения ул. Мира и Октябрьского пр-та, 50 м к югу от ул. Мира.

Описание: Объект природы “Источник” – стабильный и концентрированный сброс подземных вод. Относится к группе вод нисходящего типа. Примерный расход равен 0,2 л/сек. Недавно источник был благоустроен. В процессе облагораживания было установлено в качестве каптажно

Где находится: г. Владимир, на расстоянии 300 м к западу от пересечения ул. Мира и Октябрьского пр-та, 50 м к югу от ул. Мира.

Описание: Объект природы “Источник” – стабильный и концентрированный сброс подземных вод. Относится к группе вод нисходящего типа. Примерный расход равен 0,2 л/сек. Недавно источник был благоустроен. В процессе облагораживания было установлено в качестве каптажной камеры железобетонное кольцо. Оно выделяется на 0,8 м над поверхностью и защищено железной крышкой. Для защиты воды от загрязнений была установлена металлическая труба. Для стекания воды был поставлен на высоте 20 см от трубы специальный резервуар, под которым выложен на деревянный пол. Возле источника установлены 2 беседки – одна с четырехскатной крышей, покрытой металлочерепицей, вторая - с двускатной крышей и удобной скамьей для комфортного отдыха. Вода из источника образует небольшой ручей, который спускается вниз по склону. Доступы к источнику оборудованы широкой бетонной лестницей с улицы Мира, имеется грунтовая тропа, с последующим прохождением по деревянным мосткам. Для местных жителей прилегающих районов Владимира это место является источником питьевой воды.

Основной целью обустройство природного памятника является сохранение уникального гидрогеологического объекта, являющимся источником питьевой воды для горожан. Еще одним приоритетом проекта считается поддержание гидрологического режима территории.

Факторы, представляющие угрозу для родника на улице Мира

  1. Скопление промышленных и потребительских отходов, загрязняющих территорию объекта; Осуществление строительных и реконструкционных работ, которые могут привести к разрушению или нарушению целостности природного объекта;

  2. Ухудшение состояния верхнего дернового слоя и почвенного покрова в результате воздействия транспортной инфраструктуры, движения и парковки автотранспорта на территории природного памятника;

  3. Сток загрязняющих веществ дождевыми и талыми водами с прилегающей городской территории; загрязнение выхлопными газами и соединениями химического типа, выпускаемыми автотранспортом.

Меры, для обеспечения сохранности

Проведение ежегодного мониторинга состояния объектов особо охраняемых природных территорий для оценки ее физико-химических и микробиологических характеристик;

Постоянный контроль за порядком и чистотой на территории ООПТ;

Регулярное проведение санитарно-эпидемиологической станцией города соответствующих мероприятий, направленных на поддержание природной среды в оптимальном состоянии.

На территории особо охраняемой природной зоны разрешено

Осуществлять забор воды с намерением использования ее в качестве питьевой воды; Хозяйственная или другой вид деятельности, цели которой будут полностью соответствовать созданию природного памятника и не предоставлять угрозу его разрушения.

Разрешённые виды деятельности на объекте Родник на Мира

  • создание мест отдыха для местных жителей и действия, направленные на благоустройство территории, включая установку небольших архитектурных элементов - беседки, лавочки и другие сооружения;

  • запрет на проведение других видов деятельности, которые способны оказывать негативное воздействие на природный объект.

Узнать больше про подземные воды Владимирской области

Sunday, 03. December 2023

OpenStreetMap User's Diaries

Open Street Map

Idk wtf this shit is or why I’m on here trying to figure it out.. but hey, whatever!!!🙃🙃😻😻🤣🤣🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🌻😸👀

Idk wtf this shit is or why I’m on here trying to figure it out.. but hey, whatever!!!🙃🙃😻😻🤣🤣🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🌻😸👀


Update du 03/12/2023

Une semaine calme sur OSM avec seulement quelques petits updates de micromapping vraiment. C’est toujours un objectif actuel, en tout cas pour certains coins de Seraing, mais le temps libre m’a fait un peu défaut et donc c’est tout ce que j’ai fait.

Au niveau des vidéos, j’ai également été un peu plus lent avec seulement deux nouvelles cette semaine :

Ce randonneur se balade sur

Une semaine calme sur OSM avec seulement quelques petits updates de micromapping vraiment. C’est toujours un objectif actuel, en tout cas pour certains coins de Seraing, mais le temps libre m’a fait un peu défaut et donc c’est tout ce que j’ai fait.

Au niveau des vidéos, j’ai également été un peu plus lent avec seulement deux nouvelles cette semaine :

Ce randonneur se balade sur le tracé du tram vicinal 713 à Seraing et part sur une tangente - Deuxième partie de la randonnée du 19 novembre où je me balade sur un ancien tracé de tram vicinal… et m’énerve un peu à cause d’un trio de motards que je rencontre par trois fois ce jour-là

Ce cycliste part sur les traces de l’ancien tram vicinal 456 à Seraing (et Neupré un tout petit peu) - Une “vieille” vidéo ici (elle date d’avril 2023) où je prends le même tracé en VTT (et en entier) jusqu’au “finish” devant une barrière à Neupré. Je mentionne cette vidéo ici vu que ça a aussi un rapport avec la dernière qui est…

Ce mappeur OpenStreetMap fait un débriefing de sa dernière vidéo et explique sa logique pour mapper - Le contenu est dans le titre, mais j’explique pourquoi j’ai mappé une partie du vicinal 713 d’une certaine manière sur OSM, ce que je ferais si je me décidais à faire le Bois de la Neuville un jour, et aussi pourquoi j’ai mappé un chemin à Rotheux différemment que le tronçon du 713 malgré une situation similaire. Je m’attends à quelques critiques ici pour être honnête, mais je voulais un peu exposer ma logique dans cette vidéo

Une semaine un peu plus light donc. Il reste deux vidéos “live” de cette randonnée qui devraient être plus simples à éditer, et la semaine qui vient semble plus calme donc je devrais reprendre un peu plus mon micromapping sur OSM.

A+


weeklyOSM

weeklyOSM 697

21/11/2023-27/11/2023 OSM training course and Mapathon in support of the victims of the 8 September earthquake in the High Atlas, Morocco [1] | © SIGE – Société d’Ingénierie Géomatique et Environnementale Mapping The proposal highway=cyclist_waiting_aid, to map street furniture and devices for cyclists that are intended to make waiting more comfortable, was approved with 26…<

21/11/2023-27/11/2023

lead picture

OSM training course and Mapathon in support of the victims of the 8 September earthquake in the High Atlas, Morocco [1] | © SIGE – Société d’Ingénierie Géomatique et Environnementale

Mapping

  • The proposal highway=cyclist_waiting_aid, to map street furniture and devices for cyclists that are intended to make waiting more comfortable, was approved with 26 votes for, 0 votes against, and 0 abstentions.

Community

  • Karlos argued the importance of separating OpenStreetMap for end-users (map users) from power-users (map developers). Mweper added that this separation has been quite successful in the Android (end-user) and Linux (power-user) ecosystems.
  • MapAmore tooted that custom emojis for OpenStreetMap are available on the Mastodon instance en.osm.town. The list is impressive.
  • Miguel Sevilla-Callejo, from the Spanish OpenStreetMap community, is collecting data to assess the importance of OpenStreetMap as a source of spatial data in quantitative terms.
  • Raquel Dezidério Souto, from Brazil, was selected as the UN Mapper of the month for November 2023.

Imports

  • Martijn van Exel has devised a MapRoulette challenge to improve the historic mine data imported from the GNIS database.

Local chapter news

  • Frederik Ramm has proposed closing the talk-de mailing list.

Events

  • The OpenStreetMap community of Colombia and TomTom recently organised a face-to-face event in Medellin with the purpose of improving the city map by adding missing buildings through a number of MapRoulette challenges.
  • Ivy Perez, a Viscan YouthMapper, visited Pista ng Mapa 2023 in Tacloban City and blogged her impressions of the event.

Humanitarian OSM

  • [1] Sige published a photo-summary of the OSM training course and Mapathon, held to support the victims of the 8 September earthquake in the High Atlas, attended by 230 Moroccan students in geomatics. This action is part of the cartographic support for Morocco in response to the earthquake for which Sige is actively looking for sponsors.

Maps

OSM in action

  • The Find My District feature on the New York City Council website displays a CARTO basemap of New York, which is based on data from OpenStreetMap. Guillaume Rischard has reminded the website’s development team of the need to follow OpenStreetMap’s attribution rules properly.

Licences

  • Kathleen Lu, from the OpenStreetMap Foundation Legal/License Working Group, suggested that the EU member governments release their open data under a CC-0 licence rather than CC-BY-4.0, so that it can be used by OpenStreetMap. If this is not possible, they have proposed a slight modification to the CC-BY-4.0 licence to make it compatible with OpenStreetMap’s licence.

Software

  • The next version of SMASH (formerly known as Geopaparazzi), yet unreleased, will support GeoJSON layers, and fix the long-standing bug that caused OSM tiles to not be visible at very high zoom levels.

Programming

  • rtnf showed how to search for active OSM contributors around an area, including their edit count, and frequently used tags.

Releases

  • GDAL 3.8.0 has introduced significant speed-ups in the creation of GeoPackage files (can be 3 to 4 times faster). Instead of delegating the spatial RTree creation to SQLite, as was done before, the GDAL codebase now embeds a specialised algorithm. The developer has proposed the improvements in the algorithm to the SQLite project.
  • Christoph Hormann announced the release of OpenStreetMap Carto version 5.8.0.
  • The November update of Organic Maps (an OSM-based mobile application) has been released, with an outdoor style preview, fixes in map styles and routing, and updated map data. Organic Maps now also has a referral link to a travel metasearch engine, which some users think conflicts with the privacy-focus mantra of the app. F-Droid has discussed adding an Anti-Features warning for users.

Did you know …

  • … that you can create a StreetComplete quest icon ball animation screensaver using fallingQuestsScreensaver?
  • … TomTom will be a financial backer of MapRoulette? See the OSM US’s website for details.
  • … the amazingly comprehensive OSM Apps Catalog? It is a web app for filtering and searching OSM apps that are described in the OpenStreetMap wiki.

Upcoming Events

Where What Online When Country
Mbankomo State of the Map Africa 2023 2023-11-30 – 2023-12-02 flag
Oakland A Synesthete’s Atlas: Cartographic Improvisations between Eric Theise and Santomieri-Farhadian Duo 2023-12-02 flag
Comuna 13 – San Javier Resolución de dudas del evento Levantando Construcciones 2023-12-02 flag
Budapest Walk around Etele Plaza, indoor mapping demo and brainstorming 2023-12-04 flag
Missing Maps London Mapathon 2023-12-05
Berlin OSM-Verkehrswende #53 2023-12-05 flag
Mapping Pedestrian Infrastructure Mapathon: Rome 2023-12-06
Stuttgart Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen 2023-12-06 flag
San Francisco A Synesthete’s Atlas: Cartographic Improvisations between Eric Theise and John Ingle; Loan Agreement by John Davis; Change of Uniform by Dave Defilippo 2023-12-07 flag
OSM Indoor Meeting 2023-12-08
Berlin 186. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch 2023-12-08 flag
Comuna 13 – San Javier Resolución de dudas del evento Levantando Construcciones 2023-12-09 flag
Saint-Martin-d’Hères Cartopartie à vélo des zones commerciales de Saint-Martin d’Hères 2023-12-09 flag
København OSMmapperCPH 2023-12-10 flag
Chambéry Mapathon débutant saison 23/24 CartONG 2023-12-11 flag
Zürich OSM-Stammtisch 2023-12-11 flag
Grenoble Debriefing Cartopartie à vélo du samedi 9 déc à Saint-Martin-d’Hères 2023-12-11 flag
臺北市 OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #59 2023-12-11 flag
OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting 2023-12-13
Hannover OSM-Stammtisch Hannover 2023-12-13 flag
Stainach-Pürgg 11. Österreichischer OSM-Stammtisch (online) 2023-12-13 flag
Bochum Bochumer OpenStreetMap-Treffen 2023-12-14 flag
München Münchner OSM-Treffen 2023-12-14 flag
Lorain County OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup 2023-12-15 flag
Amsterdam Maptime Amsterdam – A very Mappy Christmas! 2023-12-15 flag

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by Leonardo Gutierrez, MatthiasMatthias, TheSwavu, YoViajo, barefootstache, derFred, isoipsa, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

Saturday, 02. December 2023

OpenStreetMap User's Diaries

دار بالغنية

مضخة بالغنية

مضخة بالغنية


سلوق الخير للابقار

شركة سلوق الخير للابقار

شركة سلوق الخير للابقار


اديار عيت محمد بوالدروقي الفاخري رحمه الله

اديار عيت بوالدروقي

اديار عيت بوالدروقي


براكة عيت شلوف الفاخري

منطقة ظهر بوحميدة

منطقة ظهر بوحميدة


Election Day

Today, I received an email regarding the Foundation Board election. It’s finally time to vote. So, I read all the board candidates’ manifestos and Q&A session answers before finally deciding on whom to vote for.

While reading those materials, I came across several interesting quotes along the way. Take a look :

My long-term vision for OpenStreetMap is it becomi

Today, I received an email regarding the Foundation Board election. It’s finally time to vote. So, I read all the board candidates’ manifestos and Q&A session answers before finally deciding on whom to vote for.

While reading those materials, I came across several interesting quotes along the way. Take a look :

My long-term vision for OpenStreetMap is it becoming the default map because it has eclipsed its competitors in accuracy, completeness, actuality and detail.

The ideal state of OpenStreetMap is trivially a state where everyone knows that the project exists. The threshold to contribute shall be so low that everyone can record or update any map feature they consider notable.

First of all, I would like to thank all DWG members for the enormous amount of work they have to do to ensure that our work is not destroyed. If elected to the board, I will try to ensure that part of the OSMF funds are allocated to solutions that facilitate the work of DWG colleagues as well as to support them in recruiting new volunteers.

The recent cases of vandalism in Ukraine and Israel have undermined trust in our data; some data consumers have stopped updating their maps there. Investing in advanced tools to aid the Data Working Group is imperative for enhancing prevention, detection, and reversion of vandalism.

The board should consult the community on what to do for large anonymous donations if we have that luxury problem in the future. I am strongly against strings attached to any donations. The only ones we have ever accepted was the promise that we would earmark the donated funds for the fundraised purpose.

Our greatest strength is our community of editors, and as long as we are united, the project will not be at risk.

We shall start to attract the next generation. The existing generation of mappers have been intrinsically motivated by the absence of useable map data before OpenStreetMap came to frution. Now, good map data is a commodity, and we need to retell the story to remind people that there is hard and ongoing work behind the data.

Strengthening local chapters is vital, not just for diversity but to encourage local initiatives that improve quality.

We should explore support for temporary data like festivals or roadworks and maybe even real-time data integration. This could significantly enhance the utility and relevance of our maps.

2024 promises to be an exciting year with the launch of our new vector tiles. These will be open-schema, minutely updated, and designed for easy remixing with personal or open datasets.


حكفة عيت بوالدروقي الجدارية

حكفة عيت بوالدروقي الجدارية

حكفة عيت بوالدروقي الجدارية


بير العمية

بئر العمية

بئر العمية