Most OpenStreetMap-based maps you see these days on the Internet are only updated every so often. Some may be updated daily, most are probably only updated every few weeks or months. And that is totally okay for most use cases. But there are some maps that are updated continuously so that changes in the OSM data appear as fast as possible, which is important to motivate OSM contributors and helps with quickly detecting and fixing problems. The most important map with continuous updates is the main map you see on www.openstreetmap.org.

Minutely Diffs

To enable everybody to keep up with changes in OSM data, the OSMF publishes minutely diffs, i.e. files containing the OSM updates for a single minute. There are several challenges when keeping a map up to date from those diffs. The first is that the diffs don’t contain enough information. Only the immediate object that changed is in the diff, but not other objects that also need data from the changed object to draw them correctly. This means that you need a database with all the OSM data for the whole planet locally available to correctly interpret the diffs and update the map.

I am working with osm2pgsql which has solved this problem a long time ago and recently got some improvements on that front.

Data Conversion and Cleanup

The second problem is that even if you have an up-to-date OSM database available, you still need to draw the map from that data. And the OSM data format isn’t a good fit for that job. You can directly draw a map from OSM data (the JOSM editor does this for instance), but usually you want other data formats in between (such as PostgreSQL/PostGIS tables or vector tiles).

Osm2pgsql was invented years ago to solve this problem by doing conversions from OSM data into database tables with geometries which can be rendered into maps directly by many tools out there. With the flex output I have been working on for several years now, this conversion has become much more powerful, so that we are getting better and better at converting the data into formats that are easier to work with on the rendering side. In this step we can also clean up the data which makes it considerably easier to work with when rendering.

Generalization

The third problem is the problem of generalization. The conversions described above usually only work on one OSM object at a time (or a few like a way and its node members). That works well enough for large zoom levels where you want to render features on the same level of detail as they are modelled in the OSM database. But for smaller zoom levels you need to accumulate hundreds, sometimes tens of thousands of OSM objects into something larger to show on the map. You can, sort of, do without generalization, but that means rendering can become very slow. Which makes the continuously updated map not updating so quickly any more.

I have been working on that problem in the generalization project, adding code to osm2pgsql to quickly calculate generalized data from the OSM data already in the database when something changes and write the data back into the database.

Technology Demo

To tie all of this together and to show what we can do today (and what we can’t do yet) I have created this technology demo. The map on that page is updated continuously from OSM data using the minutely diffs. For most data this includes updates of all the lower zoom levels. The only exception are the roads on lower zoom levels which are only updated every once in a while, because I haven’t yet figured out a way to do this really quickly. And the ocean data is also only updated once daily from osmdata.openstreetmap.de.

Tiles are rendered on the fly from the PostgreSQL/PostGIS database. There is no caching involved, each tile is created for each request. Of course this is not something fit for a production map where some caching will be needed, but I didn’t do it for this map on purpose to demonstrate how fast this setup still is at producing those tiles.

The tiles use the Shortbread tiles format. It is a somewhat simple format, especially compared to the wealth of detail you see on the OSM Carto map on openstreetmap.org, but it shows the most important stuff and we have to start somewhere.

Want to try this yourself?

My setup runs on a 8 core (16 with HT) machine with 128 GB RAM and the database needs about 800 GB plus about 80 GB for the flat node file. Setup takes about 20 hours including the initial import, initial calculation of generalized data and then catchup with the changes that happened in OSM in the mean time.

You’ll need osm2pgsql and osm2pgsql-themepark, use the current master. I am using the T-Rex tileserver in my current setup and the osm2pgsql-themepark framework will generate a configuration for that, but you can also use a different tileserver. (In fact development on T-Rex has stopped, so you might want to look into alternatives.)

What’s next?

This map is only a prototype. There is more work to be done to turn this into something that could be used for real. To make this operational the whole stack including web server, tile server, and caching has to be set up properly. Because I am not caching tiles, I didn’t have to set up cache expiry either.

The generalization code we have now is already working quite well for lots of layers, but it is kind of simplistic. And it has to become faster and more robust and needs to be extended to other feature types. It currently takes about a minute to re-generate all the data for the smaller zoom levels, that’s kind of tight for something that should update every minute. And, as mentioned, the road layers can only be updated less often. (They currently need about 15 or 20 minutes to update for the whole planet.)

Over a decade ago OSM was the first map out there that not only everybody could change, but that also would show those changes for everybody to see in minutes. But we have become stuck at that point. Changes in higher zoom levels are shown quickly, but in lower zoom levels it takes more time. And, arguably, we have also been moving backwards, because typical vector tile maps don’t support minutely updates. With this demo and blog post I hope to get some more people interested in this work so that together we can make a better, continously updated, always current OSM map. My focus will be to keep working on the building blocks in osm2pgsql to make this possible.

In 2021 we, the osm2pgsql developers and users, had a first virtual meetup. And now we want to do it again. We want to talk a bit about new features and chat about where we might want to go. But mostly this is a chance for osm2pgsql users to get questions answered and their feedback heard.

The meeting will take place online on October 10th, 2023 starting 18:00 UTC. Anybody can join, you don’t need to register. See you there!

Meinen Blog findet man unter https://www.christiansblog.eu

In Croatia some residential areas are well kept, while others are quite lacking. Example: Zadar vs Preko.

What to map?

This begs the question which entity should be mapped first with the largest gain for the effort? This can only be answered in the need of the beholder. For a tourist it would be street names, since accommodations are bound by an address and after the town name, the street name is the next factor to reduce the search area of the location.

There is a major requirement for this to fruition and that is that the town has to have varied street names. Depending where in the country one is traveling, it is quite typical that the street names are equal to the town’s name (e.g. Lazina). In such a situation latitude/longitude coordinates should be a requirement of the host to provide over the house number, because lots are not linearly arranged. Plus lots of such towns don’t have house numbers and/or buildings on the map.

Where are the buildings?

Lots of towns have buildings, though these are usually only a fraction of what actually exists. E.g. in Preko:

Additionally, if the town has narrow pedestrian zones, one can expect that lots of buildings are missing and/or misaligned. e.g. in Komiža:

Mapping such towns are tricky without good aerial imagery and it might worth the investment to get a drone for such scenarios.

How to help map such towns?

GPX/GPS tracks and notes with street names help greatly. Notes can easily be made and shared on StreetComplete/SCEE. One should add the start of the street and at least take a picture of street name sign, if one is not willing to type it out.

Personally, I try to add the highway value and the compass direction to the note. This helps when the aerial imagery is to get an approximation of its presence on the map. E.g. in Komiža:

Hint:

Change the keyboard layout to the language at hand, so in Croatia it would be Hrvatski. This eases the pain of getting their special characters.

What’s with Wikipedia?

Lots of the entries do not exist in the native tongue (e.g. Hum and plenty more do not exist in English (e.g. Žena Glava translates to wife’s head).

Tried to do site seeing via its information and was disappointed when the promised wasn’t there (e.g. Califfi Castle).

POI and existing data quality

To my surprise there was a good chunk of existing data with e.g. surface information of the roads or if benches have backrests. This is good news and most likely OSM’ers were there on holiday and maximised their StreetComplete contribution. So if more entities existed, data coverage could be quite quickly covered over the next couple of tourist seasons.

The interesting part of the POIs is that they were denoted in the native tongue of the mapper e.g. French or Hungarian and rarely in English.

Next steps

The next steps would be:

1. Get the data on which towns see the most tourists.
2. Go through the list and see what is the highway coverage, map ideally all roads.
3. Go through the list and see what is the building coverage, map buildings around the main market square first.

Abstract

Most GPS navigation systems today rely heavily on street names and place names for route guidance. While this works well in some situations, it can be confusing and less user-friendly, especially when navigating unfamiliar areas or for people with language barriers.

This project aims to change the game by introducing landmark-based navigation into Valhalla, the OpenStreetMap (OSM) routing engine. Instead of hearing complex instructions like “Turn left onto Obmannamtsgasse,” users will get simple and intuitive directions like “Turn right at the Tesco supermarket.” This landmark-based approach makes navigation more accessible and user-friendly, reducing stress and improving the overall experience.

The high level implementation overview of this project is available here

Landmark Based Navigation Project - Github

Now let’s dive into the details!

Implementation Details

In simple terms, this project enhances Valhalla’s routing capabilities by bringing in landmarks as navigation support. We pull Points of Interest (POIs) from PBF files and store them as landmarks in a special intermediate storage. Then, we associate them to the map’s edges and store them into graph tiles. When clients call Valhalla services, these landmarks become part of the route directions and make navigation easier.

About Landmark Itself: Data Source and Selection Criteria

POIs are naturally supported in OSM PBF Format (“Protocolbuffer Binary Format”), a sort of digital map format. OSM uses “tags” in the form of “key=value” to describe places and things on the map. One special key, “amenity”, helps us find places that are useful or important for folks like visitors and residents. We use this key to select landmarks.

To pick the best landmarks for navigation, we look for ones that are clearly visible, very specific, easy to distinguish, and easy to understand. You can dig into the nitty-gritty analysis here. Based on these criteria, we’ve selected 18 types of POIs as landmarks. These include places like restaurants, gas stations, banks, clinics and more – all things that come in handy when you’re on the road.

Milestone 1: Setting up an Intermediate Storage for Landmarks

Now that we know where and how to select landmarks, we need to build a storage space to store them. Following Valhalla’s conventions, we opted to build a separate SQLite database to serve as the hub for storing landmarks data. This database was designed with a straightforward schema which consists of an id, landmark name, landmark type, and geographical coordinates represented by longitude and latitude. Spatial index is added to support and optimize spatial queries.

Database interactions implemented include classic putting and fetching. We also made sure to support spatial queries - getting all records in a given bounding box, i.e. getting all landmarks that are located within a defined geographic rectangle.

Landmark Intermediate Storage PR1 - database

Landmark Intermediate Storage PR2 - interaction

What’s cool is that we used the C++ pimpl idiom to implement our landmark database API. It is a powerful one especially for API design, allowing the designer to offer up the API interface without exposing the implementation details, effectively giving the API a private implementation.

Landmark Intermediate Storage PR3 - pimpl

Milestone 2: Parse Landmarks From Data Source to Intermediate Storage

With a designated storage now in place, our attention turned to the task of parsing landmarks from their data source, namely the PBF files. We confronted a design decision concerning the parsing process: whether to embed it within the tile-building pipeline or to develop a separate process capable of enriching an already established graph tile when necessary. We went with the second option because it gives us more flexibility for both testing and execution, especially since this is a prototype for a major feature.

“valhalla_build_landmarks”, the separate executable we build, is capable of extracting and parsing POIs from OSM PBF files and storing them as landmarks in the landmark SQLite database.

Landmark Parser PR

Milestone 3: Enhance Tile Storage to support landmarks

Once we’ve gathered all the data on landmarks, the next step is to incorporate this information into the graph tiles that actually fuel our routing system. To make room for landmarks, we made updates to the data structures within these graph tiles. Specifically, we tweaked the edge info data structure to accommodate associated landmarks which are encoded and stored as tagged values.

It’s worth mentioning that it took us some time to find and resolve the problem caused by null bytes. It’s also one of the triggers why we refactored the edgeinfo.cc file.

Enhance Tile Storage to Support Landmarks PR

Milestone 4: Associate Landmarks with Edges and Add to Tiles

The challenge at hand is how do we decide which landmarks should be paired with which edges. It is not so straightforward given the fact that all we have is the graph tiles and a database that contains all landmarks, relevant and irrelevant ones. Here’s how we cracked it: First, we pinpoint the area of interest on the graph tile and fetch all the landmarks within that zone. Then, for each landmark, we call Loki::Search to locate nearby edges. We make these search results into pairs, with each pair consisting of an edge ID and a landmark ID. Once we’ve got this sorted, merge and sort these pairs by edge ID. This step reveals which landmarks should be associated with each edge. Finally, we update the graph tiles to store these associations between edges and landmarks in the edge info.

As both searching for correlations between landmarks and edges and updating graph tiles involve substantial amounts of data processing, we’ve designed some mechanism to distribute workload evenly across threads in both cases. One more thing: updating graph tiles is much trickier than generating new ones. It requires an in-depth understanding of the data structures nestled within the tiles, and involves a great deal of manipulation on edge info offset. Currently, we are updating these offsets in an effective yet somewhat slow manner, which unfortunately introduces a performance bottleneck. Hopefully we can find a way to optimize it in the future.

Update Tile Storage to add Landmark Associations PR

Milestone 5: Update maneuver generation to add landmarks

In the navigation world, a “maneuver” refers to a specific action or instruction that a driver or traveler needs to perform at a particular point along their route. These maneuvers can range from turns and merges to exits and more. Think of them as your GPS’s way of saying, “Hey, make a right here!” In this milestone, we updated the maneuver generation process where a routing result is built into user-facing maneuvers, allowing landmarks to come along together.

Although route results coming from the routing service already include landmark data, we feel it’s not enough. So, we went the extra mile by incorporating additional information. This includes the distance from each landmark to the maneuver point and whether a landmark was on the same side of the road as the maneuver direction. The former is pretty intuitive - using the closest landmark to the maneuver point leads to better direction support. The latter means if the maneuver is to turn left then we should use some landmark on the left side as well, and vice versa. It is particularly handy when a traveler encounters wide urban streets or in case something blocking sights.

We managed to get these two additional pieces of information, and updated our Protobuf to handle the new data structure in maneuvers. Now, every maneuver comes with landmarks which have information about name, type, longitude, latitude, distance, and even which side of the road the landmark buddy is on.

Update Maneuver generation PR

Time to step into the last milestone!

Milestone 6: Update narrative generation to add landmark support

In Valhalla, the narrative generation process converts maneuvers into human readable text. Our final goal in this milestone is to introduce landmark-based phrases into specific instructions. To achieve that we fine-tuned the narrative generation process to support phrases that incorporate landmarks. We then added these phrases to support landmark replacements, specifically in the English locale, for certain instructions including “turn”, “sharp”, “bear” and “uturn”. We even took linguistic nuances into account when crafting these new phrases.

As a result of the last milestone, landmark-based navigation reached its full functionality. Travelers can now receive routing instructions like “Turn left at the supermarket Kaufland” or “Make a sharp right onto Bahnhofstrasse at the bank Credit Suisse.”

Update narrative generation PR

Future Improvements

Even though we’ve made significant progress in the feature of landmark-based navigation, this is just the beginning, and there is still room for enhancements in both design and technical aspects. Here, we highlight some key areas for potential improvements, and you can find more detailed tasks marked as “TODO” in our code base.

Design choices

• Optimal Landmark Association Distance

One question to consider is whether our current 75-meter cutoff for associating landmarks with edges is ideal. This distance acts as a strict boundary beyond which landmarks are not going to be correlated with any edges. While this helps reduce interference and enhances guidance, we should consider whether it’s too restrictive or too lenient. Besides, introducing a user-configurable option for the cutoff distance could provide more flexibility.

• Expanding Landmark Selection Criteria

Currently, we focus on the “amenity” key when parsing landmarks from PBF files. However, there are other key-value pairs that contain valuable information. For instance, the “historic” key with a value of “monument” could be particularly useful for guidance, especially when the landmark has a descriptive name. Expanding our criteria for selecting landmarks could enhance the user experience.

• Handling Different Landmark Types

Among the 18 types of landmarks we’ve chosen, some are uniquely identifiable by type alone, while others require both type and name for clear recognition. For instance, in urban areas, it’s common for multiple restaurants to be clustered together. In such cases, combining the name and type of the landmark is crucial for unambiguous navigation instructions. We’ve analyzed each landmark type (see comments in the code) and need to devise strategies to implement these analyses for an improved user experience.

Technical details

• Batch Retrieval for Landmark Database

We’ve implemented batch retrieval, dynamically generating query statements based on input size. However, this feature isn’t currently utilized in our code. To boost processing speed, it would be beneficial to support fix-sized batch retrieval and use it for landmark retrievals during tile updates.

• Fetching Landmarks with Level 2 Tiles

Currently, we rely on bounding boxes from level 1 tiles to fetch relevant landmarks. However, these level 1 tiles are not always available. In cases where only level 2 tiles cover a region, we should still be able to access landmarks. Implementing this feature would ensure comprehensive landmark coverage in various scenarios.

• Accelerating Graph Tile Updates

Updating graph tiles to incorporate landmarks, as opposed to generating entirely new tiles, presents some challenges. Specifically, optimizing the update process for the edgeinfo_offset_map, which is an unordered map, is crucial. Our current method, while effective, can be slow. Investigating performance enhancements in this area would be valuable.

• Thread Balancing for Tile Updates

An associated challenge with tile updates is balancing thread workload. Since updates involve moving entries one by one, the workload isn’t solely dependent on the number of edges or landmarks; it also considers the location of edges within the entire unordered map. This makes it challenging to predict and balance threads in advance. Addressing this thread balancing issue is critical, as it has a significant impact on performance. A holistic optimization approach for both the graph tile update process and thread management would be great.

Acknowledgements

This is my first time contributing to an open source project and participating in a large-scale C++ project with real world data. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to both of my mentors Kevin Kreiser (kevinkreiser) and Nils Nolde (nilsnolde) for their amazing support, helping me when I was confused, guiding me when I was lost. As a toddler in the open source community, I would always remember the discussions we had, the pair programming we did, and the bugs we debugged together.

Contributing to Valhalla has been a fantastic learning experience. I’ve dived deep into modern C++, data structures, algorithms, and geographical information systems. I’ve gained a profound understanding of how to operate within the context of a large-scale project. Beyond that, I am surprised to find and deeply captivated by the remarkable versatility of Valhalla and how its implementations enable such adaptability. I’m excited to keep working on the landmark-based navigation feature, hoping it will eventually make life easier for folks like me. This is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us!

References

Tag, taginfo, key value pairs in OSM data

A detailed document of directions with landmark support in Valhalla

Improvments and bugs in this feature

12/09/2023-18/09/2023

Mapping

• Citrula wrote about how to use OSMCha’s RSS feed and filter features to review changesets for which a review has been requested.
• Anne-Karoline Distel is seeking comments on a proposal to add vandalised to lifecycle prefixes.

Community

• OpenStreetMap mapper Jasper wanted an OSM shirt and there wasn’t one. So he made one and is offering it on Etsy, in case you are interested.
• nabilersyad blogged about his aims to map every street in Kuala Lumpur CBD and to add satellite visible data in all of the Kuala Selangor District.
• There are 30 videos from the SotM US 2023 on YouTube.
• Antti blogged about how to use OsmAnd for driving the TET (Trans Euro Trail), an 80,000 km GPX route, from the edge of Africa to the Arctic Circle, created by the TET adventure motorcycle community.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

• The current status of the OSMF fundraising campaign can be viewed online. The comments made by donors are interesting.
• You are welcome to join the next monthly video-meeting of the OSMF Board that will take place on Thursday 28 September at 15:00 UTC. The video room opens 20 minutes before the meeting starts. The preliminary agenda is on the wiki and this is also where the draft minutes will be added.
• The OpenStreetMap Foundation reported the addition of a new render server in the US. It will be used for rendering and updating the default map style.

Humanitarian OSM

• [1] Pete Masters (pedrito1414), Head of the Community staff at HOT, provided an update on the disaster response activations for Morocco and Libya, providing statistics and other information about this response.
• ABDURAHMAN AL FURJANI from OSM Libya, supported by UN Mappers and HOT, has launched a disaster response activation, following the devastating floods in Darnah, Libya. There are mapping tasks ready for contribution on the HOT Tasking Manager and pre- and post-event imagery available on OpenAerialMap, provided by Maxar.

Maps

• Imzadi1979 announced that the community responsible for the English Wikipedia’s North American road articles has created a fork of Wikipedia that features vector maps based on OpenStreetMap Americana (example).
• The Berlin Refreshment Map shows cool, windy and shady areas in the city. The map was created in a collaboration between the Open Data Informationsstelle Berlin and CityLab Berlin.
• Geofabrik have released a boundary fix for their OpenStreetMap data snapshot of the Alps region.
• jonnymccullagh blogged about setting up a map server displaying [ga] place names in the Irish language (Gaeilge).

Open Data

• Qiusheng Wu’s interactive web app for visualising Maxar’s open data has been improved. By just clicking on the map, you may now select images interactively.

Software

• jarmokivekas released, on GitHub, an overview tool that he developed for tracking Tasking Manager activity by campaign, project, country, or organisation. This is a preliminary version. It is not yet clear how easy it will be working with this API (no dropdown list for selection) compared to working directly in the Tasking Manager explore function.
• Answerquest listed the steps to convert boundary shapefiles, using Mapshaper and QGIS, in order to use them in OpenStreetMap.
• Allan Mustard has figured out how to get mkgmap to produce fully customised, routable Garmin-compatible IMG files for his nüvi GPS navigator. He posted a tutorial so you can also produce custom IMG files to your own specifications.
• After more than 9 years of work, a group of students from the Salesian College of Duitama (Colombia) has launched ► a mobile application called ‘BusBoy App’, already available on the Google Play Store and soon on the Apple App Store. The creators are seeking ► to expand the use of the application, so that more users of urban transport will know the names of the routes, places of travel, points of interest, transport companies, and schedules.
• MapComplete has changed its internet domain from mapcomplete.osm.be to mapcomplete.org after a short survey on the Mastodon server en.osm.town.
• Geopaparazzi has released ‘Smart Mobile App for Surveyor Happiness’ (SMASH), a mobile application for taking notes on mapping survey activities. The app can be downloaded via F-droid and Google Play Store.
• Sam Woodcock gave a high level overview of the Field Mapping Tasking Manager (FMTM), which is software for coordinating field mapping efforts.
• vorpalblade reported that JOSM’s MapWithAI plug-in now supports PMTiles and Mapbox Vector Tiles as data sources and showed how to use it. PMTiles is a web-first tile storage format, which allows the provider to have a single file containing all the tiles they want to share.

Programming

• An Australian family refused to sell their farmland, even though the entire neighbourhood was being converted into a new housing estate. The location of the property was unclear. This challenge was taken up by Dean Marchiori to locate, as he describes, Sydney’s strangest property using osrm and the Overpass API. There is a nice ‘movie’ at the end of the article.
• Sam Woodcock gave an overview of the different vector tile file formats available and described their differences.

Did you know …

• … that you can explore places on OpenStreetMap using the OpenStreetBrowser app?
• … that you can participate in an OSMFight?

Other “geo” things

• Felix von Leitner ►, a German IT security expert, comments on current affairs in their blog ►. Our market ‘competitor’ is looking ► for ‘volunteers’ to record streets for them. Felix asked ironically, ‘Are you also considering volunteering for the fourth richest company in the world? I hope not. But if you are, it would be better to volunteer for OpenStreetMap’.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
Rouen	Rencontre Groupe local Rouen		2023-09-22
Saint-Barthélemy-de-Séchilienne	Mapping Party in Saint-Barthélemy-de-Séchilienne 38220 France		2023-09-23
Localidad Teusaquillo	Bici Ruta Geek en Bogotá		2023-09-24
Град Кикинда	OpenStreetMap x Pionir #2		2023-09-24
Maricá	Mapathon – Maricá City		2023-09-24 – 2023-09-30
Chambéry	Mapathon débutant saison 23/24 CartONG		2023-09-25
Gent	OpenStreetMap meetup		2023-09-26
Delft	IHE Delft / HOTOSM – IHEUrgentAction Mapathon for Morocco and Libya		2023-09-26
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2023-09-27
Berlin	Missing Maps Mapathon Berlin		2023-09-27
City of Westminster	London pub meet-up		2023-09-27
Aachen	4. Treffen Aachener Stammtisch 2.0		2023-09-28
Lübeck	135. OSM-Stammtisch für Lübeck und Umgebung		2023-09-28
Düsseldorf	Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen		2023-09-29
Curitiba	Pré-Conferência – State of the Map Brasil 2023		2023-09-30
Karlsruhe	Karlsruhe Hack Weekend September 2023		2023-09-30 – 2023-10-01
Portland	A Synesthete’s Atlas + Some 3d Color/Light/Motion Experiments		2023-10-02
Curitiba	State of the Map Brasil 2023		2023-10-02 – 2023-10-04
	Missing Maps London Mapathon		2023-10-03
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2023-10-04

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 MatthiasMatthias, PierZen, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, derFred, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

Tracé du parcours de “Les Cortots” à Fontaine-lès-Dijon

Par ici https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1210508694

Mais toujours pas visible sur la carte OSM… :’( Peut-être un jour… il y aura une mise à jour qui permettra aux visiteurs de voir ces informations…?

Des infos par ici https://www.discjonctes.fr

На глагне новый слой карт — впервые с января 2021 (когда туда добавили CyclOSM). Он называется Tracestrack Topo, выглядит контрастнее и чище на близких масштабах, но топорно на z11 и дальше, где протекают его истоки из OSM Carto и OpenTopoMap. Из всех стилей на osm.org этот приятнее для глаз и удобнее, если планируешь поход. И он очень быстрый: три сервера для рендеринга и ещё пять кэширующих!

Откуда он взялся — загадка. Для начала, не было ни предупреждений, ни объявлений. Он просто появился. Слоя нет в списке предложений на вики — автор добавлял его в декабре и сразу удалил, а с мая Пол Норман вообще очистил все предложения и попросил писать напрямую OWG. Которая не публикует протоколы совещаний с января. Совет OSMF здесь ничего не решал. Короче, процессы в OpenStreetMap понемногу закрываются, в основном из-за непрозрачного OWG.

Автор — Qing Cai из Нидерландов. Это примерно всё, что можно узнать о нём и его компании Tracestrack из одного человека. Публичная история примерно такая:

• 2015—2019 — интересовался записью и отображением GPS-треков, о чём написал пару постов в Medium.
• 2020 — пришёл в OpenStreetMap и начал картировать Китай и улучшать страницы по нему в OSM Wiki.
• 2021 — создал картостиль для своего приложения на базе OSM Carto.
• 2022 — зарегистрировал компанию Tracetrack для продажи тайлов и сфокусировался на ней.
• 2023 — открыл исходники TracesMap, как сообщил WeeklyOSM, а теперь ещё и добавил свой слой на osm.org.

Это довольно вдохновляющая история — не каждая компания может позволить себе достаточно серверов, чтобы справиться с нагрузкой от глагне! И слой на osm.org — лишь вершина айсберга. Если всмотреться в демонстрационный сайт, он собран из нескольких растровых и векторных слоёв: заменяемой подложки и надписей (выбор из 21 языка), плюс дополнительные слои типа велотрасс или машрутов общественного транспорта. Похоже на то, с чем мы экспериментировали лет десять назад, но, как видно, работает!

Why and How I Mapped all the Landcover in Belize

I joined OSM in 2016 when my friend suggested I do something useful. He knew I was interested in geography as I was trying to map on Google. But then a year later Google shut down mapping for users because of an Android pissing on Apple incident in Pakistan.

I then became really interested in OSM and started mapping. I had a desire for all the landcover to be mapped. I first started around my town of Spanish Lookout, then decided to do my entire district of Cayo.

It was slow work, but I persevered. After I completed the second and third districts of Stann Creek and Toledo, I learned a few tricks of mapping. By that time it was the year of 2022. The mapping tips I learned were so useful that by September of 2023 I had completed the other 3 districts, Corozal, Orange Walk and last of all Belize district.

There were a few other mappers that helped, but I did roughly 92% of the entire country. And in that time I would estimate that about 99% of roads and 97% of buildings have been mapped as well.

Going Forward

Going forward I’m planning on keeping the country up to date and continuing to map all buildings, power lines, speed bumps, etc.

And also I’m thinking of mapping all surrounding districts of Mexico and Guatemala, which we’ve started already.

Percentage of Landcover in Belize

Today is Saturday

I haven’t been very active on OSM in the past weeks and months - other than work-related reasons this was mainly because of orienteering: competitions almost every weekend, and when I did map, I mapped for orienteering, mainly features that are of no interest to OSM (cf. last blog post).

One orienteering competition, though, caused an OSM edit. The venue was a typical German sports ground consisting of a football pitch, a running track around it, a pavilion building and not much else (no bleachers, no grandstand). Mapped in OSM was the outline of the racetrack, tagged leisure=stadium.

This inaccuracy is quite frequent (a few years ago refining sports grounds was my main pastime in OSM), partly because sports grounds in German villages are often aggrandizingly called “Stadion”.

About its fence: I have to admit that I was never really strict about One feature, one element. But the OOMapper, does not interpret, for instance, “leisure=pitch barrier=fence” as fence filled with open land, which made me realize that it would be clever to abide by the OFOE rule.

So it’s (in JOSM) Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Alt+V to duplicate the area, then tag the new way barrier=fence. Where the entrance is, there is a node which I tagged entrance=main and barrier=gate. In the German Telegram group it was suggested to maybe have entrance=main on leisure=sports_centre only and barrier=gate on barrier=fence only, which I think is somehow logical but I decided against it. Maybe I’ll change my mind after looking at more examples.

Oh, and one more tip for sports mappers: When there is a short track like for 100m or long jump only and you map it as an area, don’t forget to add area=yes, because otherwise it will be interpreted as a rectangular track along the outline of the actual track.

Happy mapping everybody!

when placing these down; what is the universally accepted placement and direction of signal lights?

Is it the location of pole and direction of lights controlling traffic. Or is it attached to the Roadway and pointed in the direction of signaling? Any help would be appreciated…

The Wiki info on usage is very generic in wording..

Author: Khan Mohammad Ibtehal(Alumni, YouthMappersatBSMRMU)

Since a long journey starting from December 2020, YouthMappers at BSMRMU had been working on OpenStreetMap, connecting with other YouthMappers Chapter, OSM organization from national and international community. From September 2022 YouthMapper at BSMRMU had been majorly working with Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)- Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific (AP-Hub) under student sponsorship grant that YouthMappers at BSMRMU awarded.

Celebrating International Mother’s Language Day

On 21st February, YouthMappers at BSMRMU held “Mapathon Contest and discussion session on the occasion of International Mother Language Day”. A Discussion forum was settled on the Importance of Language and using local language on contributing towards OpenStreetMap. The event was held in collaboration with YouthMappers, University of Dhaka Chapter, YouthMappers - Jahangirnagar University Chapter, CUSS YouthMappers, PSTU YouthMappers, YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh. Almost 45 participants attended the event.

YouthMappers at BSMRMU celebrating International Mother’s Language Day, holding a Mapathon contest, and in collaboration with YouthMappers, University of Dhaka Chapter, YouthMappers - Jahangirnagar University Chapter, CUSS YouthMappers, PSTU YouthMappers, YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh. Picture Credit: Mohammad Azharul Islam, Student Advisor.

After 3 days the winners of Mapathon contest were announced, 1st position came from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University (BSMRMU), 2nd and 3rd position was held by Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST).

Recruiting General Members of YouthMappers at BSMRMU

On February 16, 2023, patches of volunteers from executive committee and general member corp went onto interacting with the freshers of BSMRMU about OpenStreetMap, YouthMappers, and Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). We talked about the student sponsorship grant awarded Open Mapping Hub-Asia Pacific (AP hub). Almost 40 Members were recruited from the interactive sessions. The volunteers have acknowledged YouthMappers at bsmrmu ‘s contribution to this community too. Our goal is to make them realize how important they are as a young star for a community, state and for their country.

Executive members of YouthMappers at BSMRMU interacting with freshers of BSMRMU on OpenStreetMap, YouthMappers, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). There were almost 40 members were recruited to the general member Corp of YouthMappers at BSMRMU. Photo Credit: Fida Hasan

The Weekly Mapathon contest sponsored by AP-hub, held on Thursday for every week until completing 12 weeks. Almost 35 participants were observed in the event. Photo Credit: Mohammad Azharul Islam.

Weekly Mapathon Contest

YouthMappers at BSMRMU in collaboration with Open Mapping Hub Asia Pacific held an event of 12-week mapathon contest starting on 29th April 2023 and ending on July 31, 2023. The event observed distinguished guest Mikko Tamura and Melai Opeña-Basilio from Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), Tasauf A Baki Billah from Bangladesh Open Innovation Lab (BOIL), and Khan Mohammad Ibtehal, Alumni YouthMappers at BSMRMU. Almost 50 participations were recorded. The guest spoke about the importance of mapping in OpenStreetMap Mapping and its contribution, and why more mappers are needed in today’s world.

YouthMappers at BSMRMU celebrating 19th anniversary of OpenStreetMap with Open Mapping Hub- Asia Pacific. A mapathon contest was held. Almost 25 participants were recorded. Photo Credit: MD. Saiful Islam.

Celebrating OpenStreetMap’s 19th Birthday

YouthMappers at BSMRMU celebrated the 19th birthday of OpenStreetMap with Open Mapping Hub-Asia Pacific. The event was held on august 19th 2023. A mapathon contest was held in the event. The event observed distinguished guest Mikko Tamura and Melai Opeña-Basilio from Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), Amena Rashid Bania- Regional Ambassador from YouthMappers, Mohammad Azharul Islam, Student Advisor, YouthMappers at BSMRMU, and Khan Mohammad Ibtehal, Alumni YouthMappers at BSMRMU. Almost 25 participants were recorded. The guest spoke about the amazing journey of OpenStreetMap, contribution of OpenStreetMap, and importance on moving forward with OpenStreetMap.

YouthMappers at BSMRMU keep moving forward with contribution to OpenStreetMap mapping and connecting mappers and organization in the journey. A journey that kept going forward.

When people hear the word “mapping,” they often envision a complex web of points and lines on a piece of paper, which can be intimidating for newcomers. However, mapping is not as daunting as it may seem, it’s an art that can be mastered. Just like any other science, mapping requires active engagement in related activities. To make learning less challenging, we established Udayana Remote Sensing and GIS (URGis) as a mapping community to help each other grow our remote sensing and GIS skills.

Throughout our journey, we’ve harnessed the power of mapping software like OpenStreetMap (OSM) to assist students in developing their skills and confidence. OSM provides convenient tools for various mapping applications, from displaying different map themes to adding points, polygons, or polylines and populating attribute tables. We’ve witnessed this transformation through our activities. In the past semester, URGis focused on introducing OSM to students in our faculty, offering engaging materials and hands-on practice with web-based OSM. We also invited OSM experts to provide further insights into projects involving OSM.

Our main goal is to empower students by providing opportunities to participate in remote sensing and GIS projects, experiences that go beyond traditional classroom learning. Through collaboration with OpenStreetMap, we’ve engaged our members in mapping projects, with OSM funding allowing us to conduct mapping workshops and reach a wider audience, benefiting from the expertise of the OSM team.

OUR ACTIVITIES

We kicked off the OSM Workshop on July 11th, 2023, right on our campus, introducing OSM as a participatory map and emphasizing its role in disaster mitigation. Dewa Putu Adikarma Mandala (Bli Dewa) from Program Siap Siaga Bali delivered the lecture, and we had the chance to use OSM ourselves. The interactive sharing session with Bli Dewa sparked lively discussions, with everyone actively asking and answering questions.

On August 9th, the URGis team organized a study club session, during which members digitized areas on the neighbouring island of Nusa Penida. Each member was assigned a specific area or village, providing an opportunity for students to enhance their digitization skills and familiarize themselves with OSM mapping features.

Recognizing the importance of expanding our reach, we conducted an OSM workshop on August 31st, allowing students to engage in participatory mapping using OpenStreetMap to strengthen geospatial data management for disaster mitigation in the Bukit Jimbaran Campus area. The workshop included valuable sessions by Mr. Harry Mahardhika Machmud on mapping tools, survey methodology, and data validation. Students also had hands-on experience with data collection applications, obtaining survey results. We learned from Della Ema Nurfiana of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) about how OSM assists in disaster mitigation, particularly during the eruption of Mount Agung, where evacuation routes were mapped when other sources lacked the information. The workshop encouraged active discussions between participants and the URGis team.

FROM URGis AND BEYOND

Building on our workshop experiences, we initiated “URGis Goes to Class” to reach more students and provide opportunities for club members to share their knowledge about OSM. This approach ensures the sustainability of our club as we learned from previous challenges in attracting attendees to separate workshops when students had classes to attend. By incorporating workshops into classes, we aim to create a lasting impact within Udayana University and Bali, demystifying mapping and nurturing a community of skilled mappers.

In conclusion, our journey with URGis demonstrates the transformation of mapping from an intimidating concept to an accessible and valuable skill, thanks to our dedicated efforts with OpenStreetMap. We aspire to continue spreading our positive impact by empowering students and fostering a community of proficient mappers at Udayana University and beyond.

Jumped in committed to contribute before ever downloading or selling the map and software I just knew I could help Now it’s September 22 2023 Let’s see how long it takes me to figure this out

Ich habe kürzlich frustriert festgestellt, dass Mecklenburg Vorpommern seine Luftbilder immer noch nicht frei (für OSM) zur Verfügung stellt. Das macht die Arbeit für dedizierte OSM Projekte wie den Radverkehrsatlas unnötig schwierig.

Jetzt frage ich mich: Wie ist das eigentlich in anderen deutschen Bundesländern?

• Sind die Luftbilder + Alkis öffentlich? Und für OSM nutzbar?
• Welche Lösung wurde für die Freigabe in OSM gewählt? In Berlin beispielweise gibt es dafür einen Brief, in Brandenburg eine Angabe in der AGB.

Ich habe eine Liste erstellt unter https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/DE:Luftbilder#%C3%9Cbersicht_Bundesl%C3%A4nder

Bitte helft mit, und tragt mit eurem lokalen Wissen ein, wie die Situation in eurem Bundesland ist.

Was machen wir mit diese Liste? Erstmal interessiert mich, wie der Stand der Dinge ist.

Es ist außerdem sehr hilfreich, die unterschiedlichen Lösungen für die Lizenzfreigabe aufzuführen als Inspiration für die Personen, die so eine Freigabe erteilen müssen.

Aber interessanter ist dann im Anschluss die Frage, wie man die jeweiligen Bundesländer (erneut) anspricht, um sie zu einer Freigabe der Daten zu bewegen…

As Ausome Maps’ journey comes to a close, our focus in the past few months is how might we continue and amplify the impact that Ausome Maps has started for the years to come. The core of our project is map out therapy centers aside from tagging special education schools. Our constant problem for these datasets is maintaining credibility of information and the mechanism for updating. Looping this in with the bigger problem when it comes to accessibility of information, we decided to develop TherapEase.

TherapEase is not only a platform but a venture that aims to help Filipino families with kids in the spectrum or with developmental delay.

Ausome Maps’ TherapEase is one of the 3 Philippine ventures in the US-ASEAN Science, Technology, and Innovation Cooperation (US-ASEAN STIC) Conference’s Pitch Competition.

As part of this program, we went through a 4-week virtual incubator that helped us develop our pitch for the Pitch Competition in Jakarta. This program is led by Ken Mulligan from the Arizona State University (ASU) and organized with the help of Ms. Dung Le and Ms. Thao Prahn also from ASU.

Through the US-ASEAN’s STIC incubator, we learned about what makes a startup, how to make value proposition, doing a competitive analysis, creating a business model canvas, and putting it all together in a concise but impactful pitch deck for the competition and any other fund raising that we might do in the future.

Competing in Jakarta with 35 other ventures from the 11 member-countries of the ASEAN, we made our first official pitch. Through our 5-minute pitch, I felt an immense gratitude for everyone who has been a part of Ausome Maps and for Open Mapping Hub’s She Leads and She Inspires program and grant which allowed us to create the Ausome Maps and be in the position to pitch TherapEase.

TherapEase did not get the seed funding from this competition. But I was grateful for the opportunity and honestly, I learned a lot through the sessions (Ken really pushed us to always do great and always with enthusiasm) and the participants of the conference.

During this competition in Jakarta, we are preparing to qualify for another program.

We are happy to share that TherapEase will be a part of a startup accelerator program based in the Philippines. We are truly excited for this opportunity, and we hope to develop TherapEase into the venture that we envisioned it to be continuing Ausome Maps’ impact.

P.S. Thanks to the conference organizer for the great photos!

Last July, we invited 97 students of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology and Bachelor of Science in Education of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Bansud, Oriental Mindoro Campus to join us in a Make the Map Ausome Event.

As part of the program, they learned about open mapping, open data, and OpenStreetMap through an introduction by Ian Panganiban, Ausome Maps’ Technical Consultant.

They determined which are the ‘Myths and the Facts’ about the autism spectrum disorder through an interactive presentation by Charlyne Mamador, aspiring developmental pediatrician and a 2nd year medicine student at the Cavite State University. In this session, we also asked the future educators and innovators on how they can make their immediate community more inclusive.

We also discussed how we are creating the platform – TherapEase. Deinyel Matira, an incoming senior BS Computer Science student at the University of the Philippines Diliman and Ausome Maps’ software development intern shared about the steps that a development project follows from user research, solution design, development, and continuous product iteration from user feedback.

Lastly, the participants were trained on how to map and validate tasks on OpenStreetMap and the HOTOSM Tasking Manger respectively.

We would like to thank the Local Government Unit at Bansud through the Hon. Mayor Ronaldo Morada for his support for our event and sponsoring the venue.

We are also grateful for the support of the director and faculty of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines – Bansud Campus for their enthusiasm and prompt collaboration as we are planning the event.

A big thank you as well to the MIMAROPA Regional Science High School Ausome Mappers. This event will not be possible without your on-ground support! We are proud that you guys went from participants to helping us organize another event within our community.

At last, we felt that we have accomplished our mission as we hear the participants share about their learnings and their next steps to helping the community as teachers and IT professionals.

Check out these post-its with things they learned:

P.S. Thank you PUP-Bansud and MRSHS Ausome Mappers for the pictures!

Last May, we were invited to join MapaTalks Vol.1 at the De La Salle University. We are joined with 15-20 mappers sharing about their projects and learning more about mapping.

Here we shared about what the inspiration behind the Ausome Maps projects, what we want to achieve and what more needs to be done.

We learned about some technologies that we want to incorporate with the platform that we are building and some insights on some to sustain the impact that we have started with Ausome Maps. Shoutout to Aimon, Mikko and Honey for the great insights.

We are thankful for the opportunity to share our project with the students and the greater mapping community at DLSU.

P.S. It was very refreshing to join an in-person event! Another bonus was meeting GeoLadiesPH there ❤️❤️ I missed you ladies!

In the dawn of 2022, the intrepid members of YouthMappers at SUST set forth on an ambitious journey, propelled by their shared passion for mapping and a vision of a brighter tomorrow. With the steadfast support of AP-HUB’s Student Club Sponsorship, their mission was set in motion, carrying them through the uncharted waters of open mapping until September 2023.

The year unfurled its first canvas with the Member Recruitment Week, a weeklong carnival of talent and zeal that set the stage for an unforgettable year. The air was charged with excitement as new faces joined the ranks, bringing with them fresh perspectives and untapped potential. Bonds forged in this dynamic week would serve as the foundation for a year of collaborative endeavors. As the seasons changed, March 18, 2023, marked a monumental event in their journey. The workshop on “Introduction to OSM Editor and KoboToolbox” was a beacon of enlightenment, led by their dynamic young leaders. Here, the participants embarked on a deep dive into the intricate world of OpenStreetMap editing and were introduced to the transformative capabilities of Kobo Toolbox. The day’s climax was a mapathon project on Tasking Manager, where participants donned their digital explorer hats, mapping uncharted territories. To infuse an element of camaraderie and competition, an online-based quiz game, “Kahoot,” set hearts racing and neurons firing. Tareq Al Hossain, Akib Ahmed Talukder, and Jahid Bin Hussain emerged as the champions, their names etched in the annals of YouthMappers at SUST history.

With the echoes of triumph still resonating, March 31st unfurled as a day of grand celebration. In honor of Bangladesh’s Independence Month, YouthMappers at SUST orchestrated a symphony of knowledge and community, an event made possible by the unwavering support of Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific. The speakers, Tasauf A Baki Billah, S M Sawan Shariar, Can Unen, and Melai Opeña-Basilio, lent their wisdom to the gathering of over 50 eager minds, sparking conversations that transcended borders and disciplines. This was not merely a workshop, but a convergence of ideas and experiences, a testament to the transformative power of knowledge. Yet, the tale was far from over. A Mapathon contest unfurled like a grand tapestry, inviting participants to showcase their mapping prowess. Each contribution was to help the local communities in the project area. Winners basked in the glory of recognition, but every participant held a piece of the collective achievement, their certificates bearing witness to their dedication to humanitarian causes. As the year ripened, the grand crescendo arrived: the seminar on “Navigating Graduate Study in USA as an International Student.” Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific once again stood as the bedrock of support for this educational odyssey. Shwarnali Bhattacharjee, a luminary and a pioneer in her own right, took the stage. As a Founder and Former President of the chapter, her journey, now pursuing Masters at the University of North Texas Denton, USA, was a beacon of inspiration. Her words were a guiding light, illuminating the path for all attendees, offering a unique perspective on the pursuit of knowledge across continents. And now, a new chapter unfolds. Meet our Enthusiastic Next Generation Mappers of SUST, the torchbearers who will lead our organization in the days to come. Their fresh perspectives and unbridled passion for mapping are the driving force behind our collective journey. We eagerly anticipate hearing their thoughts and plans for the future of our organization, as we continue to shape the cartographic frontier.

As the sun sets on this chapter of their journey, YouthMappers at SUST stand as a testament to the boundless potential that lies within passionate hearts, united communities, and shared knowledge. With sponsors as stalwart allies and members as the lifeblood of their endeavor, they eagerly anticipate a future brimming with growth, innovation, and lasting impact in the realm of mapping.

I spent a few days in Penang for a separate work trip. Took my time to survey and map the area too. I found that Pengkalan Weld is already well mapped. Specifically the area around Lebuh Pantai and Gat Lebuh Chulia. So I only needed to add some extra details and POIs in the area.

Habe gerade meinen 5555. Edit getätigt. Will jemand mit mir dieses kleine Jubiläum feiern?

Today we switched all osm2pgsql repositories from the “openstreetmap” organization on Github to a new Github organization called osm2pgsql-dev. We want to make it is easier for our users to find all the pieces in our growing osm2pgsql ecosystem. There is…

• the main osm2pgsql repository with the source code,
• the website repository which contains everything needed to maintain our website and documention,
• and the recently released Themepark repository.

All the old links will continue to work. If you access the old repository links, you will be forwarded to the new places automatically.

We are happy to announce the new release 1.8.0 of osm2pgsql.

The largest change is the addition of much more flexible index support in the flex output. The table definitions have a new (optional) field called indexes now which takes a list of index definitions. If the field is not there, we fall back to what we did before and create a GIST index on the only/first geometry column of a table. But you can also define any kind of index you want: define which index method (BTREE, GIST, …) to use on which columns, define WHERE clauses and expression indexes and much more. See the flex-config/indexes.lua Lua config for some usage examples and the manual for all the details. You can also force osm2pgsql to always build the id indexes which are normally only built in slim mode.

The gazetteer output and the command line option --with-forward-dependencies are deprecated in this release and will be removed soon. They were only needed for Nominatim which switched to using the flex output recently.

Here are the other changes:

• Fix a problem when using osm2pgsql with a projection other than WGS84 (EPSG:4326) or Web Mercator (EPSG:3857) which made the program really slow.
• New pole_of_inaccessibility() Lua function to generate reasonably good label points from polygons. (This function is currently marked as experimental, which means it can change without notice at any time.)
• Performance improvement for very small updates. Don’t spin up multiple threads when there are less then 100 objects to process, because the extra overhead is not worth it.
• Implement and use our own JSON writer. This removes the dependency on RapidJSON which hasn’t seen a new release since 2016.
• Add more checks (or does some checks earlier) to make sure your database uses UTF-8 encoding and that necessary database extensions are loaded and index methods, schemas and tablespaces you refer to in the config are actually available.
• A lot of code needed to be updated so it works correctly with any of the recent versions of the fmt library.

As always there were lots of code cleanups across the board, but especially in code accessing the database and in the C++/Lua glue code to make it more flexible and easier to use internally.