11/06/2026-17/06/2026

Community

• Alex Spritze has realised that Wikimedia Commons is probably a good source of geographical objects that are still missing from OpenStreetMap and has developed a workflow to find geospatial data on Commons using the PetScan tool.
• Rtnf has developed a prototype interactive map that allows users to explore angkot (shared taxi) routes in Indonesia, combining routing data generated by BRouter with geographic data from OpenStreetMap.
• The fire department in Talling, Germany is explicitly asking for an AED defibrillator logo, so they can be represented on OpenStreetMap. In the comments, people point to the defibrillator map created by the Polish OpenStreetMap community and mention that OsmAnd and CoMaps already display defibrillators. GeoMH also gave the newcomer a reference to the community wiki.
• Grant Slater is raising funds to purchase the missing sheets from the complete historical 1:50,000 topographic map series of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), produced by the Department of the Surveyor-General and the Zimbabwean Air Force. Once purchased, he will process the maps and make them freely available online so that researchers, historians, genealogists, mappers, local communities, and anyone interested in Zimbabwe’s history can access them.
• Internet Archive Europe reported (also shared on Mastodon) on a workshop held in Amsterdam titled ‘Maps are Infrastructure too’. The post emphasised the importance of OpenStreetMap as a knowledge commons and highlighted MapLibre as a key tool for digital sovereignty, arguing that open map infrastructure is essential for long-term public access and memory.

Imports

• Kentoseth has published a detailed tutorial (also shared on Mastodon) on how to mass import address data into OpenStreetMap using JOSM. The guide covers data preparation using OpenAddresses.io, essential JOSM plugins such as conflation, and emphasises the importance of manual validation against local GIS sources.

Local chapter news

• [1] In his diary entry, Emmanuel Arrechea reported on the wide-ranging activities of the French OSM group Mapadour (Basque Country and southern Landes). The group has been very active, having taken over 228,000 Panoramax images; it has supported European tourism and mobility projects such as Systour and Pyrénées4Clima, maintained local health data, and is mapping urban trees in Bayonne using open data.
• Wikimedia Italia, the Italian local chapter of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, has recently published ► a new tile service with two layers in the hope that it will help both the mappers and the end users. You can check ► the terms of use on their wiki.
• The OSM Training Working Group of FOSSGIS e.V. met ► in Berlin on 13 and 14 June to refine their concept for modular OpenStreetMap training. The group focused on target-group specific requirements and the best ways to teach community workflows and practical mapping skills.

Events

• The State of the Map Colombia 2026 will take place as an in-person event on 3 and 4 July 2026 at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, National University of Colombia. The conference will include a scientific programme.Incidentally, the logo for SotM was designed ► by Mauricio Martínez and features the white-headed tamarin (Saguinus oedipus), a primate native to Colombia, whose face is incorporated into a map pin.

OSM research

• Muki Haklay, Professor of Geographical Information Science in the UCL Department of Geography, and UCL alumnus Patrick Weber, have won the IEEE’s Pervasive Computing’s Test of Time Award for their 2008 paper on OpenStreetMap. The award honours the most influential papers that have had a lasting impact on pervasive computing over the past 25 years. Over the eighteen years since Muki’s paper was published the OpenStreetMap project, which was launched at UCL in 2004, has evolved into critical digital infrastructure that supports research, humanitarian response, navigation systems, smart cities, and countless location-based services.

Maps

• mgeograficas has created a uMap showing the distribution of sedimentary deposits from the Quaternary period (most recent) and the Neoproterozoic era (oldest), in Campos dos Goytacazes, in the state of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
• Julien Minet explained ► the cartographic generalisation techniques he used to create a high-quality printed forest map using QGIS and OpenStreetMap data. The project, which he also shared on Mastodon, covers advanced topics such as dynamic orientation of symbols and automated feature displacement using PostGIS.

OSM in action

• El País published ► a detailed interactive map showing real estate prices in Spain at a street-by-street level. As noted by Alan Grant on Mastodon, the project uses OpenStreetMap data for geographical names (neighbourhoods and districts), although the required attribution is missing from the interactive map itself and only mentioned in the methodology section.
• Longtrails.de is a new interactive planning tool for long-distance hiking in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. As noted on Mastodon, the platform uses OpenStreetMap data for its maps and points of interest, allowing hikers to plan stages with distance and elevation calculations while encouraging community contributions to improve the data.
• Tom Scott’s video ‘Why trains don’t usually crash into each other’ features a printed OpenStreetMap map (at the 17:19 mark) used to illustrate the UK’s rail network. As noted on Mastodon, the video serves as a positive example of proper attribution by a high-profile creator, including a link to the OSM copyright page in the description.

Open Data

• The Museum of the History of Dnipro (Ukraine) has launched an interactive map of the city’s streets based on OpenStreetMap data. The resource, created as part of the ZMINA 2.0 project with European Union financial support, provides the history and explanations for over 500 of the streets renamed since 2014.

Software

• Kai Johnson is investigating how much of the Overpass query language could be implemented using the QLever database.
• OpenMapEditor has been relaunched as MapDraw, a free, open-source, local-first web editor for personal geographic data. The tool now supports contributing to OpenStreetMap directly from the map, adding nodes (benches, drinking water, bike parking, and more), and leaving notes. The source code is available under the AGPL-3.0 licence.
• OSM MultiToolz (available for Chrome and Firefox) is a browser extension, built by dp7, designed to assist OpenStreetMap contributors. It provides advanced changeset analysis, integration with various QA tools (including OSMCha and Achavi), a smart watchlist for monitoring edits, and built-in translation for changeset comments.
• VK Maps’ Overpass instance is once again available for use, after being shut down for several months.
• Ian Wagner noted, on Stadia Maps’ blog, that the long-term viability of any motor vehicle routing project hinges on two ‘invisible’ variables: data privacy architecture and billing predictability.

Programming

• Paco Albacete Chicano blogged that his Google Summer of Code project will focus on area routing in Valhalla. This is expected to allow routes to cross areas, such as public squares, directly instead of circling around them and producing inefficient or awkward paths.
• Windows Central reported that rampant AI‑driven GitHub outages have forced Microsoft into an unlikely alliance with Amazon. GitHub processed 1 billion commits in 2025, compared to 14 billion expected in 2026.

Releases

• Heise reported that Murena has released version 4.0 of its Google-free Android fork, /e/OS. The update includes Murena Maps v1.0.0-beta, powered by data from OpenStreetMap.
• Sergey (enzet) released version 0.16.0 of Röntgen, a specialised icon set for OpenStreetMap. The update, announced on Mastodon, added 16 new community-requested icons (including various vending machines and railway features) and is now also available as an npm package.
• osm2pgsql has released version 2.3.0, introducing major changes to tile expiry, a new style tester script, and numerous additional improvements.
• iD version 2.41.0 has been released. Key updates include automatic data downloading when splitting ways in relations, a new marker-based rendering for embankments and cuttings, and improved Wikidata searches that now display item descriptions.

Did you know that …

• … OpenCage has an extensive archive of their OpenStreetMap community interviews? The series started in 2014 and recent entries include conversations with Omran Najjar on OSM in Syria, Volker Krause about the open-source routing engine Transitous, and Christian Quest on the Panoramax Foundation.
• … uMap now has ‘draw along route’ functionality? It’s great for creating OSM-routable routes.
• … scy has shared some tips on how to customise OsmAnd’s map appearance to improve readability and accessibility. The settings, located in the main menu under ‘Customise Map’, allow users to adjust the contrast and line thickness, as well as switch between different map styles.

Other “geo” things

• Christina Queiroz has explored how participatory and social cartography are being used as tools for rights advocacy and territorial claims. Their article highlighted projects such as the self-demarcation of the Borari people and the use of OpenStreetMap to map services in favelas, challenging official state narratives.
• The YouTube channel Veritasium has published a video titled ‘Google Maps is unreasonably fast. Let me explain’, which explores the complex algorithms behind modern routing and navigation. As noted by Eugene Alvin Villar, on Mastodon, the video features impressive visualisations and makes extensive use of OpenStreetMap data, which is explicitly credited in the video’s description.

Upcoming Events

Country	Where	Venue	What	When
			UN 2.0 Week 2026: UN Mappers Mappy Hour	2026-06-19
	بلدية دمشق القديمة	Online	ReMapping Syria 2025: Humanitarian Mapping & Community Collaboration Webinar	2026-06-19
			UN Mappers Mappy Hour: Progress and Highlights of the UN Maps Community Ambassador Pilot Initiative	2026-06-19
	Torino		OpenStreetMap Mapping Party: Torino at a walking pace!	2026-06-19
	Stuttgart	Technische Hochschule Stuttgart	Missing Maps Mapathon in Stuttgart	2026-06-19
	València	Facultat de Geografia i Història	Mapatón EGEA València para beginner	2026-06-19
	Potsdam	Waschbar	Potsdamer Mappertreffen	2026-06-19
	Catania	@Localhost	Modifichiamo Wiki e OSM insieme!	2026-06-19
	Metz	l’Arob@se	Atelier du groupe local de Metz – Partez en voyage avec OpenStreetMap	2026-06-20
		Mitarbeiterparkplatz antonius, Fulda	Sommermapping 2026	2026-06-21
	Pune	Cafe Coffee Day, MG Road, Pune	OSM Pune Mapping Party	2026-06-21
			Missing Maps : Mapathon en ligne – CartONG [fr]	2026-06-22
	Stadtgebiet Bremen	Online und im Hackerspace Bremen	Bremer Mappertreffen	2026-06-22
			Missing Maps Validathon	2026-06-23
	Magdeburg	Netz39 e.V. , Leibnizstraße 32, 39104 Magdeburg	2. OSM Stammtisch Magdeburg	2026-06-23
	Windsor	Ford City	OSM Field Mapping: Ford City	2026-06-23
	Berlin	Online	OSM-Verkehrswende #76	2026-06-23
	Würzburg	FabLab Würzburg	Würzburger OSM-Treffen	2026-06-24
			Mapping missing buildings in La Paz, Bolivia	2026-06-25
	Freiburg im Breisgau	CCCFR, Adlerstr. 12a, Freiburg/Brsg.	OSM-Treffen Freiburg im Breisgau	2026-06-25
	Dar es-Salaam		State of the Map Africa 2026	2026-06-26 – 2026-06-28
		[online]	Capacitação OSM 2026 – IVIDES DATA ® – Formulários Web com KoboToolbox	2026-06-26
			OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting	2026-06-26
	Düsseldorf	Online bei https://meet.jit.si/OSM-DUS-2026	Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen (online)	2026-06-26
	Москва	Москва	Московская картопати	2026-06-27
		Biblioteca Alda Merini in via Edmondo De Amicis	Mapathon @ Casorate Sempione	2026-06-27
			OSM Mumbai Mapping Party No.11 (Trans-Harbour Line – South)	2026-06-27
	Hannover	Kuriosum	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover	2026-06-29
	Saint-Étienne	Zoomacom	Rencontre Saint-Étienne et sud Loire	2026-06-29
	Heidelberg	DEZERNAT#16	Rhein-Neckar OSM Treffen	2026-06-29
			Webinaire en ligne – Hydrants, armoires de rue, poteaux et bâtiments de service	2026-06-30
	Braunschweig	Stratum 0	Braunschweiger Mappertreffen im Stratum 0 Hackerspace	2026-06-30
	City of Westminster	The Albert pub	London pub meet-up	2026-06-30
	Derby	The Brunswick, Railway Terrace, Derby	East Midlands pub meet-up	2026-06-30
			iD Community Chat	2026-07-01
	Stuttgart	Forum 3 Café, Gymnasiumstr. 21, 70173 Stuttgart	Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen	2026-07-01
	Žilina	Fakulta riadenia a informatiky UNIZA	Missing Maps mapathon Žilina #23	2026-07-02
	Gent	Nerdlab	IntroLAB ✦ OpenStreetMap	2026-07-02
	Angers	L’Arrière Train, 3 rue de Frémur, Angers	Angers : Rencontre mensuelle OpenStreetMap	2026-07-02
		Bar Le Schmilblik	Rencontre mensuelle des contributeurs Paris sud	2026-07-02
	Bogotá	Universidad Nacional de Colombia	State of the Map Colombia (SotMCol) 2026	2026-07-03 – 2026-07-04
		[online]	Capacitação OSM 2026 – IVIDES DATA ® – Mapas Web com uMap	2026-07-03
	नई दिल्ली	Jitsi Meet (online)	OSM India – Monthly Online Mapathon	2026-07-04

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 MarcoR, MatthiasMatthias, Raquel IVIDES DATA, Strubbl, Andrew Davidson, barefootstache, derFred.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

completed survey of all speed limits in an area south of Palatine Road, east of Wilke, west of Arlington Heights Road and north of Euclid/Northwest Highway. Updated street data on the map.

愛知県尾張旭市内のバス停・バス路線のマッピングを進めています。 コミュニティバス「あさぴー号」の停留所について不明点が残っているため、1週間以内に現地調査に行きたいです。 また、瀬戸市内の商店街にある店舗についても、営業時間などの情報を調べてマッピングを進めていきたいと思います。

bonjour, comment metre à jour le parcours eurovelo 6 qui n’es pas à jour ? ( peut-etre d’autres aussi, mais c’est celui que je fait en ce moment ) importer les traces GPX du site Eurovelo ne marche pas ( pb de dates dans fichiers) .

merci de vos commentaires

최근에 현체로 경주월드 다녀왔거든요? 가기 한 이틀 전에 osm 드가서 경주월드 편집하는데 타카티스크?? (2022년에 운행 중단) 서라벌관람차?? (2022년 8월에 철거) 처음 들어본 게 많아서 당황했습니다. (심지어 타카티스크가 아니라 타가디스코임) 어쨌든 중요한 지물들을 편집했습니다. (미로탐험 없애고, 타임라이더 만들고 등등) 근데 잼민이인 저 혼자 하긴 너무 힘든거 같아서 제발 도와주시면 좋겠습니다 ㅠㅠ

(아니 줄바꿈 왜 안돼;;)

The OpenStreetMap Foundation (OSMF) Board of Directors is excited to share this blog post with all of our community members. From June 6th-7th, members of the Board of Directors Craig Allan (Chair), Dani Waltersdorfer Jimenez (Secretary), Roland Olbricht (Treasurer), Héctor Ochoa Ortiz, Laura Mugeha, Maurizio Napolitano, and facilitator Allen Gunn (also known as Gunner), met for two full working days in Madrid to discuss and tackle priorities and action items that need to be accomplished in the next 12 months. Amongst the discussed topics are a fundraising campaign, the “reviving” of the Communications Working Group (CWG), a new job posting which will be shared in the next coming months, the OSMF move to the European Union (EU), the launch of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy, and other topics. It is truly a pleasure to work with a team that is aligned on shared values including trust and respect, who are pushing for the success of a shared passion: the OpenStreetMap project. It must be noted however, that all of this could not have been possible without the leadership, patience, and tremendous organizational skills of Gunner who has been the OSMF facilitator for over 10 years. Thank you, Gunner!

What made this meeting particularly special is that we had the honor and pleasure of working from the TomTom offices in Madrid. We want to truly highlight our gratitude for TomTom for sharing their space with us, and most of all, we want to give a big shout-out to Priscilla Zachée for spending her weekend with us.

Face-to-face meetings are unlike others. For those who don’t know, us Board Members live in different countries all over the globe, so having the opportunity to work together, “ideate”, brainstorm, discuss tough topics, and enjoy our time together is quite treasured and important for us. And on the front of the importance of human connection, we promise to keep pushing forward the key that makes OpenStreetMap truly unique, unlike any other geospatial database out there: Our essence is our community.

We’d like to extend a thank you to all members of the community for your continued trust and passion for the OSM Project. We are always here for you should you have any questions or comments.

– The Board

– Leia em Português

IVIDES DATA® held the third session of the Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026 (or 2026 OSM Workshop Series), focusing on QGIS plugins. Applied cases were presented on accessibility, urban tree cover, and the geolocation of buildings on areas subject to disasters

Dr. Raquel Dezidério Souto leading Session 3 of the Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026. The files used in Workshop 3 can be found in the video description. Link

IVIDES DATA® successfully held the third live training session of the Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026 on June 12, during which the following were presented:

* View and download data on OSM.org

* Access to geoservices for loading OSM as a base layer - NextGIS QuickMapServices plugin

* Downloading data in QGIS (version 3.22 or later) – QuickOSM and OSM Downloader plugins

* Applied cases — accessibility, urban tree cover, and the geolocation of buildings on areas subject to disasters

QGIS screenshot showing data extracted using the QuickOSM plugin regarding government offices (blue dots) in Paris and its neighborhood, highlighting those that are wheelchair-accessible (yellow dots) | Map data (c) 2026 OpenStreetMap contributors.

QGIS screenshot showing data extracted using the QuickOSM plugin on the location of trees in Paris, highlighting their concentration along major roads | Map data (c) 2026 OpenStreetMap contributors.

The Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026 offers single certificates (4 hours per session) and a full certificate (20 hours over five sessions). The training is open to all mappers, regardless of skill level.

To participate in the remaining sessions, please register using the form below to receive the link via email (you only need to register once):

https://framaforms.org/oficinas-openstreetmap-2026-ivides-data-r-1777150442

Thank you to everyone for participating!

The Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026 is organized by IVIDES DATA®, in partnership with the Institute of Geosciences at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) in São Paulo, Brazil.

Links and credits:

QGIS

https://qgis.org/

NextGIS QuickMapServices

https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/quick_map_services/

QuickOSM (by Etienne Trimaille)

https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/QuickOSM/

OSM Downloader (by Luiz Andrade)

https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/OSMDownloader/

Important note: IVIDES.org(TM) e IVIDES DATA(TM) are registered trademarks. OpenStreetMap(TM) is a trademark.

– Read in English

IVIDES DATA® realiza a terceira sessão do Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026, tratando de plugins para QGIS. Casos aplicados sobre acessibilidade, arborização urbana e localização de edificações em áreas de risco foram apresentados

Dra. Raquel Dezidério Souto conduzindo a sessão 3 do Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026. Os arquivos utilizados na oficina 3 podem ser encontrados na descrição do vídeo. Link

A empresa IVIDES DATA® realizou com sucesso o terceiro treinamento ao vivo do Ciclo de Oficinas OpenStreetMap 2026, em 12 de junho, quando foram apresentados:

* Consulta e download dos dados em OSM.org

* Acesso a geosserviços para carregamento do OSM como base layer (camada base) - plugin NextGIS QuickMapServices

* Download dos dados no QGIS (versão 3.22 ou superior) – plugins QuickOSM e OSM Downloader

* Demonstração de casos aplicados - acessibilidade, arborização urbana, edificações localizadas em encostas

Tela de captura do QGIS com dados extraídos com plugin QuickOSM sobre os escritórios governamentais (pontos azuis) em Paris e arredores, mostrando aqueles que possuem acesso a cadeirantes (pontos amarelos) | Dados do mapa (c) 2026 Contribuidores do OpenStreetMap.

Tela de captura do QGIS com dados extraídos com plugin QuickOSM sobre localização de árvores em Paris, mostrando a sua concentração em vias principais | Dados do mapa (c) 2026 Contribuidores do OpenStreetMap.

No Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026, são oferecidos certificados avulsos (4h/sessão) ou um certificado completo (20h/ cinco sessões). O treinamento é livre e para todos os níveis de mapeadores.

Para participar das demais sessões, realizar a inscrição via formulário abaixo, para receber o link por e-mail (basta se inscrever uma vez):

https://framaforms.org/oficinas-openstreetmap-2026-ivides-data-r-1777150442

Agradecemos a participação de todos!

O Ciclo de Oficinas OSM 2026 é promovido pela empresa IVIDES DATA®, em parceria com o Instituto de Geociências da Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Unicamp (São Paulo, Brasil).

Links e créditos do texto:

QGIS

https://qgis.org/

NextGIS QuickMapServices

https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/quick_map_services/

QuickOSM (autor: Etienne Trimaille)

https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/QuickOSM/

OSM Downloader (autor: Luiz Andrade)

https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/OSMDownloader/

Nota importante: IVIDES.org® e IVIDES DATA® são marcas registradas. OpenStreetMap® é uma marca registrada.

This is a very simple idea: given a set of GPX traces for a hike you are planning to take, generate a file containing all the waypoints of interest within the area covered by the GPX traces. I create a buffer around the GPX traces and extract the area from OSM. I define a set of tags of interest. I use Ollama with Mistral Nemo to make sure that POIs make sense to visit while walking on foot, as places are sometimes mislabeled in OSM. Before saving the waypoints to a GPX file, I use Ollama again to generate waypoint descriptions and set labels for each waypoint. Feel free to try it out! The code is on GitHub.

Mapping Sitka is pretty much my identity. I was upset when someone reverted my work because honestly I’ve been working every waking hour for a few months now. It was good though because I needed to step back and not take it too seriously. I’ve had some manic episodes late in life and they unlocked some anger I’m not familiar with. It was actually impressive how mad I got. Anyway, what are these diaries for if not a super personal post? Stay mappy people

Earlier today I had to check an alarm on the servers. The alarm was for a non-issue, but I happened to notice a momentary delay to replication across multiple services and I wanted to investigate.

The rendering servers fell up to four minutes behind on some servers, with all servers falling at least a minute behind normal. Interestingly, there does not seem to be a correlation between the delay and the server capacity.

The vector tile servers had a more obvious impact with one server falling 12 minutes behind and the other 23 minutes. This increased time is by design. The mod_tile rendering stack has less work to do on updates but it causes more work on future requests for tiles in the updated area. On the other hand, the tilekiln stack has more work to do on updates but subsequent requests to the area are actually slightly faster.

I checked the nominatim lag. The delay is barely discernable so I’m not including the graph.

Checking the minutely replication around the time shows that at 23:13 the replication diffs jumped in size, with 007130004 to 007130010 showing an increased size of 400 kB to 1000 kB. The minutely diffs are normallly under 50 kB.

I examined one of the diffs to see what user edited the most objects. The easiest way was with osmium show 008.osc.gz | grep user | sort | uniq -c | sort -h. This technique isn’t 100% reliable since a tag containing the string “user” would introduce extra results but it’s good enough for a quick manual look.

Immediately it was obvious that this was a revert being done by woodpeck_repair as they had over 100x as many changes than the next user. Looking at the changesets it was a revert of a bad import.

I still wanted to explore how this showed up on the vector tile systems. The changes came in every minute for several minutes. The graph shows 1. Normal updates before the large diffs, with only 60 seconds between updates 2. update 1 took longer, meaning after it happened it was slightly behind 3. update 2 merged the multiple diffs available. The are the diffs that accumulated between where the green and purple lines intersect below 1 and the purple and yellow intersection to the right. It looks like it updated two minute of data (red or blue lines) in about 4 minutes (time between “valleys”) 4. update 3 took those 4 minutes of new data and took 8 minutes. Looking at the diff size this is when the biggest updates happened 5. update 4 consumed those 8 minutes of data and processed them in 5 minutes 6. update 5 consumed the new 5 minutes of data in about 30 seconds 7. updates continued like normal.

Both axis are measured in time and the blue/red lines are how long it took an update to run. If you plotted the data on a graph where the axises were the same scale all the lines would be at 90 or 45 degrees.

The graph is approximate since updates only come out every 60 seconds and the data is updated every 15 seconds. Also it’s made in a drawing program, not properly graphed.

Looking into the logs I can see more detail about what’s taking the time.

The first large diff was picked up at 23:14:08 and

To my surprise, most of the time was spent in osm2pgsql processing ways, not in tilekiln. This means my strategies to minimize tilekiln processing are working.

Editora IVIDES has published the Swahili translation of the FPOSM booklet on the ODbL license

Download SW VERSION

The original work Tout savoir sur la license ODbL : la licence d’OpenStreetMap pour cartographier en commun was written in French in 2024 and updated in 2026 by the Fédération des Pros d’OSM, a French organization that brings together various companies and professionals working with open data, OpenStreetMap, and related software. The authors of the original booklet are: François Lacombe (Datactivist), Florian Lainez (Jungle Bus), Antoine Riche (Carto’Cité) and Christophe Biez (Latitude-Cartagène Cartographies).

The translation to Swahili was done by Hemed Lungo and Tatu Sultan Lungo, from Tanzania, and the booklet was edited by Raquel Dezidério Souto (Editora IVIDES).

The work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 France (CC BY-SA 2.0 FR). Text of the license

Download EN VERSION

Download VERSÃO PT

Important note: OpenStreetMap® is registered trademark.

Manchmal ist Wikimedia Commons eine gute Quelle für Objekte, die in OpenStreetMap fehlen, und manchmal ist es umgekehrt.

Aber wie lassen sich Informationen aus beiden schnell verbinden und am besten noch visualisieren?

Der naive Ansatz

💡 Daten per Abfrage aus Commons und OSM holen und in uMap anzeigen.

🏁 Als Beispiel möchte ich hier alle Ortseingangsschilder aus Sachsen-Anhalt visualisieren.

Naiv bedeutet hier natürlich auch, dass in Commons nicht alle Bilder ihre Standorte koodiert haben.

Wikimedia Commons mit PetScan abfragen

Wikimedia Commons bietet mit PetScan ein Tool an, das unter anderem auch nach KML exportiert. Ein Dateiformat, das nach uMap importiert werden kann. Folgende Parameter erzeugen in PetScan nach einem Klick auf “Do It” eine KML-Datei mit den entsprechenden Geo-Informationen:

Wichtig ist auch Depth auf größer 0 zu setzen, damit untergeordnete Kategorien miteinbezogen werden, so dass z.B. auch Ortseingangsschilder aus dem Saalekreis gefunden werden.

Der Inhalt der KML sieht dann ungefähr so aus:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2">
  <Document>
    <Placemark>
      <name>Hundeluft.jpg</name>
      <ExtendedData>
        <Data name="url">
          <value>https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHundeluft%2Ejpg</value>
        </Data>
      </ExtendedData>
      <Point>
        <coordinates>12.34471667, 51.96599722, 0.</coordinates>
      </Point>
    </Placemark>
...

Falls die Datei im Browser angezeigt wird, muss man sie natürlich noch lokal speichern.

OSM Daten in uMap anzeigen

Ich springe jetzt direkt zu uMap, da dort die Daten aus OpenStreetMap per Overpass Query bezogen werden. Das passiert über den Import-Assistent (geht wohl mit Strg+I):

Da ich als Wikimedia Commons Kategorie Zeichen 310 in Saxony-Anhalt habe, nehme ich den entsprechenden OSM-Tag traffic_sign=city_limit. Das wird aber auch Zeichen 311 (“Ortsausgangsschilder”) finden. Nicht schlimm, da sie doch so gut wie immer zwei Seiten haben. Der Tag traffic_sign=DE:310 wird wohl nur 533 mal genutzt, da sind wir auch auf der sicheren Seite.

Die Ergebnismenge dieser Abfrage kann dann in eine neue Ebene kopiert werden. Aktuell scheint die Option “Link zur Ebene als Remote-Data” nicht zu funktionieren.

Fazit

🌏 Im Ergebnis überwiegt die Anzahl der kartierten Ortseingangsschilder aus OSM (6353 blaue Fähnchen) die Anzahl der Bilder aus Wikimedia Commons (89 rote Fähnchen).

Fehlen die Geo-Information am Commons-Bild, taucht es in dieser Karte natürlich nicht auf. Wir haben mit diesem Weg auch keine Möglichkeit direkt zu sehen, welche Commons-Bilder fehlen.

Aber falls man das spezielle Hobby oder die ausgeprägte Sammelleidenschaft hat, Ortseingangsschilder zu fotografieren und nach Commons hochzuladen, weiß man jetzt wo noch viel Arbeit wartet (Landkreise Börde und Stendal) und könnte vielleicht mittels BRouter auch gleich eine 🚴‍♂️ Route planen. Doch dazu vielleicht später mehr.

Das Fazit in einem Satz lautet wohl, dass OpenStreetMap eine wirklich schönes Biotop an Daten und Anwendungen geschaffen und ermöglicht hat. 💖

PS: wie bindet man am einfachsten Bilder in OSM-Blogeinträgen ein?

I’ve been reflecting on the balance between mapping for ‘volume’ and mapping for ‘precision.’ While I understand the value of quick, large-area edits for global visibility, I find it a bit puzzling when polygons are generalized to the point of overlapping everything in sight—especially when high-resolution imagery is available.

I’ve noticed a trend where edit counts are sometimes treated as the ultimate metric of a mapper’s worth. I reckon we should be careful not to let the pursuit of ‘top contributor’ stats overshadow the primary goal of creating a detailed, accurate map for everyone. For me, a well-traced building or a correctly aligned path is worth far more than a high edit count achieved through imprecise mass-mapping. I’m always keen to learn the best practices, so if there’s a standard way to maintain precision while contributing efficiently, I’m all ears. Cheers.

(English version below)

Desafíos y adaptaciones en la organización de mapatones anticipatorios

En el equipo América Latina de HOT tenemos 4 años organizando mapatones preventivos nacionales en México, Perú, Ecuador y Colombia. Estos mapatones responden al 100% a una necesidad de los gobiernos locales y organizaciones dedicadas a la preparación y respuesta ante desastres. La organización de dichos mapatones entonces definen áreas específicas de máxima exposición a desastres en lugares donde llegan estos a ser conocidos porque son recurrentes. Nos lleva a concentrarnos en la categoría de los desastres climáticos. Esto también define en buena parte la temporada en la que deben suceder los mapatones para proceder datos de forma anticipada, no después de que haya pasado.

Otra característica que define la temporalidad de estos mapatones es cuando la población que más participa en las actividades se encuentra con disponibilidad. El conjunto de estos dos factores es lo que define (de manera imperfecta) los periodos de estos mapatones anticipatorios.

El factor climático y académico en la programación

El periodo por exposición a desastres se relaciona bastante con el fenómeno de El Niño y de La Niña. Y la disponibilidad de los estudiantes (disponibilidad relativa) tiene que alejarse de los principales periodos de exámenes y de las vacaciones más grandes, donde sí interés se pierde o donde se dedican a trabajar. Esto no siempre es fácil entonces de conjugar. Para este año 2026, en lugar de mapatones anuales, hemos querido, para maximizar el resultado del esfuerzo de todas las personas participantes en la gestión, realizar un solo gran mapatón regional. Y este debía entonces suceder en un momento que no puede ser ideal, pero que se acerque lo más posible al mejor momento climático y al mejor momento universitario. Esto tenía que ser el mes de junio o antes, pero definitivamente antes del periodo de huracanes ligado con el fenómeno de El Niño o Niña, o al menos a su inicio, y antes entonces de las vacaciones de verano del hemisferio norte.

La coincidencia con la Copa Mundial 2026!!!

Una dificultad interesante es que este periodo en 2026 en América, justamente coincide con la Copa Mundial de Fútbol, con sede parcial en uno de los países participantes, México. Esto representaba un factor de distracción que le podía quitar gran parte de la atención a nuestra actividad, por lo que se nos ocurrió que debíamos competir en término de imagen, o al menos agarrarnos de la tendencia que iba a marcar la Copa Mundial, para aprovechar algo de atención. Así que fue muy natural la idea de hablar de Copa Regional de Mapeo, rápidamente aportando la narrativa de una pelea colectiva contra el cambio climático.

Conexión con la comunidad OSM Africa

Cuando aparecía esa idea en nuestra planeación, casualmente nuestros colegas de África nos comentaban que ellos hacian está conexión desde hace varios años, debido a la gran pasión que tiene esta región para el fútbol en general y el hecho de que, bastante naturalmente, se hable de fútbol al igual que de cualquier tema de la vida, en los chats comunitarios de OpenStreetMap. Dos temas que no tienen aparentemente nada que ver, pero que, como la vida misma, permea también en cualquier espacio de conversación comunitaria. Quería contar aquí la experiencia, que me resulta bastante interesante, de la comunidad regional África, que también denota su gran integración regional histórica, algo que admiro bastante de manera personal. Desde hace más de 3 años, las y los participantes, charlando en los chats de OpenStreetMap sobre los partidos de fútbol sucediendo, se empezaron a retar de forma muy orgánica a que los “vencidos” del partido tendrían que “premiar” a los “ganadores” con mapeo en su país. Cada punto representando un cierto monto de objetos que aportar al ganador. De forma entonces espontánea, la comunidad ha empezado a recurrir a estas retas de forma sistemática y ya por años en las copas futbolísticas de África, repitiendo una receta que les había funcionado como comunidad y que, de hecho, les permite integrarse, crear emoción, y traer el interés de principiantes.

Conclusión y reflexión

En América Latina la realidad muy diferente y no se ve tanto potencial de replicar tal cual, dado que estas cosas nacen de la comunidad misma. Pero me ha parecido bastante interesante e inspirador. Más que el uso del fútbol, la capacidad de fluir con algo que crea emoción, y llevarlo al mapeo En LATAM el fútbol no ha estado presente en las conversaciones de la comunidad LATAM, o nunca lo he visto. Otros temas movilizan, como en este momento la Amazonía, una región que preocupa, apasiona y que unifica a varios países.

¿Qué otras articulaciones temáticas curiosas han visto en sus comunidades, que aparentemente no se relacionan con el mapeo, pero al final lo fomentan de forma espontánea?

Invitados a reaccionar @Osunga @Jomokela @Katerrega

-Escrito sin uso de IA-

--+-+-+-+-++-+-

English version

Challenges and Adaptations in Organizing Anticipatory Mapathons

The HOT Latin America team has been organizing national preventive mapathons in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia for four years. These mapathons fully address a need expressed by local governments and organizations dedicated to disaster preparedness and response. Organizing these mapathons, therefore, involves identifying specific areas of highest disaster risk in locations where such risks are well-known due to their recurring nature. This leads us to focus on the category of climate-related disasters. It also largely determines the season in which the mapathons must take place in order to collect data in advance, rather than after the fact.

Another factor that determines the timing of these mapping events is when the population most actively involved in the activities is available. The combination of these two factors is what defines (albeit imperfectly) the timeframes for these proactive mapping events.

Climate and Academic Factors in Scheduling

The disaster exposure period is closely related to the El Niño and La Niña phenomena. And students’ availability (relative availability) must avoid major exam periods and extended vacations, when interest wanes or students are focused on work. Balancing these factors is not always easy. For 2026, instead of annual mapathons, we wanted—to maximize the results of the efforts of everyone involved in the project—to hold a single large regional mapathon. This would have to take place at a time that, while not ideal, comes as close as possible to the best weather conditions and the best time for university students. This would have to be in June or earlier, but definitely before the hurricane season linked to the El Niño or La Niña phenomenon—or at least before it begins—and before the northern hemisphere’s summer vacation.

The overlap with the 2026 World Cup!!!

An interesting challenge is that this period in 2026 in the Americas coincides precisely with the World Cup, which will be partially hosted by one of the participating countries, Mexico. This posed a distraction that could divert much of the attention away from our event, so we realized we needed to compete in terms of visibility—or at least ride the wave of the trend the World Cup would set—to capture some of that attention. So it was only natural to propose the idea of a Regional Mapping Cup, quickly framing it as a collective fight against climate change.

Connection with the OSM Africa Community

Just as this idea was emerging in our planning, our colleagues in Africa happened to mention that they had been making this connection for several years, due to the region’s great passion for soccer in general and the fact that, quite naturally, soccer is discussed just like any other topic in life in OpenStreetMap community chats. Two topics that seemingly have nothing to do with each other, but which, like life itself, permeate any space for community conversation. I wanted to share here the experience—which I find quite interesting—of the Africa regional community, which also reflects its strong historical regional integration, something I personally admire greatly. For more than three years now, participants chatting in OpenStreetMap chat rooms about ongoing soccer matches have, in a very organic way, begun challenging each other so that the “losers” of the match would have to “reward” the “winners” with mapping in their country. Each point represents a certain number of features to be contributed to the winner. Spontaneously, the community has begun to rely on these challenges systematically for years now during African soccer tournaments, repeating a formula that has worked for them as a community and that, in fact, allows them to come together, generate excitement, and attract the interest of newcomers.

Conclusion and Reflection

In Latin America, the reality is very different, and I don’t see much potential for replicating this model exactly, since these initiatives arise from the community itself. But I found it quite interesting and inspiring. More than the use of soccer itself, it’s the ability to go with the flow of something that creates excitement and apply it to mapping. In Latin America, soccer hasn’t been part of the community’s conversations—or at least I’ve never seen it. Other issues mobilize people, such as the Amazon right now—a region that concerns, captivates, and unites several countries.

What other intriguing thematic connections have you seen in your communities—ones that don’t seem related to mapping at first glance but ultimately foster it spontaneously?

Feel free to share your thoughts @Osunga @Jomokela @Katerrega

-Written without the use of AI. Translated with Deepl-

Mapadour, le groupe des contributeur⋅rices OpenStreetMap du Pays Basque et Sud Landes, a été particulièrement actif ces derniers mois.

Sa dernière réunion le 11 juin 2026 à Ustaritz est l’occasion de faire le point sur les dynamiques et les projets auxquels participe le groupe.

Ses membres interviennent localement mais aussi bien au-delà, en Nouvelle-Aquitaine jusqu’aux confins de la Finlande en passant par Paris et l’Italie sur toutes sortes de problématiques.

Panoramax

Les contributeur⋅rices locaux ont été très actifs puisqu’avec la Gopro d’OSM France et les autres matériels personnels pour alimenter la connaissance du territoire avec 228 003 photos et 2 747,66 km parcourus entre juin 2025 et mai 2026.

Ils ont également expérimenté plusieurs nouvelles fonctionnalités :

• La reconnaissance d’objets dans les photos est possible via un système de tags qui peut être automatique ou manuels comme à Bayonne où dans une même photo on peut identifier un escalier et un panneau d’interdiction.
• Cartographie indoor : la visionneuse Panoramax permet un affichage pratique des photos prises dans les espaces multi-niveaux, par exemple les musées, universités, bibliothèques et autres bâtiments publics, etc. LaNum a mis en pratique cette possibilité pour produire une visite virtuelle du Pavillon Izarbel à Bidart.

Mobilisation de la communauté par des acteurs territoriaux

Tourisme, développement rural, santé, plusieurs organisations mobilisent les données OSM dans leurs projets et s’appuient sur la communauté Mapadour.

Systour

Depuis le début 2026, Mapadour s’implique activement dans ce projet européen visant à tester la contribution à OSM comme une bonne pratique du tourisme durable. La région Nouvelle-Aquitaine est impliquée au travers de l’APESA et la zone géographique Sud Landes/Pays Basque a été identifiée comme dynamique sur le sujet de la cartographie collaborative. 3 mapathons (valorisation des produits locaux) et 1 cartopartie (déplacements durables) ont été organisés avec l’appui du groupe qui a pu également partager son savoir faire non seulement avec l’APESA mais aussi avec les partenaires italiens et finlandais.

Projet Life – Pyrénées4Clima

Suite à SYSTOUR et à l’intérêt des participants, un autre projet européen a engagé des actions autour d’OSM : Pyrénées4Clima (projet transfrontalier dont les vallées Béarnaises et l’Aragon). Le 24 juin prochain, le projet souhaite recenser les solutions de mobilité durable en Vallée d’Ossau et découvrir la cartographie collaborative comme outil de coopération territoriale.

CTPS Boost’Up Santé

Cette organisation œuvre au quotidien pour améliorer l’accès aux soins, renforcer la coordination entre professionnels et développer des actions de prévention adaptées aux besoins du territoire Bayonne, Boucau et Seignanx. Sa coordinatrice a sollicité Mapadour pour comprendre comment actualiser les données des cabinets médicaux dans OpenStreetMap afin de les réutiliser pour ses membres.

Contributions via l’open data

Le groupe Mapadour a réalisé des démonstrations et des bonnes pratiques de contribution à OSM à partir des données proposées en open data par la ville de Bayonne grâce à des outils plus avancés comme JOSM.

Ainsi, l’ensemble des arbres des jardins publics René Cassin et Léon Bonnat de Bayonne ont pu être cartographiés grâce aux données en open data mises à disposition par la ville : l’inventaire continu des arbres depuis 1997 et bientôt une nouvelle orthophoto prise en juin 2025.

Cet exemple peut inspirer les communes qui souhaitent valoriser les ilots de fraicheurs auprès des citoyens via la cartographie participative comme le suggère l’ADEME et la commune de Toulouse qui l’a expérimenté.

Participation aux événements communautaires

L’Assemblée Générale d’OpenStreetMap France s’est tenue le 6 juin 2026 et comme tous les groupes locaux français, Mapadour a transmis un compte rendu de ses activités pour le rapport de l’association. L’occasion de se rendre compte de son dynamisme et des services communautaires essentiels qu’elle maintient.

Enfin, la communauté Mapadour appelle à se rendre au State Of The Map organisé à Paris du 28 au 30 août 2026. C’est la première fois que la France accueillera cet événement où toute la communauté OSM mondiale se retrouvera autour de conférences et workshop.

L’importance des groupes locaux

Aujourd’hui, 16 groupes locaux en France permettent au millier de contributeur⋅ices isolé⋅es derrière leurs écrans de se retrouver, d’échanger et d’interagir avec leur territoire de proximité mais aussi d’autres régions françaises voire européennes.

Ces communautés sont très précieuses car elles motivent à l’amélioration continue de la carte OpenStreetMap en lien avec les besoins concrets des territoires.

C’est pourquoi, plus que jamais, LaNum Pays Basque s’implique dans la vie du groupe Mapadour et invite à le rejoindre. Chaque participant⋅e, selon ses contraintes, est libre d’être présent⋅e à toutes les réunions, d’arriver après l’heure de début convenue, ou de partir avant celle de fin.

Contacter Mapadour

Le groupe local dispose de plusieurs moyens de communication :

• E-mail : mapadour@openstreetmap.fr
• Liste de discussions : local-sudouest@listes.openstreetmap.fr (vous êtes encouragé⋅e⋅s à vous abonner)
• Forum OpenStreetMap France : avec une sous-catégorie et un tag mapadour
• Le Wiki du groupe
• L’Agenda du Libre et OSM Calendar pour les annonces principales

Waiting for someone to do Portland on OHM. About 90% of the people reading this will go “What is Open Historical Map!?”. It’s sadly never used… I wish it was updated more often…

State of the Map US 2026 Presented by OpenStreetMap US was this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. As any good breakfast lover, I tried to seek out the best breakfast food in the area of Capitol Square. Here’s my thoughts:

Friday: Wonderstate Coffee (on OSM)

This is a very modern looking coffee shop (think crisp whites and light woods - if Apple had a coffee shop) with a great seating area outside overlooking the Capitol Square and is in a very nice spot to be shaded in the morning to enjoy your coffee or small food item. Only downside to sitting outside is you are very close to the road - but that’s to be expected in a downtown area.

I ordered a plain bagel and cream cheese, and an iced coffee with cream and sugar. Typically where I am this means drip coffee poured over ice, but the barista recommended an Americano… when in Rome I suppose. The coffee was delicious, and the bagel came out with more cream cheese than I think I have ever seen on a bagel (not complaining! Just surprising!)

Cost: $9.23 Rating: 7/10

Saturday: Marigold Kitchen (on OSM)

Such a cute spot! I was searching this day for a good omelette and this place seemed highly recommended. The feel was much more artsy coffeehouse vibe, plenty of lighting and a small outdoor seating area, but I ate inside. I was greeted and handed a menu at the door, ordered at the counter, and was recommended the pancakes as well as the omelette if I was hungry enough. Very friendly staff throughout even during what was clearly an elevated breakfast rush with the farmers market getting started just outside!

I ordered a bacon and cheese omelette with red potatoes and greens, a short stack of pancakes, and again I was offered an Americano (this time leaving room for creamer, which was appreciated! No Sweet n’ Low, had to use regular sugar) The omelette was delicious if a bit deconstructed, the potatoes were well done in slices rather than the chunks you may be picturing for breakfast potatoes, and the greens were OK, but nothing to write home about. The unexpected standout winner of this place was the buttermilk pancakes, if I had known what I know now I would have completely changed my plan from omelette to a full stack from the start. Probably the best pancake I have had in my life. It is sweet, on account of the powdered sugar, strawberry, and syrup but absolutely worth a special trip.

On exit, there was a line forming outside, so this place is popular with more than just me! A bit on the expensive side, but I did essentially get 2 meal items and a coffee.

Cost: $31.65 Rating: 8/10

Sunday: Gotham Bagels (on OSM)

This place was recommended by Madison locals on my first day, but I made the trek over on my last day in Madison. There was a beautiful dog patiently waiting for it’s human outside, which I feel added to the charm of the place. Another spot I could tell is used to being busy, this space is (as you can probably guess) is themed as Gotham city/NYC with the typical NY bagel shop aesthetic and feel. Long tables, bar stools, and you can order ahead, use a tablet, or order at the counter.

I ordered a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese bagel which came with cheddar by default. I was given a number and waited to be called. They were in the low 60’s when I sat down, and I was 81, to give you an idea of volume. The wait was the only thing I can really comment on that could be improved but honestly they were hustling in there! I ate the bagel on my way back to the hotel to grab my bags, and let me tell you that sandwich was absolutely fantastic! Unwrapping the really well wrapped sandwich felt like Christmas morning. the eggs and bacon were well seasoned, cheese melty and you can tell hasn’t been just sitting out for awhile. The bagel was soft and chewy on the inside with a wonderful crust. I probably could’ve eaten 2 if I knew ahead of time but didn’t want to go through the wait again. Delicious all-around and perfect for breakfast on-the-go.

Cost: $9.75 Rating: 9/10

04/06/2026-10/06/2026

Community

• Anne-Karoline Distel announced that a new video on mapping historic lifting stones is now available on YouTube. Historically, lifting stones were used to test the physical strength of men.
• The MapLibre May 2026 newsletter has been published, authored by Bart Louwers, Frank Elsinga, Harel Mazor, Ramya Ragupathy, and Stephanie May.
• HOT has published an open course on seagrass mapping to support coastal conservation efforts. The initiative outlines how seagrass imagery will be collected using drones and later mapped through an OpenStreetMap-based technology stack, including iD.
• Rtnf tried the newly released OSRM Trip demo page to solve a simple Travelling Salesman Problem that he encountered daily while living in Bandung.
• Raquel Dezidério Souto described in her user diary what it was like to sponsor the CityMapper externship project and how she got to know the OSM Africa community whilst attending SotM Africa 2024.

Local chapter news

• Katja Hafernkorn reported ► that FOSSGIS participated in the exhibitors’ forum at KonGeoS Dessau 2026, providing information about Open Source GIS, OpenStreetMap, and the FOSSGIS association.
• FOSSGIS e.V. advertised ► a vacancy for a position focused on OpenStreetMap training and community work. The application deadline is 8 July 2026.

Events

• An additional uMap has been published for the State of the Map 2026 (Paris), providing detailed information on the locations of various facilities at the event venue.The interactive map also includes public transportation guidance to the Musée des Arts et Métiers, which will host the conference’s Saturday evening social event. In addition, attendees can use the map to navigate between the SotM venue and Disneyland Paris, including access to the TGV station at Marne-la-Vallée.
• You can find information about the State of the Map 2026 on the uMap provided by the event’s organisers.There is also a call for sponsorship on LinkedIn and on the event’s promotional document.
• Andres Gomez Casanova reported that the State of the Map Colombia 2026 will take place at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the National University of Colombia in Bogotá from 3 and 4 July 2026.

OSM research

• HeiGIT presented new research on training deep learning for land-use and land-cover mapping, with landscape metrics derived from OpenStreetMap, supporting more spatially consistent and interpretable GeoAI models.

Maps

• ^[1] With Spieli, m_fuhrmann has launched a new, user-friendly web map for playgrounds. The project is based on a fork of the ‘Berlin Playground Map’ and is firmly committed to an open ecosystem. While the playground data comes directly from OpenStreetMap, images are integrated via Panoramax and reviews via Mangrove Reviews.Particularly noteworthy is the technical architecture: Spieli is designed as a federated network of independent data nodes, enabling decentralized hosting and high scalability.For parents, the site offers helpful filters (e.g., by flooring type or accessibility) as well as suggestions for nearby points of interest (such as ice cream shops ).Mappers benefit from integrated data quality assessment and direct links to MapComplete, making it easy to improve the data.

  The project is currently seeking active support: Anyone with resources to spare is invited to host their own data nodes (https://mfuhrmann.github.io/spieli/) (e.g., for additional federal states or abroad). Discussion is possible via Matrix (https://matrix.to/#/#spieli:matrix.org), and the source code is available on GitHub (https://github.com/mfuhrmann/spieli).

• Christoph Hormann continued an in-depth discussion on non-locality in tiled rule-based map rendering, building on an earlier article that helped renew interest in OSM-Carto development.

OSM in action

• Bayreuther Tagblatt used ► an OpenStreetMap-based map to visualise road closure areas related to the 10th ‘Mainauenlauf’ running event, scheduled to take place on Sunday 14 June 2026.
• Niederrhein Nachrichten used ► an OpenStreetMap-based map to highlight parking areas available for visitors attending the Kleve Children’s Festival, scheduled to be held at the Kleve Zoo on Sunday 14 June.
• FerryGoGo helps travellers explore ferry routes worldwide through interactive maps, local route guides and practical advice built around real journeys by sea. It uses OpenStreetMap and shows ferry routes, ports and connections across each country.
• Phystech Mission have used an OpenStreetMap-based map to visualise the locations of technology companies and research institutes where graduates of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology are employed.
• Mediazona, BBC Russian Service, and a team of volunteers have created an interactive map showing the geographic distribution of confirmed Russian military casualties in their war against Ukraine. The dataset is compiled from open sources, including obituaries, media reports, local government publications, and other publicly available records, while the basemap uses OpenFreeMap tiles generated from OpenStreetMap data. Click the map icon at the bottom of the page to open the map.

Licenses

• Editora IVIDES ► has published a Swahili translation [sw] of Tout savoir sur la licence ODbL: la licence d’OpenStreetMap pour cartographier en commun, originally written in French by the Fédération des pros d’OSM, Kila Kitu Unachohitaji Kujua Kuhusu Leseni ya ODbL. The translation from English into Swahili was carried out by Hemed Lungo and Tatu Sultan Lungo (Tanzania) and edited by Raquel Deziderio Souto, who wrote about this on LinkedIn.

Software

• OsmAnd is celebrating its 16th birthday, and to mark the occasion they will be giving away a 1- or 3-month Pro subscription to anyone who answers the quiz correctly by Monday 15 June.
• Marina Petkova and François Lacombe have authored ► an article ‘Tracking and Promoting Contributions to OSM with Podoma’. Podoma is a programme for monitoring contributions to OSM, allowing users to measure and visualise activity related to a specific topic or area (we reported earlier).

Programming

• Timo Roest posted, on LinkedIn, about a custom PySpark data source to read .PBF files, seamlessly integrating osmium-powered OSM data ingestion into the Spark ecosystem. He explained how it works, and worked through a refresher on OSM data structures and why parsing them is a challenge.

Releases

• A new release of OSRM, version 26.6.1, is now available. Users can try out the updated demo ahead of its integration into the official front end.
• Alexis Lecanu has released Baba version 1.22.0, for contributing to Panoramax on Android, featuring several feature additions and bug fixes.

OSM in the media

• Danmarks Radio, Denmark’s national broadcaster, used an OpenStreetMap-based map to illustrate a major railway disruption caused by a damaged overhead power line near Sorø. The disruption was believed to have occurred after a train’s pantograph became entangled ► in an overhead wire, forcing rail services between Ringsted and Slagelse to stop.

Other “geo” things

• Patty Heyda outlined the concept of ‘counter maps’, describing them as cartographic reinterpretations that challenge established assumptions and broaden dominant narratives to include previously excluded perspectives. As mapping becomes increasingly shaped by political interests, remapping practices are presented as a way to expose underlying systems of power to public view. The concept has also influenced activists, who use counter mapping to re-integrate previously omitted information into mainstream representations.
• YellowMap ►, a company based in Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is sponsoring ► MapLibre. According to the company, the decision to migrate to MapLibre was driven by a desire to modernise and add functionality. At the core of YellowMap’s product offering is SmartMaps, built to address the strict data privacy demands of the European B2B market.
• Jeremy Hsu, of Ars Technica, highlighted a preprint paper by Todd Humphreys and colleagues investigating ‘continental-scale’ GPS interference across Europe.

Upcoming Events

Country	Where	Venue	What	When
	Oakland	Beauty Supply Arts	A Synesthete’s Atlas: Cartographic (& other) Improvisations	2026-06-13
	Chennai Corporation	Koyambedu Market	Come map Koyambedu Market, Chennai with us on June 14th, 2026!	2026-06-14
	København	Cafe Bevar’s	OSMmapperCPH	2026-06-14
			Missing Maps London Mid-Month (Without Training) Advanced Mappers (Online) [eng]	2026-06-16
	Budapest	Cartographia Kft.	OSM térképest – 2026 június 16	2026-06-16
	Madrid	Online	Mappy Hour OSM España	2026-06-16
	Lyon	Tubà	Réunion du groupe local de Lyon	2026-06-16
	Bonn	Dotty’s	201. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn	2026-06-16
	Chemnitz	Kaffeesatz, Chemnitz	OSM-Stammtisch Chemnitz	2026-06-16
	City of Edinburgh	Summerhall/The Royal Dick	OSM Edinburgh Social	2026-06-16
	Strasbourg	Bar La Perestroïka	1er Apéro du groupe local de Strasbourg	2026-06-16
		Online	Lüneburger Mappertreffen (online)	2026-06-16
		MJC de Vienne	Rencontre des contributeurs de Vienne (38)	2026-06-17
	Stainach-Pürgg	Online	21. Österreichischer OSM-Stammtisch (online)	2026-06-17
			Mapping missing buildings in La Paz, Bolivia	2026-06-18
	Essen	Verkehrs- und Umweltzentrum	Essen OSM-Treffen	2026-06-18
			UN 2.0 Week 2026: UN Mappers Mappy Hour	2026-06-19
	بلدية دمشق القديمة	Online	ReMapping Syria 2025: Humanitarian Mapping & Community Collaboration Webinar	2026-06-19
			UN Mappers Mappy Hour: Progress and Highlights of the UN Maps Community Ambassador Pilot Initiative	2026-06-19
	Torino		OpenStreetMap Mapping Party: Torino at a walking pace!	2026-06-19
	Stuttgart	Technische Hochschule Stuttgart	Missing Maps Mapathon in Stuttgart	2026-06-19
	Potsdam	Waschbar	Potsdamer Mappertreffen	2026-06-19
	Catania	@Localhost	Modifichiamo Wiki e OSM insieme!	2026-06-19
	Metz	l’Arob@se	Atelier du groupe local de Metz – Partez en voyage avec OpenStreetMap	2026-06-20
		Mitarbeiterparkplatz antonius, Fulda	Sommermapping 2026	2026-06-21
			Missing Maps : Mapathon en ligne – CartONG [fr]	2026-06-22
	Stadtgebiet Bremen	Online und im Hackerspace Bremen	Bremer Mappertreffen	2026-06-22
			Missing Maps Validathon	2026-06-23
	Magdeburg	Netz39 e.V. , Leibnizstraße 32, 39104 Magdeburg	2. OSM Stammtisch Magdeburg	2026-06-23
	Berlin	Online	OSM-Verkehrswende #76	2026-06-23
	Würzburg	FabLab Würzburg	Würzburger OSM-Treffen	2026-06-24
	Freiburg im Breisgau	CCCFR, Adlerstr. 12a, Freiburg/Brsg.	OSM-Treffen Freiburg im Breisgau	2026-06-25
	Dar es-Salaam		State of the Map Africa 2026	2026-06-26 – 2026-06-28
		[online]	Capacitação OSM 2026 – IVIDES DATA ® – Formulários Web com KoboToolbox	2026-06-26
			OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting	2026-06-26
	Düsseldorf	Online bei https://meet.jit.si/OSM-DUS-2026	Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen (online)	2026-06-26
		Biblioteca Alda Merini in via Edmondo De Amicis	Mapathon @ Casorate Sempione	2026-06-27
			OSM Mumbai Mapping Party No.11 (Trans-Harbour Line – South)	2026-06-27
	Hannover	Kuriosum	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover	2026-06-29
	Heidelberg	DEZERNAT#16	Rhein-Neckar OSM Treffen	2026-06-29

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 MarcoR, MatthiasMatthias, PierZen, Raquel IVIDES DATA, Strubbl, Andrew Davidson, barefootstache, derFred, izen57, s8321414.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

Hallo zusammen, nach meiner Ansicht wäre es sinnvoll ein Symbol für einen AED zu erstellen. Dann könnte man auch die Standorte von diesen Geräten in den Karten einpflegen. Die Abkürzung AED steht für Automatisierter Externer Defibrillator (oft auch als „Laien-Defi“ oder „Herzstarter“ bezeichnet). Es handelt sich um ein kleines, tragbares medizinisches Gerät, das bei einem plötzlichen Herzstillstand durch gezielte Stromstöße lebensgefährliche Herzrhythmusstörungen beenden kann. Diese Geräte sind wichtig für Ersthelfer die bereits eine Reanimation durchführen bevor der Rettungsdienst eintrifft. Ein Symbol wäre zum Beispiel wie in meinem Link vorgeschlagen eine gute Idee. https://shop.murer-feuerschutz.de/images/thumbs/0028576_241717.jpeg Ich würde mich freuen, wenn man dies umsetzen könnte. Mit freundlichen Grüßen D. Weinig

Hi again!

In my previous diary entry I introduced myself and my GSoC project with Valhalla, and I mentioned we were still putting the finishing touches on the exact main goal. Now we have it! We’re focusing on area routing. This is basically means making the router cross open pedestrian areas (like squares) instead of walking around them and generating weird and inefficient routes. This diary entry is a deep dive into the research I’ve done while exploring the different options.

The problem with pedestrian areas

When you ask a router to go across a square, you would expect it to cross it like any person would. But a lot of routers don’t do that, they may send you around the perimeter or go along the streets surrounding the square. The problem here is that the open area has no “ways” inside of it to travel on.

Let’s see one example (using Valhalla) on Plaza Santo Domingo in Murcia (my hometown!):

The path we’re seeing is clearly not the one we’d take if we were walking down the square. The difference between going straight and going around is ~100 meters vs ~370 meters. There is quite a big gap between them, and this isn’t even the worst square!

Why it happens

In OSM, a pedestrian square is typically mapped as highway=pedestrian and area=yes. But this just defines the shape of the surface, there’s nothing inside it for the router to walk along.

Some mappers solve this manually by drawing “virtual footways” across the area, along paths that the people actually walk. An example can be Josefsplatz in Vienna which has some of these crossings ways drawn. It works, but it doesn’t scale (someone has to draw and maintain them everywhere).

What we want instead is to let the router generate those footways automatically from the area’s geometry. That is area routing.

The case study

Of course, before start to write any code, my mentors and I agreed the best way was to understand the geometry visually. So I started taking real squares from OSM and comparing several approaches for generating crossing edges. To do this I started using QGIS (I’m very thankful that Nils taught me how to use it!)

There are a lot of different approaches for this like straight skeleton or grid sampling, but I focused mainly on the two that seemed more interesting for our case. The visibility graph and medial axis (each one with a couple of variations) :

• Visibility graph (VG): Connect every pair of polygon vertices that can “see” each other.
• Reduced VG: Visibility graph generates too many edges, one solution to this is to keep only the edges that lie on the shortest paths between entrances of the square.
• Medial axis: the “skeleton” of the shape, the set of points that are equally distant from the two nearest edges.
• Pruned medial axis: Is the medial axis with its small dangling branches removed, plus connect it to the entrances.

VG:

Reduced VG:

Medial axis:

Pruned medial axis:

I tested this on several squares with different shapes, like Stephansplatz Vienna, Rockefeller Plaza NY, Puerta del sol Madrid Spain and a few more…

I would show all of them but it will be a bit long and boring! But I can tell you about the results.

Results

First of all, talking about the number of edges each one generates, we can see the VG generates more than 5k edges in some cases, way too many to insert them into a routing graph. But with the reduced VG we manage to stay at ~50 edges even in big squares since it depends more on the number of entrances than on the size.

On the other hand, medial axis each version also stays at a very low number of edges. The medial axis may not be the most direct, but it produces very natural and human routes.

So between reduced VG and pruned medial axis, we can say that medial axis is simpler and has the same efficiency in most of squares except the bigger ones but even in these ones, the result of the medial axis is extremely good. And after all this thinking we decided to go with the medial axis (with pruning).

Another thing I’ve discovered while testing all of this, is that we have to be a bit selective and “play safe” with the squares we are dealing with, because OSM data is huge and we can not make sure every square is perfectly tagged/mapped.

We’ve also discussed a few design rules as, entrance detection, size threshold of very small areas and how to deal with a few more cases.

What’s next

Now that we have a better view we can start with the implementation in Valhalla! I’ve enjoyed a lot learning QGIS and watching how these algorithms would work for each square, it’s been actually fun!

If you know any especially weird or interesting squares (whether is good or badly mapped) I’d love to hear about them, more test cases are always welcome. Or maybe some ideas that pop into your mind while reading this, everything helps!

As always, huge thanks to Kevin, Chris and Nils for all the guidance and of course for being so understanding and friendly. You can follow the progress in my PRs to Valhalla and here in my diary.

More soon, bye!

Chaque numéro d’adresse = addr:place

Dieser Monat war extrem stressig für mich und ich muss pendeln und kann daher nicht zum Stammtisch. Nächstes Mal bin ich aber wieder dabei. Viel Spaß an alle die zum Stammtisch gehen.

Please help me raise funds to purchase the missing sheets from the complete historical 1:50,000 topographic map series of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia.

https://gofund.me/f12d5f3d2

Donate and more information at https://www.gofundme.com/f/purchase-historical-zimbabwe-topographic-maps

Previous donation drives:

• Namibia (South West Africa) - 2008 - https://namibia-topo.openstreetmap.org.za/
• Eswatini (Swaziland): - 2015 - https://eswatini-topo.openstreetmap.org.za/

In the unlikely event that any funds remain after purchasing the Zimbabwe map sheets, they will be used to buy missing sheets from the Lesotho or Malawi 1:50,000 topographic map series, which are planned as future projects.