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♦Maelmin Henge is just outside Millfield. It's a reconstruction of the nearby Milfield North Henge: one of several henge monuments in the Till Valley that date from the Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.

Today's ride started in Millfield, then passed through a series of small settlements: Ford, Crookham, Branxton and Mindrum.

Apart from Maelmin Henge I took in the site of the Battle of Flodden, which was fought outside Branxton in 1513. The Church of St Michael and All Angels at Ford dates from the 13th Century, and was heavily restored by John Dobson in 1853. There has been a mill at Heatherslaw since 1291. The current one was restored and re-opened in 1975, but was closed today.  For more local history I could have made a brief diversion via the 14th Century Etal Castle. But enough is enough.

Part of my route followed NCN68 - the Pennine Cycle Way. The two sections on the A697 were both very brief and traffic wasn't a problem. The rest of the ride was on quiet country lanes. 

Once again I chose a route that is more hilly than I'm used to. On my personal scale of difficulty I couldn't rate this as an "Easy" ride. Others describe it as "Moderate", but I'd have to rate it as more difficult than that. "Challenging"  would be putting it too strongly. I'd like to rate it as "Satisfying", but for now, I think I'll settle on "Demanding".

2 hours ago

Durant les mois d’Avril et de Mai, je vais faire comme à Jassans en 2025, c’est à dire faire des relevé hebdomadaires de ref=* des lampadaires de Chaleins:

Carte: umap.openstreetmap.fr/fr/map/carte-releve-lampadaire-de-chaleins_1371864#13/46.051374/4.819221

Dates actuelles:

Aujourd’hui (22/03)=Zone 1=Lancement Chaleins !

28/03/2026=Zone 2

04/04/2026=❌ Annulé=FCO 2026

11/04/2026=Zone 3

18/04/2026=❌ Annulé=Conscrits de Frans

25/04/2026=Zone 4

02/05/2026=Zone 5

09/05/2026=Zone 6

16/05/2026=Zone 7

23/05/2026=Zone 8

30/05/2026=Zone 9

06/06/2026=Zone 10=Finalisation de Chaleins

Les dates peuvent bougé en fonction de mon planning perso…

14 hours ago

Editoriales Intro: März 2026, Wien, Paris

Im März 2026 fühlt sich OpenStreetMap gleichzeitig vertraut und fragil an: Wien routet seine Fahrpläne auf OSM-Basis, Start‑ups bauen Geschäftsmodelle darauf, humanitäre Organisationen verlassen sich im Katastrophenfall auf OSM‑Gebäudeumrisse. Gleichzeitig wissen Eingeweihte, dass große Teile dieser „kritischen Infrastruktur“ an einer Handvoll Ehrenamtlicher hängen – vor allem dort, wo es um Serverbetrieb, Kernsoftware und die API geht. blog.openstreetmap

Mit dem Fördervertrag der deutschen Sovereign Tech Agency über 384.000 Euro für die Modernisierung der OSM‑Kernsoftware steht erstmals schwarz auf weiß da, was viele in der Community seit Jahren behaupten: OSM ist digitale Grundversorgung – aber ihre Wartung ist weder institutionell noch demokratisch so abgesichert, wie es dieser Status vermuten ließe. Parallel laufen die Vorbereitungen für State of the Map 2026 in Paris, das Ende August als globales Treffen der OSM‑Community stattfinden wird – inklusive Calls für Session-Proposals und Wissenschaftsabstracts, die gerade jetzt im März geöffnet sind. Es liegt in der Luft, dass Paris der Ort wird, an dem sich entscheidet, ob OSM eher technokratisch oder partizipativ weiterwächst. 2026.stateofthemap

Aus Wiener Perspektive wirkt diese globale Debatte keineswegs abstrakt. Die Stadt setzt zunehmend auf partizipative Formate, um Mobilität, Stadtraum und Klimaanpassung zu gestalten; OSM‑Daten fließen in Routing, Accessibility‑Anwendungen und diverse Forschungsprojekte ein. Gleichzeitig reproduzieren OSM‑Daten selbst urbane Ungleichheiten: Innenbezirke sind hochdetailliert, während periphere Siedlungen, informelle Treffpunkte oder Angebote für vulnerable Gruppen oft unsichtbar bleiben. mdpi

Diese Kolumne nimmt Wien als Labor, um vier Ebenen zusammenzudenken:

1. Governance‑Krise in der OSM‑Infrastruktur: Wer darf am „Herz“ drehen – und wer nicht?
2. Barrierefreiheit als Datengerechtigkeit: Wer wird kartiert, wer bleibt unsichtbar?
3. Humanitäre Kartographie und digitales Erbe: Was lernen wir aus Myanmar 2025 für Wien 2026?
4. Konkrete Mapping‑Aufgaben für März/April in Wien, die lokale Praxis mit globalen Debatten verbinden.

Theoretisch lehnt sich die Kolumne an Laszlos Netzwerk‑Systemik an: OSM als Supersystem, in dem Governance‑Entscheidungen, Datenpraktiken und urbane Gerechtigkeit miteinander verschränkt sind. Ergänzt wird dies durch Archive‑Justice‑Perspektiven à la Trouillot: Nicht nur, was in der Karte steht, ist politisch – auch das, was fehlt. mdpi

Kapitel 1 – Governance-Krise: Wer wartet OSMs Herz? 1.1 OWG als technokratischer Gatekeeper

Die Operations Working Group (OWG) verantwortet den Serverbetrieb von OSM: API, Datenbank, Tiles, Backups, Hardwareplanung und Richtlinien für die Nutzung der zentralen Dienste. Ohne OWG gibt es keine neuen Planet-Files, keine Bearbeitungen, keine Standardkarten – OSMs „Herzschlag“ hängt an dieser Gruppe. operations.osmfoundation

Die offizielle Dokumentation listet Aufgaben wie Kapazitätsplanung, Sicherheitsupdates und Policy‑Formulierung, bleibt aber vage bei der Frage, wie Entscheidungen priorisiert und legitimiert werden. In der Praxis handelt es sich um einen kleinen Kreis hochspezialisierter Admins, die ehrenamtlich agieren, aber Entscheidungen mit globalen Auswirkungen treffen – etwa, welche Dienste wie stark gedrosselt werden oder welche Infrastrukturprojekte bevorzugt Ressourcen bekommen. osmfoundation

Damit entsteht ein Single‑Point‑of‑Failure auf zwei Ebenen: technisch (wenige Personen kennen die komplexe Infrastruktur wirklich) und politisch (wenige Personen strukturieren faktisch die Infrastruktur‑Agenda). Community‑Diskussionen zur „Core Software Governance“ problematisieren genau das: unklare Kriterien, welche Software überhaupt „core“ ist, informelle Nachfolgeregeln und potenzielle Interessenkonflikte, wenn dieselben Personen sowohl in Working Groups als auch als Maintainer oder Unternehmensvertreter auftreten. sovereign

1.2 Tagging-Governance: partizipativ, aber getrennt

Im krassen Gegensatz dazu ist die Governance rund um Tagging überwiegend offen und partizipativ organisiert: Neue Tags durchlaufen Proposal‑Phasen im Wiki, werden auf Mailinglisten und im Forum diskutiert, und am Ende steht – zumindest formal – eine transparente Abstimmung. Auch wenn Machtasymmetrien (z.B. Englischkenntnisse, Zeitressourcen) existieren, bleibt der Prozess sicht‑ und kritisierbar; De‑facto‑Standards entstehen oft iterativ und können bei Bedarf durch neue Proposals korrigiert werden. welcome.openstreetmap

Diese Asymmetrie zwischen Tagging‑ und Infrastruktur‑Governance ist systemisch bedeutsam: Sie trennt die „semantische Demokratie“ (viele Menschen entscheiden, wie die Welt beschrieben wird) von der „infrastrukturellen Oligarchie“ (wenige Menschen entscheiden, wie diese Beschreibungen überhaupt gespeichert, ausgeliefert und verarbeitet werden). Aus Laszlos Perspektive bedeutet das: Ein Subsystem (Tagging) ist hochgradig adaptiv und selbstorganisiert, das andere (Infrastruktur) ist starr und stark von Schlüsselpersonen abhängig – ein Rezept für Resilienz‑Probleme. mdpi

1.3 Sovereign Tech Agency: Governance als Infrastruktur-Investment

Vor diesem Hintergrund wirkt die Investition der Sovereign Tech Agency fast wie eine späte Systemdiagnose: In der Ankündigung wird OSM explizit als „globale Infrastruktur für digitale Kartendaten“ beschrieben, die öffentliche Dienste, private Produkte und humanitäre Einsätze gleichermaßen trägt. Der Servicevertrag über 384.000 Euro über zwei Jahre ist zweckgebunden für Stabilität, Wachstum und Modernisierung der Kernsoftware, inklusive Code‑Refactoring, Tests, Dokumentation und Governance‑Verbesserungen in der Entwickler:innengemeinschaft. blog.openstreetmap

Konkret schafft die OSMF zwei neue, bezahlte Rollen; die erste – „Core Software Development Facilitator“ – wurde 2025 mit Minh Nguyễn besetzt. In der offiziellen Vorstellung beschreibt er seine Aufgabe als Koordination der verstreuten Kernentwicklungsprojekte, Verbesserung der Kommunikation und Schaffung von Einstiegspfaden für neue Contributor. Governance wird hier explizit als zu investierende Infrastruktur gesehen: nicht nur Server, sondern auch Moderation, Onboarding und Nachfolgeplanung. blog.openstreetmap

Für Wien bedeutet das: Wenn städtische Stellen, Verkehrsverbünde oder Forschungsprojekte OSM als Infrastruktur nutzen, hängen sie an Governance‑Entscheidungen, die aktuell in wenigen Gremien und Rollen gebündelt sind. Die Frage, ob die OSMF „auch in die Governance‑Moderne selbst“ investiert, ist damit nicht abstrakt, sondern Teil jeder Ausschreibung, jeder Forschungskooperation und jedes Stadtraumprojekts, das OSM als Basis nutzt. community.openstreetmap

1.4 Wien als Gegenmodell: Stammtische und offene Entscheidungsräume

Die Wiener OSM‑Stammtische zeigen, wie Governance auch aussehen kann: Termine, Themen und Protokolle sind im Wiki und auf der österreichischen OSM‑Seite dokumentiert; neue Leute können spontan auftauchen, Fragen stellen, Projekte vorschlagen. Ob es um neue Schemas für Radabstellanlagen, Mapping von Schanigärten oder Data‑Quality‑Checks entlang neuer Bim‑Linien geht – Entscheidungen entstehen in offenen Runden, nicht in GitHub‑Issues hinter geschlossenen Türen. openstreetmap

Aus systemischer Sicht fungiert der Stammtisch als lokaler Regler im globalen Netz: Er koppelt globale Normen (z.B. Tagging‑Konventionen für Barrierefreiheit) mit lokalen Praktiken (konkretes Mapping in Wien), schafft soziale Redundanz (mehrere Leute verstehen denselben Stadtteil) und reduziert Abhängigkeiten von Einzelpersonen. Wien kann – gerade in Richtung SotM 2026 – als Beispiel dienen, wie infrastrukturelle Fragen (z.B. Validator‑Trainings, lokale QA‑Setups) frühzeitig in solche offenen Formate integriert werden. mdpi

Kapitel 2 – Barrierefreiheit als Datengerechtigkeit in Wien 2.1 Wheelmap: Viele Orte, große Lücken

Wheelmap.org, betrieben von Sozialhelden e.V., ist eine globale Karte zur Rollstuhlgerechtigkeit öffentlicher Orte – technisch und inhaltlich eng mit OSM verknüpft. Die Plattform meldet heute rund eine Million durch die OSM‑ und Wheelmap‑Community bewertete Orte und etwa eine weitere Million über Partnerdatensätze wie Foursquare oder HERE, sodass global über zwei Millionen Orte mit Accessibility‑Informationen sichtbar sind. isocial

Diese Zahl klingt beeindruckend, steht aber in keinem Verhältnis zur realen Menge an Restaurants, Ämtern, Gesundheits‑POIs oder ÖPNV‑Haltestellen weltweit. Studien zur OSM‑POI‑Qualität und -Vollständigkeit zeigen, dass in vielen Regionen des Globalen Südens die Abdeckung selbst bei Basiskategorien wie Schulen oder Kliniken stark lückenhaft ist. Accessibility‑Informationen sind in diesen Regionen oft nahezu inexistent – nicht, weil es keine Barrieren gäbe, sondern weil es keine Mapper:innen gibt, die sie eintragen. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih

In Wien zeigt sich das Muster in abgeschwächter Form: Innenstädtische Bezirke mit hoher touristischer Dichte und aktivistischen Netzwerken sind relativ gut mit wheelchair‑Tags versehen, während periphere Siedlungen, Gemeindebauten oder migrantisch geprägte Einkaufsstraßen deutlich schlechter dokumentiert sind. Datengerechtigkeit wird damit zu einer Frage der sozialen Geografie: Wer wohnt wo, und wer mappt wo? journals.sagepub

2.2 Accessible Maps und die unterschätzte Komplexität von Accessibility-Tags

Das Projekt Accessible Maps (TU Dresden, ACCESS@KIT) sammelt systematisch Merkmale, die barrierefreie Indoor‑ und Outdoorkarten unterstützen sollen: Liftpositionen, Rampenneigung, Türbreiten, Handläufe, taktile Leitsysteme, Kontrastverhältnisse, akustische Signale und mehr. In enger Abstimmung mit Sozialhelden und der OSM‑Community wurden Symbolsets und Tag‑Empfehlungen entwickelt, um diese Vielfalt in leicht nutzbare Kartenoberflächen zu übersetzen. access.kit

OSM besitzt bereits hunderte Tags für Barrierefreiheitsaspekte – von wheelchair=yes/no/limited über tactile_paving bis hin zu detaillierten Angaben für Türen, Rampen und Aufzüge. Das Problem ist weniger die Semantik, sondern die Praxis: Ohne gezielte Micro‑Mapping‑Kampagnen bleiben die meisten dieser Felder leer. Qualitätsstudien zu OSM‑POIs belegen, dass selbst in gut kartierten Städten viele soziale und medizinische Einrichtungen keine vollständigen Attribute zu Öffnungszeiten, Zugänglichkeit oder angebotenen Leistungen besitzen. wiki.openstreetmap

Für Wien bedeutet das: Technisch ist alles da, um eine hochdetaillierte Accessibility‑Karte zu erzeugen. Es fehlt vor allem an Arbeitszeit, Priorisierung und Koordination – also an Governance‑Entscheidungen innerhalb der lokalen Community und an Kooperationen mit zivilgesellschaftlichen Akteuren (Behindertenvertretungen, Senior:innenorganisationen, migrantische Initiativen). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih

2.3 Archive Justice: Unsichtbare Körper im Stadtplan

Michel‑Rolph Trouillot zeigt in „Silencing the Past“, dass Archive Machtverhältnisse nicht nur abbilden, sondern aktiv herstellen, indem sie bestimmte Ereignisse und Akteur:innen dokumentieren und andere ausblenden. Übertragen auf OSM heißt das: Wenn Barrierefreiheit in vielen Stadtteilen Wiens nicht dokumentiert wird, ist das kein „zufälliges Loch“, sondern ein epistemischer Ausschluss – bestimmte Körper und Wege zählen weniger. metodos

Partizipative Mappingprojekte in Slums Afrikas und Asiens illustrieren, wie radikal es ist, wenn informelle Siedlungen erstmals auf einer Karte erscheinen: Sie werden verhandelbar für Stadtplanung, Hilfsprogramme und politische Forderungen. In Wien könnte ein vergleichbarer Schritt darin bestehen, systematisch jene Grätzl zu kartieren, in denen Armut, Migration und Behinderung kumulieren – etwa Teile von Favoriten, Ottakring oder Floridsdorf – und dort Accessibility‑Daten als eigenes Gerechtigkeitsprojekt zu verstehen. mdpi

Archive Justice im OSM‑Kontext heißt: Nicht „wo fehlt noch irgendwas?“, sondern „wessen Lebensrealität fehlt systematisch?“. In Wien betrifft das neben Menschen mit Behinderungen auch wohnungslose Menschen, Sexarbeiter:innen, undocumented migrants oder Menschen mit psychischen Erkrankungen, deren Infrastrukturen (Notunterkünfte, Beratungsstellen, Peer‑Support‑Räume) oft bewusst unsichtbar gehalten werden – teilweise aus Sicherheitsgründen, teilweise aus Stigma. tandfonline

2.4 Wien als Stadtlabor: Vom Ring über die Gürtelränder bis zum Stadtrand

Entlang der klassischen Achse Ring – Gürtel – Stadtrand lassen sich diese Ungleichheiten kartographisch sichtbar machen. Untersuchungen zur OSM‑Datenqualität in europäischen Städten zeigen, dass Stadtzentren und „gehypte“ Quartiere (Nightlife, Tourismus, Kreativwirtschaft) deutlich dichter mit POIs und Attributen belegt sind als periphere oder stigmatisierte Bezirke. Für Wien bedeutet das: Innere Bezirke und Teile der Leopoldstadt sind überdurchschnittlich präsent, während Gemeindebauten am Stadtrand, Kleingartenkolonien und manche Industriestreifen stark unterrepräsentiert sind. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih

Ein Accessibility‑Fokus würde diese Ungleichheiten nicht automatisch aufheben, aber bewusst adressieren: Statt „wir mappen, was uns vor die Füße fällt“ könnte die Frage lauten: Welche Orte sind für Menschen mit Rollstuhl, mit Kinderwagen, mit Blindenstock oder mit Panikstörungen besonders kritisch – und wie gut sind sie in OSM repräsentiert? ÖPNV‑Knoten, Magistratische Bezirksämter, Ambulanzen, psychologische Dienste, kostenlose Beratungsstellen, barrierearme Parks: All das lässt sich in der Stadtfläche systematisch suchen und markieren – oder eben als schmerzhafte Leerstelle erleben. frontiersin

Kapitel 3 – Humanitäre Kartographie, Wien und das digitale Gedächtnis 3.1 Myanmar 2025: Katastrophe als Kartographie-Beschleuniger

Das Erdbeben in Myanmar 2025 markiert einen weiteren Fall, in dem humanitäre Organisationen auf OSM als zentrale Datenquelle für Gebäude und Straßen zurückgreifen. HOT und myOSM koordinieren Remote‑Mapping und lokale Validierung, um betroffene Gebiete rasch mit brauchbaren Geodaten zu versehen – ein Muster, das seit den Haiti‑Erdbeben 2010 mehrfach zu beobachten war. hotosm

Gleichzeitig zeigen Auswertungen zur Gebäudevollständigkeit und OSM‑Qualität, dass solche Kampagnen oft selektiv sind: Bestimmte Städte erhalten sehr detaillierte Daten, während andere Regionen im selben Land weiterhin kartographisch leer bleiben. Zudem ist der Engpass längst nicht mehr das reine Zeichnen, sondern die Validierung: HeiGIT‑Analysen des HOT Tasking Managers dokumentieren, dass der Anteil an validierten Tasks immer wieder hinter der Mappingaktivität zurückbleibt; Programme wie jenes des American Red Cross versuchen seit 2020 gezielt, neue Validator:innen zu trainieren und längerfristig zu binden. annualreport2020.hotosm

Das zentrale Learning für Wien ist nicht „wir müssen auch Katastrophen kartieren“, sondern: Qualität entsteht dort, wo lokale Communities Governance übernehmen – im Fall Myanmar etwa durch Organisationen wie myOSM, die Mappingprioritäten selbst setzen und Validierung in lokale Trainingsprogramme einbetten. wiki.openstreetmap

3.2 OSHDB und ohsome: Wer war wann sichtbar?

Die OpenStreetMap History Database (OSHDB) und die ohsome API stellen OSM‑Historydaten als auswertbares Gedächtnis zur Verfügung: Jede Objektänderung seit 2007 kann nach Raum, Zeit und Attributen analysiert werden. HeiGIT demonstriert mit ohsomeHeX und diversen Studien, wie sich daraus Metriken zu Datenwachstum, Gebäudevollständigkeit oder Corporate Editing ableiten lassen. d-nb

Für Wien bedeutet das: Mit wenigen Abfragen lässt sich rekonstruieren, wann bestimmte Stadtteile überhaupt auf der OSM‑Bühne erschienen sind – und welche nie wirklich dort angekommen sind. Wurden neue Stadtentwicklungsgebiete wie Seestadt Aspern oder Nordbahnviertel schnell und detailliert gemappt, während ältere Gemeindebauten jahrelang nur als graue Flächen existierten? Stiegen POI‑Dichten vor allem in hippen Grätzln, während Sozialinfrastruktur im Schatten blieb? mdpi

In Archive‑Justice‑Begriffen könnte man sagen: OSHDB dokumentiert nicht nur, was im Archiv steht, sondern erlaubt Rückschlüsse auf die Mechanismen des „Silencing“ – wann, durch wen und aus welchem Anlass bestimmte Räume (nicht) in die Karte aufgenommen wurden. heigit

3.3 Wien 2026: Disaster Risk Reduction als Community-Aufbau

Auch wenn Wien keine Erdbebenregion ist, steht die Stadt vor anderen Risiken: Hitzewellen, Starkregen, Blackouts, soziale Spannungen. Forschungen zu klimabedingten Risiken und urbaner Resilienz betonen, dass besonders vulnerable Gruppen (ältere Menschen, einkommensarme Haushalte, marginalisierte Communities) geographisch konzentriert sind – oft in Vierteln mit schlechterer Infrastruktur und weniger politischen Ressourcen. journals.openedition

Ein OSM‑basiertes Disaster‑Risk‑Reduction‑Programm für Wien könnte bedeuten, gemeinsam mit lokalen Organisationen jene Infrastrukturen kartographisch zu stärken, die im Krisenfall entscheidend sind: kühle öffentliche Räume, Trinkbrunnen, niedrigschwellige Versorgungsorte, Community‑Zentren, Treffpunkte informeller Care‑Netzwerke. Dabei ließe sich Know‑how aus humanitärer Kartographie – etwa Validator‑Trainings nach HOT/Red‑Cross‑Vorbild – bewusst auf den Wiener Kontext übertragen. heigit

Im besten Fall wirkt das doppelt: Datenqualität steigt, und gleichzeitig entsteht ein Netz von Menschen in Wien, die nicht nur „für“ andere kartieren, sondern mit ihnen – in Arbeitskreisen, Stammtischen, thematischen Mapping‑Walks.

Kapitel 4 – Konkrete Mapping-Aufgaben für Wien (März/April 2026)

Zum Abschluss drei Aufgaben, die du in Wien – allein, mit Freund:innen oder im Rahmen eines Stammtisch‑Meetups – direkt angehen kannst. Sie verbinden die oben beschriebenen systemischen Ebenen mit sehr konkreter Kartographiepraxis.

Aufgabe 1: Micro-Mapping entlang Wiener Hauptachsen

Leitfrage: Wie sieht eine barrierearme, gut beleuchtete Route durch Wien wirklich aus?

Vorschlag: Wähle eine prominente Achse, z.B.:

• Praterstern – Schwedenbrücke – Schottentor
• Westbahnhof – Mariahilfer Straße – Museumsquartier
• Simmeringer Platz – Zentralfriedhof – Oberlaa

Kartiere entlang dieser Route gezielt Mikro‑Infrastruktur:

• Bänke (amenity=bench) mit Attributen zu Rückenlehne, Armlehnen, Oberfläche.
• Straßenlaternen (highway=street_lamp), inklusive Position relativ zum Gehsteig.
• Eingänge (entrance=, access=, wheelchair=*) zu Geschäften, Ämtern, Gesundheits‑POIs.
• Öffentliche Toiletten, insbesondere mit Tags für Eurokey/Euroschlüssel, Geschlechteraufteilung und barrierefreien Kabinen. accessiblemaps

Nutze StreetComplete oder Every Door für vor Ort‑Mapping – beide Apps führen dich über Fragen durch fehlende Tags und eignen sich gut für Mapping‑Spaziergänge. Ergänzend kannst du JOSM einsetzen, um Geometrien zu verbessern, Routenrelationen zu pflegen und komplexe Tagging‑Schemata vorzubereiten. play.google

Ziel ist eine Route, die du am Ende als „Inklusions‑Pfad“ veröffentlichen kannst: nicht nur kürzeste, sondern auch sicherste und barriereärmste Variante, inklusive Sitzgelegenheiten und Beleuchtung. Solche Pfade sind für Menschen mit Mobilitätseinschränkungen, für Eltern mit Kinderwagen und für ältere Menschen gleichermaßen wertvoll. aaate

Aufgabe 2: POI-Equity-Audit für vulnerable Gruppen in Wien

Leitfrage: Welche Einrichtungen für vulnerable Gruppen fehlen in OSM – und wo häufen sich die Lücken?

Vorgehen:

1. Definiere POI‑Kategorien, die dich interessieren, z.B.:
   • Frauenärzt:innen und gynäkologische Ambulanzen.
   • Migrantische Beratungsstellen, Community‑Zentren, Sprachcafés.
   • Harm‑Reduction‑Einrichtungen (Drogenberatung, Substitutionsambulanzen).
   • Notquartiere, Wohnheime, Streetwork‑Kontaktstellen.

2. Nutze JOSM mit einem eigenen MapCSS‑Style, um diese Kategorien sichtbar zu machen: Färbe bekannte POIs auffällig ein, lasse den Rest grau. openstreetmap

3. Vergleiche OSM mit externen offenen Listen (z.B. städtische Verzeichnisse, NGO‑Listen), indem du fehlende Einrichtungen als Notizen, Kartenmarkierungen oder separate To‑Do‑Liste vermerkst. frontiersin

Studien zur OSM‑POI‑Vollständigkeit zeigen, dass gerade sozialsensitive Angebote systematisch unterrepräsentiert sind; ein Equity‑Audit übersetzt diese abstrakte Erkenntnis in konkrete Wiener Straßenzüge. Anschließend kannst du gezielt mit Organisationen Kontakt aufnehmen: „Wir möchten eure Beratungsstelle in OSM sichtbar machen – welche Informationen sind euch wichtig?“ So verschiebt sich die Dynamik von „für“ hin zu „mit“ kartieren. dl.acm

Aufgabe 3: Wien durch die Zeit – ohsome-Abfrage als Selbstreflexion

Leitfrage: Welche Teile Wiens waren 2026 bereits „im Gedächtnis“ – und welche nicht?

Über das ohsome‑Dashboard oder die API kannst du für ausgewählte Ausschnitte (z.B. Nordbahnviertel, Teile Favoritens, ein Gürtel‑Segment) zeitliche Kurven für bestimmte Objekte anfragen: Anzahl der Gebäude, Dichte von POIs, Häufigkeit bestimmter Tags. wiki.openstreetmap

Konkrete Schritte:

• Definiere einen Polygon‑Ausschnitt in Wien (z.B. ein Grätzl mit starkem Wandel).
• Lass dir über ohsome das Wachstum der building‑Objekte und ausgewählter POI‑Typen von 2008 bis 2026 anzeigen. d-nb
• Suche nach auffälligen Sprüngen (z.B. Bauprojekte, Mappingkampagnen) und nach auffälliger Stagnation (Grätzl, die nie detailliert wurden). mdpi

So wird OSHDB zum Spiegel für Wiens digitales Gedächtnis: Welche Entwicklungen haben wir früh gesehen? Welche späten Nachträge deuten auf Gentrifizierungswellen hin? Welche Grätzl sind 2026 immer noch digitale Schattenräume? Diese Analysen können direkt in lokale Diskussionen einfließen – etwa beim Stammtisch oder bei städtischen Runden zu Daten‑ und Beteiligungspolitik. openstreetmap

Schlussfrage: Kartieren wir Wien „für“ oder „mit“ marginalisierten Gruppen?

Die förderpolitische Aufwertung von OSM durch die Sovereign Tech Agency, die anstehende SotM 2026 in Paris und die allgegenwärtige Nutzung von OSM in Verwaltung, Wissenschaft und Zivilgesellschaft machen 2026 zu einem Wendepunkt. Entweder wird OSM zu einer hochprofessionellen, aber technokratisch geführten Infrastruktur, in der Governance‑Entscheidungen in wenigen Händen liegen und marginalisierte Gruppen vor allem als „Zielgruppen“ humanitärer Projekte auftauchen. wiki.openstreetmap

Oder es gelingt, die lokalen Praktiken – wie Stammtische, Micro‑Mapping und Equity‑Audits in Städten wie Wien – so zu stärken, dass Governance, Datenprioritäten und Qualitätsmechanismen gemeinsam mit den Betroffenen gestaltet werden. Wien hat mit seinen dichten sozialen Netzen, seiner starken Zivilgesellschaft und der bereits existierenden OSM‑Community alle Voraussetzungen, um hier eine Vorreiterrolle zu spielen. wiki.openstreetmap

Die Frage, die im März 2026 im Raum steht – in Wien genauso wie mit Blick auf Paris im August – lautet daher: Wollen wir eine Karte, die marginalisierte Gruppen „für“ sie sichtbar macht, oder eine Infrastruktur, die sie „mit“ ihnen aufbaut? Die Antwort entsteht nicht im Blogpost oder im Funding‑Announcement, sondern in den nächsten Mapping‑Walks, Stammtischen und Validator‑Trainings – hier, in dieser Stadt.

a day ago

Agradeço, desde já, a sua leitura… Dedico este breve artigo aos cinco anos e algumas semanas desde que comecei a editar no OpenStreetMap, e atingi mesmo 400 sessões de edições (aquando do momento de escrita). Eu pelo menos festejei um minuto :) Na minha opinião, é muito importante contribuir para a sociedade através do OSM, apesar de isto não ser a minha primeira prioridade. Claro que tenho a vontade de continuar a editar o mapa, acabando por ajudar aqueles que desfrutarem do site. Cumprimentos, e até breve.

2 days ago

This post presents the results of a student project carried out by the following group: Pierrick Causeret, Humbert de Chastellux, Paul Enjalbert and Othman Ouhaddou.

Introduction

This project is a follow-up of last year’s project Shade-optimized routing paths for pedestrians which introduced a shade routing calculator for OSM. Our objective was to make this project available on mobile.

Our github repository

Choosing an App

We first had to choose an app or website to work on. We wanted something easy to publish for us and easy to install for potential users. It also needed to work on both Android and iOS. This excluded all apps that didn’t have plugins or ways to customize them without editing the core code. With all those constraints, we settled on OsmAnd.

Creating the shade data

The full pipeline integrates the previous project, which is the calculation of the shade percentage for each way. This information is then added in the .pbf file as a tag, and then converted to .obf for the app.

♦

Shade data computing

Shades are computed by a python script from the previous project. Based on OSM data, it computes the projection of the shadows of buildings and trees onto ways. The output for each way is a percentage of shading. The tags are then added to each way and stored in a new .pbf.

The format of the tags we create for each way is the following: shadeHH=NN where HH is the hour of the day, and NN is the percentage of shade. Example:

shade10=60
shade12=80
shade14=70

These tags are only used internally in our pipeline, they are not added directly to the main OSM database.

No tags are generated for hours without sun (e.g. during the night)

Known limitations

• The previous project was reworked to improve performance: the new method uses a projection vector computed once per timeslot. However, the script is still really slow on large areas. It is a simple python script and this is probably not the best way to do it. It is also memory hungry.

• The shade computation depends on the position of the latitude and longitude of the map. For optimization purposes, we compute the position of the sun at the center of the map area. All of this is only set up and tested for France.

Integration in the obf

For the shade data to be accessible inside the app, we have to find a way of loading it into the app. OsmAnd uses a format called .obf for maps. We used OsmAndMapCreator to convert from .pbf to .obf.

Difficulties

When the conversion between .pbf and .obf is performed, OsmAndMapCreator uses rendering_types.xml to convert tags into the custom OsmAnd format. Because we add custom tags in the .pbf (see previous project), they are not understood by OsmAndMapCreator and they are ignored during the process of conversion.

The first solution we found is to add the tag in the rendering_types.xml in a new section, but it doesn’t work. The OsmAnd documentation on that subject is limited. After a lot of testing we turned to the community and got an answer (thanks again !).

We figured out that new sections can’t be created in OsmAndMapCreator, because in that case, the OsmAnd app doesn’t recognize the added tag. So we added our custom tags to an existing section, this is how we finally modified the rendering_types.xml :

<osmand_types>
  [...]
  <category name="routing">
    [...]
    <routing_type tag="shade00" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade02" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade04" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade06" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade08" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade10" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade12" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade14" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade16" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade18" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade20" mode="amend" base="true"/>
    <routing_type tag="shade22" mode="amend" base="true"/>
  </category>
</osmand_types>

Routing

♦

The core of the project is to add a routing profile into the OsmAnd plugin. To do that, the plugin requires two main elements:

• The map with the shade tags we added, in a .obf format. This map can be then activated alongside with other maps, or standalone.

• A routing.xml describing the modifications of the routing engine according to the shade tag. This file is edited following the instructions provided here.

There are two parts for the routing.xml:

• A parameter for the hour of the day. As we didn’t find a way of getting the current hour during the routing calculation, this information has to be provided by the user by setting the parameter in the plugin options.

<parameter id="shading_hour" name="Shading Hour" description="Hour for shading" type="numeric" values="0,8,10,12,14,16,18,20" valueDescriptions="night,8h,10h,12h,14h,16h,18h,20h" default="14"/>

• The modification of the priority attribute of a way according to its shade value. Indeed the priority value is multiplied by the speed, so shaded routes are prioritized. The implementation modifies the attribute priority, then tests one by one which hour is selected by the user, finally tests one by one the value v of the corresponding tag and sets the value of the priority.

<way attribute="priority">
      <eq value1=":shading_hour" value2="8">
        <select value="0.5" t="shade08" v="0"/>
        <select value="0.505" t="shade08" v="1"/>
        <select value="0.51" t="shade08" v="2"/>
        [...]
        <select value="0.125" t="shade08" v="100"/>
	</eq>
      [...]
</way>

For the relation between shade percentage and the priority, we used the method presented in the diary of last year’s project. A script is available to modify this relation (see plugin folder of the github repo).

Demonstration

Here is a simple demonstration of the core result we obtained :

♦

As you can see on the picture above, we can use the plugin directly in OsmAnd to change the route. The screenshot on the left is without the custom shade routing, the one on the right is with the custom routing. To obtain this result, we asked the app a route to get from point A to point B, first with the default configuration, and then with our custom configuration. To use the custom configuration, we selected our profile (created with the plugin) and activated our custom routing which takes into account the shadow on the path.

Try it yourself

In our GitHub repo, you will find a plugin (.osf file in the Releases folder) which is the functional version of our project. This plugin can be downloaded into OsmAnd mobile app, and directly used. At the moment, there are some limitations for the using of the plugin : - As we only generate tags for Nantes (France), the plugin only works for this city. If you try outside of this area, there is no error, you can use the plugin as a normal pedestrian routing but it will not take shades into account. - The map data is included in the plugin, thus the plugin is a bit heavy. A possible improvement is to allow the user to download the map data from a remote server.

User Guide

We added in the GitHub some documents to explain in detail the plugins and how they work. You will find this information inside the folder plugin. There are several READMEs giving some details, and the pdf Plugin Documentation where you will find general documentation on plugins (how to make a plugin, how to use it, …). You can refer to this pdf and its section 5 to have a step by step visual guide of the use of a plugin with IOS. Note that despite some minor differences, it is very similar on Android. Moreover, there may be explanations directly inside our code.

User Test

Methodology & Demographics

To evaluate the usability and integration of our Itinéraire Ombragé (Shaded Routing) plugin, we conducted a series of user tests using a think-aloud observation protocol.

• Number of testers: 20 users.

• Demographics: Users from IMT Atlantique.

• Prior experience: None of the testers had previously used the OsmAnd application.

• Scenario: Users were asked to install the plugin and calculate a shaded pedestrian route from IMT Atlantique to Parc de Chantrerie, with a departure time set to 14:00.

Key Results & Observations

The primary objective was to measure the technical and cognitive friction from discovery to generating a shaded route. Overall, 0 out of 20 testers were able to complete the scenario successfully without intervention.

• Installation & OS differences: There was a noticeable difference in installation experience between operating systems. For iOS users, plugin installation was generally straightforward. Android users struggled more during this phase, indicating a need for clearer, O. [Shade-optimized routing paths for pedestriansS-specific installation instructions.

• Primary blocker (time selection): The most significant friction point occurred when setting the departure time. All users experienced major difficulties or complete blocks when trying to set the time to 14:00, which prevented them from completing the test independently.

For more information see the folder user tests

Future Improvement

• Improve performance of shade computation (possibly by using PostgreSQL).
• Enable remote map downloads so users can choose areas.
• Find a way to retrieve the real current time for custom routing.
• Add shade rendering on the OsmAnd map display.
• Keep only shade data in the map data we generate, to reduce the size of the map.

About rendering

We faced throughout our project technical issues about rendering. We wanted to make a specific map rendering, which is supposed to be possible in a plugin, by using a custom rendering.render.xml file. This rendering should have taken into account the custom tags we created in our customized map, so that it renders the shade on the different roads (to get a visual representation of what the map looks like if we only look at our tag shades). However, we did not achieve this goal. We managed to change the map rendering with our custom rendering.render.xml in a plugin : see the functional examples on our GitHub here. However, we could not use our custom tag. We tried to generate the .obf correctly with the custom tag in the map section, we tried to use the right syntax to call the custom tags, but no matter how far we’ve gone, it still doesn’t work and we still don’t know why.

To find more information about this subject, you can refer to the folder rendering_plugins, which contains some functional examples of the use of custom rendering in a plugin, some explanations on the syntax, in addition of our latest try to use our custom tags (latest try not functional thus - documentation was added to help understand what we were trying to do).

Conclusion

The current state of the project makes it possible to use the shade tags introduced by the latest project. However, many avenues for improvement remain. A better understanding of how the OsmAnd plugins work could help improve usability. We thank everyone who will contribute to resolving the issues raised during this project.

If you want to download the latest version of the plugin see here.

2 days ago

Cartographie des jardins de Baiao, parc public de Cormeilles en Parisis.

3 days ago

O Município de Saúde receberá um novo Colégio Estadual de Tempo Integral, este que será construído no perímetro rural da cidade.

O Colégio Modelo Ernesto Carneiro Ribeiro iniciou suas atividades em Saúde em 1902 na Praça Ruy Barbosa, centro da cidade; recebendo uma nova sede no Bairro do Beco em 2008; e agora, ganhará uma nova estrutura próxima do Bairro Nova Saúde.

A estrutura será construída pelo Governo Estadual da Bahia num terreno antes pertencente à prefeitura, agora doado. Ao que se sabe, não há data prevista para o início da construção.

Demais obras no município:

• Urbanização da Praça da Vila Lelinha; (iniciado)

• Urbanização e Drenagem no Alto da Santa Cruz;

• Unidade Básica de Saúde no Bairro do Cardoso;

• Modernização do Mercado Municipal de Carnes - futuro Mini Shopping;

• Revitalização do Mercado Municipal;

4 days ago

2026年04月01日に移管予定の道路 ・山梨県道513号(梁川猿橋線)…大月市猿橋町藤崎地区 ・滋賀県道116号(六地蔵草津線)…栗東市 ・滋賀県道226号(佐目敏満寺線)…犬上郡多賀町敏満寺

2026年04月01日にダイヤ改正予定のバス ・瀬戸市コミュニティバスこうはん線（経路も変更） ・瀬戸市コミュニティバス下半田川線 ・瀬戸市コミュニティバス曽野線 ・名鉄バス16系統（菱野団地-瀬戸駅前) など

5 days ago

Hello,

I recently noticed that Someone, Which I do not know of, Has vandalised clyst vale by Removing the entire school, and replacing it with a sainsburys, ive wrote this to alert a mod to hopefully revert the changes at clyst vale

-SouthWestTrains1

5 days ago

One of the most memorable phases of my OpenStreetMap journey was being part of the Autumn Mapping Sprint 2025, sponsored by Youth Innovation Lab. This was a funded mapping sprint that lasted for one full month, making it both exciting and challenging at the same time.

What made this experience even more intense was that, during the very same month, I was also involved in a one-month field campaign in Dolakha district as part of my studies. Managing both at the same time was not easy.

My days were filled with fieldwork—collecting data, traveling, and completing academic responsibilities. And yet, despite the physical exhaustion, I stayed committed to mapping. Every evening, I tried to make time—sometimes small, sometimes longer—to contribute to the sprint. It required discipline, time management, and a lot of determination.

There were moments when I felt overwhelmed, but I didn’t want to give up. Being part of a funded program and representing myself among advanced mappers motivated me to keep going. I reminded myself why I started this journey and how far I had already come.

Throughout the month, I continued mapping—adding buildings, improving roads, and refining data with care. Even with a busy schedule, I managed to stay consistent and complete my contributions.

Being recognized as one of the advanced mappers during this sprint made the experience even more meaningful. It wasn’t just about mapping anymore—it was about proving to myself that I could handle challenges and still stay committed to my goals.

Looking back, this month feels like a true test of my dedication. Balancing fieldwork and mapping taught me resilience, time management, and self-belief.

This experience showed me that no matter how busy life gets, with determination and passion, I can always find a way to keep going.

6 days ago

In the first half of March, we ran a survey to better understand how people use OsmAnd and what they expect from it. At OsmAnd, we often talk about offline maps, route planning, and outdoor navigation. But the most important question is simpler: how do people actually use OsmAnd, and what do they need from it?

To explore that, we collected feedback across five language groups: English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.

The results gave us a clear picture. Users value OsmAnd for its depth, flexibility, and offline capabilities — especially in situations where reliability and preparation matter. At the same time, the survey highlighted areas where the app still creates friction, particularly around usability, search, and routing confidence.

This post shares some of the main themes that appeared across all five surveys.

♦

Who responded​

We received responses from users across five language groups:

LanguageResponsesGerman965English724French294Spanish255Italian250

In total, that gave us 2,488 responses.

Most respondents were already experienced OsmAnd users. In every language group, the majority had used the app for more than a year. This means the feedback mainly came from people who know the product well and use it regularly in real situations.

What users value most​

Across all languages, several themes appeared again and again.

Users consistently described OsmAnd as most valuable for:

• Offline maps while traveling
• Planning routes in advance
• Hiking and trekking
• Walking and exploring
• Cycling
• Navigation in remote or rural areas
• Recording and following GPX tracks

This confirms something important: for many people, OsmAnd is not just a general-purpose map app. It is a tool for prepared travel, outdoor activities, and offline navigation.

That was especially visible in the strongest use cases by language:

LanguageMost visible traitsGermanHiking, walking, cycling, offline travelEnglishOffline travel, walking, hiking, route planningFrenchOffline use, route planning, GPX recording, hikingItalianHiking, GPX use, motorcycling, route planningSpanishRoute planning, rural navigation, motorcycling, offline use

Even with those differences, one core idea was shared across all groups: users rely on OsmAnd when they want control, flexibility, and offline confidence.

What users appreciate about OsmAnd​

The survey shows that users see OsmAnd as:

• powerful
• flexible
• feature-rich
• useful in remote and offline scenarios
• well suited for outdoor and advanced navigation needs

Many users clearly trust OsmAnd in situations where mainstream navigation apps may not be enough — for example during hiking trips, travel abroad, off-road navigation, or route planning far from a stable connection.

This is one of OsmAnd’s strongest product and brand advantages.

The main friction points​

The feedback was positive overall, but one message came through very clearly:

Users value OsmAnd’s power, but many find it too complex.

This theme appeared in all five surveys.

The most common issues mentioned were:

• Interface complexity
• Too many settings or hard-to-find options
• Search quality
• Routing trust and route quality
• Map/data reliability in some cases
• Performance or stability problems for some users
• Friction in GPX and track workflows

In other words, the main challenge is not simply a lack of features.

The challenge is that the value of those features is not always easy to access.

For many users, OsmAnd feels extremely capable — but sometimes harder to learn or use than it should be.

A strong product, but with usability pressure​

One of the most encouraging findings is that overall loyalty remains strong.

Across all language groups, recommendation scores were high. Users clearly believe in the product. But that does not mean there is no risk.

Many respondents said they had at least occasionally considered using another app because of issues such as complexity, search friction, or routing behavior.

That creates an important tension:

• users respect OsmAnd
• users trust its strengths
• but some still turn to other apps for faster, simpler, or more convenient everyday tasks

This suggests that OsmAnd’s biggest opportunity is not only to add more capabilities, but to make the existing capabilities easier to use with confidence.

What users use alongside OsmAnd​

Many respondents also mentioned using other navigation apps in parallel with OsmAnd. This is not surprising — most people have multiple apps for different purposes.

The reasons were fairly consistent:

ReasonTypical alternativesSimpler interface and faster everyday useGoogle Maps, Organic MapsReal-time traffic and driving convenienceGoogle Maps, Waze, HERE WeGoOutdoor route discovery and community featuresKomoot, Strava, AllTrails, WikilocSpecialized or backup navigation useGaia GPS, Locus Map, Sygic, Maps.me

This comparison is useful because it shows that OsmAnd is not mainly competing on “how many features it has.” In many cases, it is competing on clarity, convenience, trust, and speed of everyday use.

What differs by language group​

Although the overall themes were similar, each language group had its own profile.

German-speaking users​

German-speaking respondents showed the strongest concentration around hiking, walking, cycling, and offline travel. This looks like a highly outdoor-oriented group with regular use patterns and strong engagement.

English-speaking users​

English-language responses were the broadest in profile. They combined offline travel, walking, hiking, route planning, and rural navigation, showing a wide mix of travel, outdoor, and practical navigation use cases.

French-speaking users​

French-speaking respondents stood out as strong offline and travel-oriented users, with high mentions of route planning, GPX recording, and hiking. This group reflects a power-user profile that values preparation and track-based workflows.

Italian-speaking users​

Italian-speaking users showed a distinctive mix of hiking, GPX use, route planning, and motorcycling. Compared with some other groups, motorcycling was especially visible here.

Spanish-speaking users​

Spanish-speaking respondents stood out most clearly for route planning, remote-area navigation, motorcycling, and daily car use. This group appears more road-navigation-oriented than the German or French groups, while still valuing offline and advanced use.

What all groups have in common​

Despite these differences, the common patterns are more important than the differences.

Across all five surveys, users consistently described OsmAnd as:

• a strong offline navigation tool
• especially useful for travel and outdoor scenarios
• more flexible than many mainstream alternatives
• valuable for users who want control over routes and maps

At the same time, all five groups also pointed to similar improvement areas:

• make the interface easier to understand
• make search more reliable
• improve routing trust
• reduce friction in core workflows
• keep the power, but make it easier to use

This consistency across languages is one of the strongest findings in the entire survey.

What this means for OsmAnd​

The survey confirms that OsmAnd already has a clear identity.

Users do not mainly come to OsmAnd because it is the simplest navigation app. They come because it offers something deeper:

• offline confidence
• route control
• outdoor readiness
• map flexibility
• support for advanced use cases

That is a real strength.

At the same time, the survey also shows a clear direction for improvement. Users do not want OsmAnd to become generic or stripped down. They want it to remain powerful — but to feel clearer, easier, and more trustworthy in everyday use.

That is an important distinction.

The goal is not to reduce what makes OsmAnd special.
The goal is to make that value easier to reach.

Thank you​

We are grateful to everyone who took the time to answer the survey.

Your feedback helps us better understand how OsmAnd is used in the real world — across countries, languages, and navigation styles. It also helps us see where the app already delivers strong value, and where the experience still needs work.

Across all five surveys, one message stands out:

Users trust OsmAnd for its offline power, flexibility, and outdoor capabilities. The biggest opportunity now is to preserve that depth while making the experience simpler and more intuitive.

Follow OsmAnd on Facebook, TikTok, X (Twitter), Reddit, and Instagram!

Join us at our groups of Telegram (OsmAnd News channel), (EN), (IT), (FR), (DE), (UA), (ES), (BR-PT), (PL), (AR), (TR).

6 days ago

A future version of the UrbanEye3D plugin will support trees and other objects.

♦

(Picture: Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, Zagreb)

Note: this version is still in development, but should be relesed by the end of this month

6 days ago

12/03/2026-18/03/2026

♦

[1] OpenArdenneMap is an open-source map style designed for the production of topographic maps for printing | © juminet | map data © OpenStreetMap Contributors.

 

Mapping

• After passing through the proposal process and being approved the ETCS Markers Tagging Scheme, an effort to unify the tagging of the markers used by the European Rail Traffic Management System, is available for everyone to use. Previously these were implemented using country-dependent schemes. The proponents are asking the mappers of countries where such systems are used to update the relevant wiki pages to include a redirect or a section unified with the new tagging scheme.

Community

• In their latest OpenStreetMap interview series, OpenCage spoke with Martin Ždila of Freemap Slovakia, the Slovak local chapter of the OpenStreetMap Foundation.
• The UN Maps team introduced its new community ambassadors, who plan different activities to bring OSM to local communities.
• KelsonV commented that the latest Pedestrian Working Group’s crosswalk corner tagging scheme is better than the way he had been doing it, so going forward he will use that scheme instead.
• Mateusz Konieczny has requested feedback for proposed preset changes in the iD tagging schema and shared a list of several currently being reviewed for potential inclusion.
• IXVG47QZ reported that last year Javi and Rebecca planned to bike-pack from the Austrian Alps into Asia using CoMaps, an OpenStreetMap-based mobile navigation app. ‘It has safely taken me to many countries in Asia and now in Oceania’, said Javi.

Local chapter news

• Habi has vibe-coded ♦ a script that monitors the official Swiss municipal boundary data from swisstopo and compares it with the boundary data in OpenStreetMap. The script runs daily at 2 am UTC via GitHub Actions, and is accessible here.
• Lyft, an American ride-sharing platform, has joined as the latest OSM US organisational member.

OSM in action

• Vasily Ivanov is developing ♦ a mobile-friendly bike route web map ♦ for the Ertlav ♦ cycling club. You can view other members’ routes and upload your own tracks and photos. OpenStreetMap is used as the base map and the map itself runs on MapLibre.
• rbb24 used ♦►♦ an OpenStreetMap-based map to visualise the locations of cycle paths that will be closed for renovations in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, Brandenburg, Germany.

Open Data

• The UNIPLU-BR dataset is the first unified and standardised national database of point precipitation (non-interpolated) in Brazil, consolidating raw data for 40 years and from five official monitoring networks: CEMADEN, INMET, ANA (Hidroweb), Telemetria, and ICEA. The dataset is available on Zenodo.org/EU.

Software

• The March Organic Maps update report includes release notes about improvements related to conditional speed limits, more detailed contours for China, split/smaller Tanzania regions, leather shops, and more. According to the developers this update took more time due to hotfixes and Google Play review.
• The project Geowiki provides a modular ecosystem for processing and visualising OpenStreetMap data, originally developed for OpenStreetBrowser. Its JavaScript library, geowiki-api, retrieves data via the Overpass API or OSM files, makes it usable in Leaflet, or exports it as GeoJSON, and can also act as an Overpass proxy server.
• vizsim has developed ♦ Missing Mapillary GraphHopper Routing for Germany, a web application that plans routes along roads without Mapillary imagery. The tool combines OpenStreetMap data with Mapillary coverage, highlights missing segments through colour-coded routes, and uses ♦►♦ GraphHopper for routing.
• Eugene published a report about the results of the OsmAnd 2026 user surveys that were conducted recently.
• Zkir announced that UrbanEye3D version 2.0, a JOSM plugin for visualising OpenStreetMap’s 3D data, will be released at the end of March 2026.

Releases

• [1] Juminet, who has been developing their topographic style over nine years, has announced the release of OpenArdenneMap winter 2025–2026 version. OpenArdenneMap is open-source map style designed for the production of topographic maps for printing, available for use with QGIS and the Mapnik/cartoCSS libraries.

OSM in the media

• Jules Grandin, of Les Échos, explained the history of roundabouts ♦►♦ in France and tries to answer the question of how many roundabouts there are in France using OpenStreetMap data.
• Ishaan Kocchar wrote, on Substack, about the triple axes of the ‘Digital Communities Trilemma’: openness, activity, and quality, in the context of OpenStreetMap and open data. Ishaan argued that the ‘big corporate consumers’ of the contributed data do not always provide any benefit to the OSM community or the project itself. They compared the Indian context of collaborative mapping with OSM with the local commercial market.

Other “geo” things

• Coordinate Mapper is a professional-grade geospatial tool for plotting, analysing, and exporting coordinate data in multiple systems, including WGS84 and the UK National Grid.
• PGlite, a open-source project that allows you to run PostgreSQL locally in a browser, has added long-awaited support for the PostGIS extension. You can try it out in the browser or use it as an npm package.
• The Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Spain) is offering ♦►♦ some courses on GIS and geoprocessing on its e-learning platform and using the OGC platform over 2026. The course about data management is open ♦.

Upcoming Events Country Where Venue What When OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting ♦ 2026-03-20 ♦ Olomouc Přírodovědecká fakulta Univerzity Palackého Missing Maps Day Olomouc 2026 ♦ 2026-03-21 ♦ Perímetro Urbano Yopal OSM video Encuentro virtual: Introducción a OpenStreetMap ♦ 2026-03-21 ♦ Tiranë osmvideo.cloud68.co/user/ird-zqk-9vq-szt OpenStreetMap Virtual Meetup Tirana ♦ 2026-03-21 ♦ Domplatz Fulda Frühlingsmapping 2026 ♦ 2026-03-22 Missing Maps : Mapathon en ligne – CartONG [fr] ♦ 2026-03-23 ♦ Bruxelles – Brussel ULB Solbosch Campus – Building U – UB4.126 Belgian Interuniversity Mapathon 2026 ♦ 2026-03-23 ♦ Stadtgebiet Bremen Online und im Hackerspace Bremen Bremer Mappertreffen ♦ 2026-03-23 ♦ Pôle Numérique Brest Iroise Rencontre OpenStreetMap et Territoires ♦ 2026-03-24 ♦ Göttingen Uni Göttingen FOSSGIS-Konferenz 2026 ♦ 2026-03-24 – 2026-03-27 ♦ Derby The Brunswick, Railway Terrace, Derby East Midlands pub meet-up ♦ 2026-03-24 UN Mappers Mappy Hour: UN Maps Community Ambassador Pilot Initiative ♦ 2026-03-25 ♦ Düsseldorf Online bei meet.jit.si/OSM-DUS-2026 Düsseldorfer OpenStreetMap-Treffen (online) ♦ 2026-03-27 ♦ Göttingen Uni Göttingen, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften FOSSGIS 2026 – OSM-Samstag ♦ 2026-03-28 ♦ Chemnitz Neues Hörsaalgebäude, TU Chemnitz Chemnitzer Linux-Tage 2026 ♦ 2026-03-28 – 2026-03-29 Local Chapters & Communities Congress 2026 ♦ 2026-03-28 ♦ Vélo Utile rencontre OSM ♦ 2026-03-28 ♦ Mira-Bhayander DBT Café, Mira Road OSM Mumbai Mapping Party No.8 (Western Line – North) ♦ 2026-03-28 ♦ Hannover Kuriosum OSM-Stammtisch Hannover ♦ 2026-03-30 ♦ Saint-Étienne Zoomacom Rencontre Saint-Étienne et sud Loire ♦ 2026-03-30 ♦ Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen ♦ 2026-04-01 ♦ Le Schmilblick, Montrouge Réunion des contributeurs de Montrouge et du Sud de Paris ♦ 2026-04-02 ♦ नई दिल्ली Jitsi Meet (online) OSM India – Monthly Online Mapathon ♦ 2026-04-05

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

12 hours ago

Incluso edifícios numeração interpolada na região do Tatuapé , Parque São Jorge, e Jardim Maranhão.

a day ago

Zkoumám stav tras a pokouším se nalézt jak doplnit relace.

2 days ago

 

♦Yesterday I came across a  book of Cycle Routes in Northumberland and Tyneside. It's given me ideas. Some of them are routes that are new to me. Some are variations on routes that are already familiar. 

Today I tried a variation on my regular route between Hipsburn and Warkworth. Normally I follow NCN1 there and back, but this variation takes me further inland. 

One of the highlights is this ford west of Warkworth. I've ridden through this before. But that was some years ago and at the time the river was much lower. I wasn't going to attempt it today. For a while I thought I would have to turn back, but then I realised that there's a footbridge a hundred yards or so downstream. So I used that and continued on. 

My plan would then have taken me through Guyzance and Shilbottle. However, it was turning out to be quite a bit more hilly than I'm used to. So I decided to take a shortcut through Sturton Grange.

Despite the shortcut, this looks like a route that's worth another visit. It crosses an area that I don't know well. It's an area that's worth exploring. It won't do me any harm to get more practice across landscape that is less than flat. And it's an attractive route along quiet country roads.

2 days ago

Map of Irish Wetlands wetland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/sidebar/index.html?appid=0b602456f4e54b2b808b9cf8d6472cad

2 days ago

I’m new to this.

I did what most people probably do and added/adjusted footprints of houses in my neighborhood. Great but I soon noticed that there were choices to be made about what did or didn’t get included, what level of detail to go to, etc. and no really obvious source of guidance about that.

Which is probably just as well, because if there were masses of prescriptive guidance about every little thing a new user would get buried. Anyway. I settled on what seemed reasonable to me and fleshed out the neighborhood a bit. Fun.

I’m a private pilot, so I checked out my local airport to see how things looked there. It was really quite good in some respects, if a little out of date. But again since there’s no guidance the previous editors had just made reasonable assumptions and got on with it. I noticed a few taxiway connections were missing (I taxi along them regularly so I know they’re there!) and added them. Then realized that the previous editor had only been adding taxiways that correspond to the painted lines. Reasonable but in reality things are more joined up than that. Food for thought.

So I thought I would check out a large nearby airport. Whoever did this has made a different set of assumptions about what a reasonable level of detail is. Nothing wrong with them, just different.

Then I checked out Chicago O’Hare. Wow. Someone went to town here. Every single parking spot in the parking garage is individually mapped. That seems excessive (and dragged my machine to it’s knees as well). I’m sure some aggregation would be better. Never mind.

Checked out Newark. Much more reasonable level of detail here. But I suppose that depends on what you expect people to use it for. JFK is different again.

It seems like it would good to define use cases and detail levels for this. Not to be prescriptive, just to give editors some kind of framework to consider if it helps organize their work. The wiki does have some information but it’s more about the specifics than overall organization. I expect GIS professionals have a whole framework for this kind of thing but that would be overkill.

I’ll see if I can find anyone interested it working on this. I’m too new around here to figure out how to do that though.

3 days ago

Wraz z wprowadzeniem linii nocnych komunikacji miejskiej w Legnicy zamknąłem trwający kilkanaście miesięcy projekt dotyczący transportu zbiorowego w Zagłębiu Miedziowym. Kolejno zostały wprowadzone sieci komunikacji autobusowej w Polkowicach, Lubinie i Rudnej, Głogowie i Legnicy wraz z gminami ościennymi. Na obszarze podległym opracowaniu, obejmującym 2734,94 km2, mieszka ok. 400 tys. osób. Według moich szacunków był to największy powierzchniowo i ludnościowo fragment obszaru Polski, pozbawiony w OSM opracowania komunikacyjnego.

4 days ago

For some reason, the sidewalks near main roads in Sandy have been deleted without much warning. I just have to question what is with these changes and who is responsible for removing the work of mine and others.

5 days ago

This article was originally written in French here. This English version was partly translated with DeepL.com.

OpenArdenneMap is an open-source map style designed for the production of topographic maps for printing. Based on OpenStreetMap data, it is available for use with QGIS and the Mapnik/cartoCSS libraries. Here is the winter 2025–26 release.

♦

I started working on OpenArdenneMap about nine years ago. My aim was to create a map style for producing high-quality topographic maps intended for printing, using mainly OpenStreetMap data. The main challenge is to automate map production, to limit ‘manual’ corrections as much as possible (without eliminating them entirely). Since then, the style has been used in several mapping projects: together with colleagues, I have set up a website for downloading hiking maps (hiking.osm.be) and have been able to test the deployment of a tile server on www.nobohan.be/webmaps/oam-tile/.

One might think that, since it allows for the production of complete topographic maps, the development of a cartographic style in itself has reached its conclusion. This is not the case. I believe that the techniques and practices involved in developing topographic styles from OpenStreetMap data, in all their diversity and complexity, are still in their infancy. Recent years have seen the advent of numerous cartographic styles for on-screen maps, as well as the emergence of virtual tiles and 3d rendering. However, simple cartographic generalisation techniques and basic principles of cartographic semantics are rarely utilised in these new map styles.

This winter, I was able to draw on the work of a master’s student in geography, Noé Monjoie, to investigate these cartographic generalisation techniques in particular using OpenStreetMap data. The aim was to test algorithms for transforming geographical data to address certain representation issues in OpenArdenneMap (and in other digital cartographic styles). Only a very small part of his work has been incorporated into this new release. I hope the rest will follow in future updates. In the meantime, here are the new features of the “Winter 2025–26” version:

Avoiding label overlap between layers

♦

Using the QGIS overlay_intersects() function, you can prevent labels from one layer from appearing on top of another. In this case, the aim is to prevent waterway labels from appearing within bodies of water. For reasons of hydrological continuity, OpenStreetMap contributors are encouraged to ensure that waterways feeding into bodies of water cross them from both sides. As the waterway segment is often interrupted at the boundary of the body of water, this causes a conflict between the labels of the water area and the waterway. A conflict that previously often resulted in the absence of labels for the water area.

Rendering of a culvert symbol

♦

When a stream or drain passes under a road or path, this is a culvert, which differs from a bridge that provides a wider passage for the stream. This difference between a bridge and a culvert exists in OpenStreetMap data (tags bridge=yes vs tunnel=culvert). By using the orientation of the waterway segment passing through this culvert, as well as the entry and exit points of this passage, we arrive at this rendering indicating the culverts, a rendering directly inspired by Belgian IGN maps from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Bridge symbol rendering

♦

Using the same principle, here is a rendering of small bridges (on paths) and boardwalks (differentiated by length) that takes into account the length of the bridge.

Grouping elements with QGIS clustering

♦

Finally, an improvement based on Noé’s work, involving the clustering of certain point symbols (in this case, a picnic table) in QGIS. This was already handled well in Mapnik, but I hadn’t yet figured out how to do it in QGIS (in reality, it’s simply a symbology option for points).

Looking ahead, as mentioned earlier, Noé’s work has opened up several possibilities for data generalisation that I hope to be able to implement. Finally, QGIS 4 is due out this year, and so the new features brought by this major new version of QGIS will inevitably help OpenArdenneMap to evolve.

6 days ago

Looking back at my OpenStreetMap journey, two dates will always hold a very special place in my heart—June 21 and October 14.

On June 21, I achieved something I had been working toward for a long time: I became the top mapper in KU Youth Mappers. That moment felt surreal. From the days when I was just learning how to draw my first building on the map to reaching the top position—it was a journey filled with patience, consistency, and continuous learning. Every late night of mapping, every small correction, and every effort finally felt worth it.

But the journey didn’t stop there.

On October 14, I reached another incredible milestone—I became a top mapper in UN Mappers. This achievement felt even bigger, as it connected my work to a global level. Contributing alongside mappers from around the world and being recognized among them made me realize how far I had come.

These milestones are not just about rankings or titles. They represent growth, dedication, and the impact of consistent effort. From starting out as a beginner to becoming a leading contributor in both university and international communities, my journey has transformed me—not just as a mapper, but as a learner and contributor.

Sometimes I pause and think about how it all started with simple curiosity. And now, those small steps have led to achievements I once never imagined.

This journey reminds me that with passion and persistence, even the smallest edits can lead to the biggest milestones.

6 days ago

Before

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After

♦

6 days ago

Hello people, I’ve been Hoping to help my local town of Exeter and nearby plymouth, ive so far made houses in both sherford and torpoint, ive also named the schools of Clyst vale and Stoke hill, And im hoping to do more to help the community of OpenStreetMap

-SouthWestTrains1

6 days ago