On Friday December 13th we will be moving some of our infrastructure to a new hosting location.

The following services will not be available for the morning and potentially some of the afternoon:

osm.ch
osm.li
planet.osm.ch
tagfinder.osm.ch
taginfo.osm.ch
tasks.osm.ch
didok.osm.ch
sosm.ch

Sorry for the late notice.

Here I go again…. part 2.

I was pleased to see someone pick up on my first diary item. OSM weekly is hardly the New York Times, yet I know that the editors like posts which are constructively critical, and they did spot that I was hoping for something to happen which would let us all “do better”.

I decided to look in more detail at how the lack of detail was leaving validators with a lot of mapping to do. There is an age-old idea that validators are “second mappers”, who mop up the unnoticed details that mappers leave behind. There have to be limits to that, and there usually are. I have seen in HOTOSM activations where validation standards of completeness are quite strict and fussy with any more than a handful of missed objects getting a do-over request. That was never the intent with #osmIRL. That said the validator mapping more than the person marking the tile as done is the hallmark of needing to signal the tile cannot be validated.

The most useful tool for measuring how much is being left behind is the Heigit dashboard. Right here a query on the Fingal area from a date proximate to the last tile being marked as done yields up the size of this gap. The baseline before validation started on December 18th 2023 was 110k buildings, and up to November 10th 2024 this had risen to 118k. In context this is an extra 8k buildings, meaning 7.5% of the intended task objects were missed by mappers. On the face of it a 92.5% completeness rate would seem good, but then this relies on several factors, which I will set out here now and state that I may reveal some deeper problems.

The fact that many of the heavily developed and dense urban areas are unvalidated as of today’s date then this must mean that the 7.5% missing rate is going to increase significantly.

But this is far from the only issue to be revealed as validation continues. I have observed that tasks that are incomplete are being validated. And because a small number of mappers were involved that this issue was repeated and replicated.

• Some mappers validated their own tasks. This is literally a case of the blind validating for the blind. A mapper doesn’t see, cannot recognise or has misinterpreted the task instructions they are going to simply compound their error via error cosanguinity.

• Some mappers and validators had a common mis-interpretation of the tasks. This is literally the problem of group-think, assuming that the mapper’s take is correct, or not having the experience to assert that the mapping needed to be re-done.

On the basis of these last two points I am positing that a 92.5% completion rate is optimistic. I will post again demonstrating proof of the issue with validators.

As a friend and I were adding the 57th tag to a climbing gym in Belgium, I wondered what the element with the highest tag count is. I couldn’t find such stats (which may be a good thing), so I downloaded belgium-latest.osm.pbf from Geofabrik and wrote a simple Python script that uses Pyosmium to do some counting for me.

Without further ado: the Belgian record for highest tag count is… the relation for Belgium itself actually, which currently has 491 tags. The non-relation with the highest tag count is, boringly, the node for Belgium, with 288 tags. Next up are Brussels (156 tags), the Council of the European Union (79 tags), one particular section of the River Meuse that somehow got its name mapped in 57 different languages (65 tags) and the Irish embassy (also 65 tags). Next up is the first element that has a lot of tags not because it’s just flooded with languages! This maritime beacon north of Antwerp in the River Scheldt has a respectable 63 tags to describe all its lights. Our climbing gym is not far off from this one, and has a lot more diverse information in its tags I’d say.

I noticed that the relation for Belgium also has a high version number, it’s at its 1043th revision. That prompted me to take a look at version numbers too. But 1043 isn’t even close to our record, which goes to the superroute relation for the E40 (version 3141). Granted, that’s international. The version record for a purely Belgian object is the hiking route GR 126 (version 1103) from Brussels to Membre-sur-Semois. Just like with tag counts, I find it more interesting to look at non-relations here, though. There the honour for highest version goes to one of the outer rings of a farmland multipolygon south of Mons, which is at version 277. Funnily enough, in contrast with its senior version number, it almost has no tags to speak of, only a source!

And should I even say… If you’re now inclined to go add tags or bump versions just for the sake of it, don’t. If I ever do a follow up on these stats and see that you’ve done this anyway, I will flat out ignore your object in future reports (yes!) and generally be very cross with you.

Lougouma round

Some of the most often seen pages on taginfo are the pages describing a key. To be more specific, the “Overview” tab on that page. And it has never really looked that great. The layout is strange and a lot of prime screen real estate is wasted.

And to make matters worse, the layout totally breaks on small screens:

So it was high time we did something about it. The new design is built around fixed size boxes containing different information about that key, as you can see here:

The boxes will wrap as needed, so the whole thing is still reasonably pretty on small screens:

To fit the values distribution chart into a box, it had to change. It uses a 3D layout now which shows a lot more information. I threw in a small version of the chronology chart and instead of just showing the image from the wiki, a list of wiki pages is shown that link directly to those pages. So there is a lot more information right there on the overview page.

Oh, and all of this goes for the tag pages and the relation type pages, too. They have also been updated with the new layout.

An added benefit of those boxes is that we can have more or less of them as needed. For instance when there is no wiki page about a key, the wiki box will not show up. For some tags (like website or wikidata) an extra box will be shown with links. I am already thinking about more boxes to add, but this will come at another time.

The new layout is now online, try it out at taginfo.openstreetmap.org.

I created this for my own use, but am sharing it here because it might be useful to other people too. This is the style and there’s a brief readme.

It uses different colours to highlight different map layers. It’s not supposed to look nice; just to show you what is there.

I believe that everything described in the schema is included. If a feature does not appear it might be because:

• it’s not in the Shortbread schema.
• it’s in the schema, but is for some reason missing from the OSMF vector tiles.
• it’s in the tiles, but there’s a bug in this style.

There are lots of features in the first category, and there seem to be a couple in the second. If anyone finds anything in the third category please let me know!

28/11/2024-04/12/2024

Community

• Ciarán Staunton has reflected on the progress of the #osmIRL_buildings campaign, an initiative to map all buildings in Ireland accurately on OpenStreetMap, addressing data gaps for planning and housing projects. While initial enthusiasm mapped several counties, challenges including inconsistent mapping quality and burnout have emerged over time. Ciarán asked for skilled mappers to help validate and improve building data for better accuracy.
• Dr Diego Rosselli’s 20-year journey to visit all 1105 municipalities in Colombia relied ► heavily on OpenStreetMap for navigation through remote and uncharted areas. His use of OSM highlights its unique value as a collaborative mapping tool. His travels have inspired others and contributed to improving map quality, leaving a legacy through detailed routes, public talks, and a book documenting his adventure.
• jbcharron has proposed ► a new StreetComplete quest to map the line_attachment tag, detailing how electrical lines connect to supports like poles or pylons. While adding a new quest is technically straightforward due to robust resources and community support, the process requires effort to refine the proposal. The quest will debut in version v60.0 of the StreetComplete app.
• ClaireV highlighted the Open Marchabilité ► project, which aims to improve pedestrian data in OpenStreetMap by exploring ways to describe, enhance, and use walkability and accessibility data. One of the outcomes of this project is the OSMarche web application, an interactive web map for assessing how well pedestrian data is mapped in OSM in any French city.

Events

• Hokkosha reported ► that the State of the Map Japan ‘2024’ ► will take place on Saturday 15 February 2025 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. The event will be jointly organised ► with FOSS4G Hokkaido.
• The call for speakers for the State of the Map US 2025 conference is open until Friday 31 January. The conference will take place in Boston from 19 to 21 June 2025. The theme is ‘Charting the Course’, spotlighting the successes and challenges of mobility mapping.
• In a Trufi webinar on Monday 16 December, research physicists who have studied informal transport data on OSM will discuss their findings on surprising efficiency and user-centric design.

Education

• KuboF Hromoslav highlighted [EO]► efforts in training new contributors for OpenStreetMap through an Erasmus+ funded project. They recount workshops and events where participants learned to edit OSM using tools like StreetComplete, focusing on accessible and community-driven map creation. The initiative has also explored collaboration between Wikimedia, Esperanto, and OSM, aiming to enhance technical skills and civic engagement.
• Jean-Christophe Becquet has authored an article titled ‘OpenStreetMap for Education Stakeholders’, which is part of the project Building a Dynamic Around OpenStreetMap ► with the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park, France.

OSM research

• Floris Calkoen and others presented a framework for conducting high-resolution, planetary-scale coastal analytics, based on OSM coastline data. The Global Coastal Transect System can be obtained freely and tutorials are available as well.

Humanitarian OSM

• ^[1] Severe floods and landslides have devastated the Sukabumi Regency, West Java, Indonesia, after two days of intense rainfall, with over 100 mm of rain falling in a short period. Upon being informed about this news, the Indonesian OpenStreetMap community has initiated humanitarian mapping activities around that area.
• HOT wrapped up its Nigeria floods activation with a detailed After Action Review. Read it to find out how Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Nigerian Red Cross, and Humanitarian Mappers requested OSM data in the region and shared their mapping priorities.

Maps

• geoObserver has highlighted ► carbonmapper, an interactive web map that provides observations of methane and carbon dioxide super emitters around the world, with the goal of promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by making methane and carbon dioxide data accessible and actionable.
• Daniel Capilla has published ► about the Mapa navideño de Málaga 2024 (Málaga’s Christmas attractions), which integrates OSM data on the XMAS-Map.
• Christoph Hormann described the hidden intricacies behind the line-dashing techniques used in ancient, pre-digital cartography styles and emphasised that it is not simply a matter of mechanically and blindly repeating the defined dashing pattern along the line. Using this as inspiration, he has improved the pipeline dashing pattern renderings in the AC-Style.
• Scy has developed a userscript that modifies the OpenStreetMap website’s styling to invert and hue-rotate the colours of the map tiles.
• Protomaps Extracts, a web portal that offers minute-updated OSM extracts for any area containing up to 100 million nodes, has been migrated to an OpenStreetMap US Community Project and is now available at slice.openstreetmap.us.

OSM in action

• Gonzalo Espinoza, from Esri, announced that the GEOGLOWS streamflow service, which offers global river discharge forecasts, now dynamically displays river names sourced from OpenStreetMap data. These names are automatically updated in the GEOGLOWS service directly from OpenStreetMap, so when missing river names are added to the main OpenStreetMap database, they will appear in the GEOGLOWS 2.0 pop-up within a few hours.
• The map in the Call a Bike app of Deutsche Bahn can now be displayed using OpenStreetMap.
• On Mastodon, Bastian Greshake Tzovaras used OSM data to explore the most frequent names for neighbourhoods in Argentina.

Open Data

• Maxar’s Open Data Program provides satellite imagery for major crises, offering pre- and post-event data to support humanitarian efforts. Imagery, released under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0, helps organisations respond more effectively to natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, and wildfires.
• OpenStreetMap US presented the latest updates to the Public Domain Map (PDMap) project. It allows mappers across the United States to edit, contribute, and consume federal datasets via a collaborative user environment and modified versions of popular OpenStreetMap tools, thereby simultaneously improving government and OSM datasets.

Programming

• Mapsy is a Python library designed for rendering static maps with ease, supporting layers like tiled rasters, polygons, lines, and symbols. It is compatible with Cairo for rendering, thereby allowing users to incorporate OpenStreetMap tiles and custom geometries, making it ideal for creating visually rich map outputs for various applications.
• Simon Poole’s osm-area-tags provides data on which OpenStreetMap tags imply that a closed way is an area, distinguishing between polygons and linear loops. The project supports improving tagging clarity by addressing cases where tags may imply both linear and area features. It builds on data from the iD editor’s area definitions for enhanced mapping consistency.
• Rphyrin shared their experience of trying to fix a missing map feature in a Jakarta, Indonesia, public transport integration Wikipedia article. After tracing the missing line coordinates through Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, they discovered that the MediaWiki Maplink extension directly sources data from OpenStreetMap, but updates can take days to process; patience is required while awaiting changes to appear.

Releases

• Vespucci has released version 20.2, highlighting the ‘automatically generated summary of changes’ in the comment field.
• Travo is a smartphone city guide designed to enhance exploration by combining interactive maps, audio storytelling, and historical insights. Created by solo developer Bogdan Nichovski, it features self-guided tours, itinerary planning, and support for 13 languages, with 8 free cities and more available for one-time purchases. The app uses OpenStreetMap as its base map.
• The release 2.0.1 of the osm2pgsql fixed the following small issues from the previous version: the scheme parameter of replication, installs the osm2pgsql_find_changed_ways function in the correct schema, and installs the osm2pgsql-gen binary by default.
• StreetCritic is an interactive tool for evaluating urban streetscapes using OpenStreetMap data. Users can rate streets on various aspects, provide feedback for improvement, and explore scores contributed by others, aiming to foster community-driven insights into urban design and infrastructure quality.

Did you know that …

• … you can keep track of different aspects of OpenStreetMap via RSS/atom feeds?
• … Thibault Molleman shared a discovery about Overpass queries, highlighting that beyond filtering for objects last modified by a specific user using nwr(user:Steve), you can also query for the objects that a user has modified at any point with nwr(user_touched:Steve)?

OSM in the media

• A special podcast episode celebrated 20 years of OpenStreetMap, discussing ► its origins, achievements, and future directions. Hosted by Focus on Linux and supported by FOSSGIS e.V., the episode features key figures from the community reflecting on the project’s impact on open geospatial data. Listen to the episode on Podigee .

Other “geo” things

• Researchers at Berkeley Lab have used AI to analyse historical maps, identifying over 1300 potential undocumented orphaned oil and gas wells in California and Oklahoma. This innovative approach helps locate wells leaking methane and other harmful substances, supporting environmental clean-up efforts and scalable mapping for other regions.
• The ‘How to Map Caves’ talk explored the evolution of cave mapping, from traditional sighting compasses, tape measures, and paper and pencil, to modern technologies such as laser measures, Bluetooth data transfer, and open-source software for creating adjustable 3D maps.
• MIT researchers have developed an AI tool that generates realistic satellite images of future flood scenarios using generative adversarial networks combined with physics-based flood models. Tested in Houston, Texas, with Hurricane Harvey data, the tool provides accurate predictions and helps communities visualise risks, aiming to improve disaster preparedness and evacuation decisions. The ‘Earth Intelligence Engine’ is available for experimentation online.
• The Proceedings of the VII Jornada de Geotecnologias do Estado do Rio de Janeiro – (JGEOTEC) 2024 has been published ► by the Editora IVIDES. The e-book, which has public access, includes 106 chapters by 253 authors, following nine thematic axes. You can read ► more about it in Raquel Dezidério Souto’s diary.
• Toronto accountant Duncan McCabe spent 10 months running over 120 carefully planned routes to create a dancing stickman animation on Strava. Using the city’s grid-like streets, he choreographed his movements to the tune of Sofi Tukker’s ‘Purple Hat’, drawing viral attention for his inventive ‘Strava Art’. McCabe’s dedication showcased creativity and determination, inspiring praise from Strava and social media.
• Hidden within the National Library of Scotland lies ‘The Void’, a passageway revealing remnants of Libberton’s Wynd, a steep street in old Edinburgh that was demolished in the 1830s to make way for the George IV Bridge. Discovered in the 1990s, this forgotten street, complete with its foundations and chambers, offers a glimpse into the city’s bustling past, from merchants and taverns to public executions, and is now partially used as library infrastructure.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2024-12-06
København	OSMmapperCPH		2024-12-08
Bonn	Research & Development Mapathon zur Untersützung von Ärzte ohne Grenzen		2024-12-09
Bruxelles – Brussel	OpenStreetMap meetup in Brussels		2024-12-09
Grenoble	Atelier de décembre du groupe local de Grenoble		2024-12-09
中正區	OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #71		2024-12-09
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2024-12-11
	Reunión Diciembre 2024 Asociación OSM España (Online)		2024-12-10
Salt Lake City	OSM Utah Monthly Map Night		2024-12-12
Lorain County	OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup	✓	2024-12-12
Žilina	Missing Maps mapathon Žilina #15		2024-12-12
Bochum	Bochumer OSM Treffen		2024-12-12
München	Münchner OSM-Treffen		2024-12-12
Moers	Community-Hackday vom 13. – 15. Dezember 2024 im JuNo, Moers Repelen		2024-12-13 – 2024-12-15
Padova	OSMit 2024		2024-12-14
	LCCWG SubCommittee – OSMF Affiliation Models Volunteers Meetup		2024-12-14
City of London	London xmas pub meet-up		2024-12-16
Amsterdam	Maptime Amsterdam: Christmas Mapping Party		2024-12-17
	Missing Maps London: (Online) Mid-Month Mapathon [eng]		2024-12-17
Lyon	Réunion du groupe local de Lyon		2024-12-17
Bonn	183. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn		2024-12-17
City of Edinburgh	OSM Edinburgh Social Meet-up		2024-12-17
Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2024-12-18
Stainach-Pürgg	15. Österreichischer OSM-Stammtisch (online)		2024-12-18
Zürich	Research & Development online Mapathon to support Doctors Without Borders (online)	✓	2024-12-18
	[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2024-12-19
Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2024-12-19

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 Dezidério Souto, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, derFred, mcliquid.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

Últimas contribuciones

¡Ya la vereda Cascajo Abajo se encuentra totalmente mapeada!

He tardado un montón de días mapeando esta vereda, en parte porque hubo semanas en las que no cointribuí al mapa, y porque es una vereda considerablemente grande.

Consideraciones

He estado pensando en la posibilidad de usar DAMN para seguir con el proyecto de mapeo de Marinilla. Aunque la infraestructura del Tasking Manager de HOT es muy conveniente, y la Comunidad OSM Colombia ha sido lo suficientemente amable conmigo como para dejarme alojar este proyecto en el grupo de Colombia, considero que sería apropiado migrar a una alternativa “individual” de mapeo organizado. Aún no estoy muy familiarizado con la herramienta, y valdría la pena empezar a hacer pruebas. Por el momento, la próxima vereda (La Esperanza) se va a montar en los próximos días en el Tasking Manager. Espero que para la vereda número 4 o 5 ya pueda migrar a DAMN, si lo considero viable.

Sostenibilidad

Creo que el proyecto, tal como se ha venido desarrollando, es un poco insostenible. Uno de los elementos principales de OSM es la posibilidad de trabajar en comunidad. Por ahora, esto ha sido un esfuerzo primordialmente individual, y no me gustaría que se mantenga así por mucho tiempo. Por varias razones: * No es humanamente posible (por lo menos en un tiempo razonable) mapear todo el municipio por mi cuenta. * Me gustaría poder convocar a la comunidad de Marinilla y de otras partes del país para que ayuden a tener mapas urbanos y rurales consolidados.

He pensado en la posibilidad de hablar de OSM en las instituciones educativas de Marinilla, y así poder ganar contribuidores de la región. También he considerado la posibilidad de agregar un poco más de información a las veredas que ya han sido mapeadas y hacer un trabajo con las Juntas de Acción Comunal para que tengan acceso al mapa y que, por medio de esta experiencia (en caso de que sea favorable), se pueda replicar en otras veredas y darle impulso al proyecto, bien sea incluyendo más personas que mapeen o que se generen algunos incentivos para continuar con más intensidad. Por el momento, será un trabajo lento, pero constante.

Siguiente paso

Antes de seguir con La Esperanza, me tomaré un tiempo para incluir todas las Sedes Educativas en zona urbana y en zona rural. Demarcando tanto los puntos como los terrenos que hacen parte de la sede.

Como lo dije anteriormente, la siguiente vereda es La Esperanza.

Espero que la próxima actualización no tarde mucho en llegar.

¡A mapear!

هل من رار

In dipalpur okara Punjab Pakistan

Una crónica inspirada en la hazaña del Dr. Diego Rosselli y la potencia de OpenStreetMap

En las entrañas de la geografía colombiana, donde los mapas a menudo se revelan como bosquejos incompletos, este médico neurólogo emprendió una odisea sin precedentes. El Dr. Diego Rosselli, armado con su espíritu aventurero y sus dos Land Rover (El tinieblo y el caricare), se propuso recorrer cada municipio de Colombia. Durante 20 años, este incansable explorador recorrió 1.105 municipios, trazando una ruta que lo convirtió en el primero colombiano en lograrlo y convertirlo en un referente del turismo y la geografía nacional.

Lo que hace aún más fascinante esta travesía es la herramienta que el Dr. Rosselli utilizó para orientar su viaje en varias oportunidades, OpenStreetMap (OSM). Este proyecto de mapeo colaborativo, permite a cualquier persona crear, editar y consultar mapas digitales, que se convirtió en el copiloto invaluable del médico en su recorrido por los caminos menos transitados de Colombia.

OpenStreetMap: Más que un mapa, un compañero de viaje

A diferencia de los mapas convencionales, OSM ofrece una flexibilidad y precisión incomparables. El Dr. Rosselli pudo encontrar vías carreteables y trochas que no estaban registradas en otros visores web, lo que le permitió acceder a lugares remotos y descubrir la riqueza cultural y natural de Colombia.

“Openstreetmap casi siempre supera a otros servicios”, afirma el Dr. Rosselli. Gracias a esta herramienta, logro encontrar rutas alternativas, evitar peligros y descubrir paisajes que nunca se imaginó.

La capacidad de OSM para ser actualizado en tiempo real por cualquier usuario fue fundamental. Al encontrar errores o información faltante en los mapas, los voluntarios pueden realizar las correcciones necesarias y compartirlas con la comunidad OSM. De esta manera, no solo se benefició de la información de otros, sino que también contribuyó a mejorar los mapas.

Un legado para Colombia y el mundo

La travesía del Dr. Rosselli es mucho más que una aventura personal. Al documentar su viaje en su libro Pueblos y ciudades de Colombia y compartir sus recorridos a traves de X e Instagram , está dejando un legado invaluable para Colombia y para el mundo. Sus recorridos detallados y precisos pueden llegar a ser una herramienta fundamental para el desarrollo de las regiones más remotas del país, facilitando el acceso a servicios básicos como salud, educación y transporte.

Además, la iniciativa del Dr. Rosselli ha inspirado a otros exploradores y amantes de la geografía, en su última charla Explorando la Colombia inaccesible Este aventurero narra con detalles el viaje a los 42 municipios que no tienen conexión terrestre con el país.

El futuro de la cartografía colaborativa

La historia del Dr. Rosselli y OpenStreetMap demuestra el poder de la colaboración y la tecnología para transformar nuestra comprensión del mundo. Al permitir que cualquier persona contribuya a la creación de mapas, OSM está democratizando la cartografía y empoderando a las comunidades locales.

En un futuro cercano, es probable que veamos cada vez más iniciativas como la del Dr. Rosselli, en las que exploradores, científicos y ciudadanos comunes trabajen juntos para crear mapas más detallados y precisos de nuestro planeta. Estos mapas no solo serán útiles para la navegación y la planificación de viajes, sino que también serán fundamentales para abordar desafíos globales como el cambio climático y la conservación de la biodiversidad.

La odisea del Dr. Diego Rosselli es un recordatorio de que la exploración y la cartografía no son actividades del pasado, sino que siguen siendo relevantes y necesarias en nuestro mundo cada vez más conectado. Gracias a herramientas como OpenStreetMap, estamos descubriendo nuevos horizontes y construyendo un futuro más sostenible para todos.

Severe floods and landslides devastated Sukabumi Regency, West Java, after two days of intense rainfall, with over 100 mm of rain falling in a short period, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). On Wednesday, December 4, the overflow of the Cikaso and Cibening Rivers inundated numerous areas, displacing residents and severing access roads. The hardest-hit areas included Palabuhanratu, Sagaranten, and Pabuaran. Floodwaters reached heights of 80–90 cm, submerging homes and halting transportation.

In Sagaranten, neighborhoods like Kampung Rangcabungur faced dramatic rescue operations as narrow alleys flooded waist-deep. Rescue teams, battling strong currents, evacuated several infants and their mothers. “We successfully rescued two to three babies. It was a tense process, but thankfully, everyone was saved,” said the Head of the Sukabumi Police’s Samapta Unit.

Flooding impacted at least 27 villages across 20 districts, with seven districts, including Ciemas and Gegerbitung, reporting widespread inundation. Landslides struck 14 locations, particularly in Simpenan, Warungkiara, and Palabuhanratu, while soil movements were reported in Cikembar and Bantargadung. The collapse of a 12-meter-long bridge on the Loji-Puncak Darma road added to the region’s challenges.

In Kampung Parungseah, Desa Curugluhur, and neighboring areas, the Cikaso River’s overflow swept away vehicles and flooded dozens of homes. Officials from the Sukabumi Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) identified six districts as flood zones and seven districts as landslide hotspots.

Emergency response teams, including 61 personnel from the National Police’s SAR unit, were deployed to assist in rescue and recovery efforts. Local authorities have begun repairing infrastructure and monitoring weather conditions as heavy rains continue to threaten the region.

Upon learning about this news, I used OSM_PANTAU! to explore the humanitarian mapping activities by the Indonesian community in the affected region.

The circles are color-coded to indicate the recency of activity: red represents more recent updates, while blue indicates older ones.

Captura de pantalla de XMAS-Map mostrando las atracciones navideñas de Málaga en 2023, basado en datos de OpenStreetMap. Créditos: Colaboradores de OpenStreetMap y XMAS-Map.

El Ayuntamiento de Málaga está actualizando su página web con las actividades que se vienen desarrollando en el municipio con ocasión de las fiestas navideñas de 2024. También ha publicado ya la programación oficial de eventos (PDF 3.71 MB) y la guía de belenes (PDF 7.25 MB).

No tenía pensamiento este año de actualizar el mapa navideño de Málaga en OpenStreetMap, al menos no de la forma sistemática como lo hice el año pasado. No obstante, sí me gustaría animar a otros a colaborar en su actualización.

En la Navidad de 2022, se añadieron al mapa navideño de Málaga 9 belenes, 7 buzones de Reyes Magos, 3 alumbrados navideños, 2 mercadillos, 1 pista de patinaje sobre hielo y 1 árbol de Navidad. En la Navidad de 2023, se actualizaron los datos y se añadieron algunos objetos nuevos, logrando un mapa navideño de Málaga que mostraba 7 árboles de Navidad, 2 tiendas de artículos navideños, 12 belenes, 10 buzones de Reyes / Papá Noel, 4 eventos, 2 iluminaciones y 4 mercados navideños.

Toda la información necesaria sobre cómo mapear atracciones navideñas está disponible en el wiki de OSM. Los resultados de la actualización se podrán visualizar en el mapa navideño creado por Miche, en OpenStreetBrowser o en la aplicación móvil OsmAnd, seleccionando la categoría de Navidad.

¡Feliz Navidad!

P. D. (2024-12-08): La propuesta de mapear atracciones navideñas de Málaga apareció en el número 750 del semanario de OSM.

Today, panning in Kampala, Uganda, I noticed so many place=village and place=neighbourhood , often the same name is duplicated.

Uganda #Kampala #BadMapping

MapSwipe on the Web Experience

Recently, I had the privilege of leading a MapSwipe training session for a corporate group, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. While I’ve conducted online trainings before, this one felt particularly special. Despite my initial nerves, I was able to deliver a smooth and engaging training session.

Initially, I felt a bit nervous about taking on the role, especially since I was filling in for a colleague. “Corporate” to me also sounded really scary and extremely formal. However, with a bit of preparation and the support of a wonderful colleague, Nicole, I gained the confidence to deliver a successful training session. I focused on guiding participants through the web version of MapSwipe, a tool close to my heart.

To prepare for the training, I immersed myself in the web version of MapSwipe every single day for 2 weeks, leveraging the support of a helpful colleague. I also selected a relevant project for the training, focusing on water scarcity in Gokwe, to demonstrate the practical applications of the tool. The exact project I planned to use got completed only 5 days after putting it up! I was confused, but then decided I could still expand the AOI in the same region because of the prolonged droughts. This worked perfectly fine, and I got to use a project that I had not only put up but also that I am working on with the Africa Matters Initiative.

I logged in at least 10 minutes before the start of the training session, tested my computer and setup. The host started the meeting; we said hello and 5 minutes past the hour we started. Honestly it took me only 8 minutes to go through the slides and thereafter went on to the live demo of the web app. This is where I took my time, went very slowly, communicating with my audience as I had a smaller group of people on the call. I let them follow through with signing up and to make the training interactive, I encouraged participants to work alongside me on the live project. This hands-on approach helped them grasp the concepts quickly and effectively. We discussed building identification techniques, data validation, and the importance of community engagement. The debates made the room come alive and got them to pay extra attention. I loved the interaction and how they found the whole idea really cool.

When I had 10 minutes left, I then moved to showing the community stats, downloading the data and shared a bit about the HOT Tasking Manager. I really enjoyed this experience and I am still head over heels about it, so much so that after filling in my colleague I rushed to text my mentor Sam about my experience with the group. Sam is the wonderful being who introduced me to MapSwipe and Nicole is the best buddy who puts me in the spotlight. I call Sam my GIS muscle as his inbox is loaded with my GIS support requests. Nicole is the morning sun who is always illuminating my strength to the world.

The MapSwipe community continues to amaze me with its kindness and support. I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with such talented and passionate individuals. Through their guidance and encouragement, I’ve been able to grow as a mapper and contribute to meaningful projects while impacting the communities around me at the same time.

Such experiences continue to reinforce my belief in the power of collaboration and the importance of sharing knowledge. I’m excited to continue learning and contributing to the open mapping community and supporting others on their mapping journeys.

MapSwipe >OpenStreetMap >Geospatial >Community >Training

Backround

About 6 years ago now, the Ireland OSM community had a bunch of online and face-to-face discussions. There was a desire to have a common campaign, rather than everyone just paddling their own canoe, mapping old boundaries, addding 110KV monster pylons, plotting the holy stones of Clonrickert, or whatever you are having yourself.

Why Buildings?

And so #osmIRL_buildings was born. It took lots of months to pull together. There was a discussion document put out, and lots of decisions and guidance via videos, long conversations on Telegram, and frequent issues discussed on the mailing lists. The task was designed with a few things in mind. Firstly, the community recognized that compared to other territories, we had relatively small levels of completion of buildings. Secondly, a prominent academic had stated that the Irish Government knew more about the number and condition of cattle than it did about buildings. Thirdly, a lot of citizen science projects were trying to collate and capture where derelict and disused buildings were located in cities, with the hope that they might be repurposed for housing. Fourthly, there was a National Planning Framework launched in 2018 that concluded that the spaces for the next 1 million people to live in could not be sprawl outside of Ireland’s cities and towns. There were other reasons too, but those are the ones I recall, so apologies to all those other reasons and their proponents. Nevertheless, all of the ones I mention here could have been addressed by the creation of a fully open spatial dataset of the buildings on the island, and not what passes for open data by data.gov.ie.

Reservations

Of course there were detractors; some mappers worried about the threat of being inundated by the glibness of millions of “building”=”yes” objects. One man in Kilkenny was worried that the climate would have changed by the time the task would finish. He might yet be right.

Kick Off

The #osmIRL_buildings campaign began with gusto and with a small number of regular contributors, county-level tasks on a task manager. What we aimed to do was make a base-map, in other words a very foundational level map, with correct building shapes and all buildings attempted. We had lots of good banter we got going and mapped several counties, Kilkenny, Sligo and Carlow being first across the line.

My Break

Four years into it I stopped making regular contributions, but egged everyone else on and promised to come back. And I kept my promise this year initially hittting StreetComplete, and leveraging the fresh new buildings and completing quests and adding addresses out on the ground. However, that led me to realise that the basic mapping wasn’t very accurate. That ranged from wrong guesses at terraces, to whole buildings being missing and lots of buildings left with the “yes” and “house” tags.

Current Offerings in the tasks

So this drew me back to JOSM, where I started to see the horror of the full picture. This included tasks mapped where existing buildings left by earlier mappers were left “as-is”. Where mappers added objects without trying to offset (so you are left with 2+ offsets in a small area). Although the tasks were very specific about “attempt all buildings” and “provide the correct shape” that’s miles away from what is now being done.

How it was meant to be

I won’t speculate here about the drop in standards of what we are doing, but I will point out that long-range campaigns bear their own special risks, and if we had a time machine I would use it to ensure mappers gets breaks and avoid burnouts where the collective quality drops to this standard.

If you are a craft mapper we need your help in validating and mapping these tasks according to their instructions. Please help us come together and improve our mapping quality.

Had to write something about this. Well, the USA Geofabrik (Continental + HI and AK) extract is now well over 10GiB. And my poor Garmins still only can handle 4GiB gmapsupp.img files. Yeah, I have to lose over 6GiB of stuff now to get it to fit. I’m not sure how long this is tenable, but yes it’s a continuing struggle to get it to still work…

Session : 11

Topic : 𝑶𝑺𝑴 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓-𝒖𝒑: 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕𝑴𝒂𝒑 Offered by Open Mapping Guru Time: June 20, 2024.

[https://scontent.fdac146-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/4551142911018866296693796_5437558922164529654_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=f727a1&_nc_eui2=AeHKPCJeN681ydiRI3_0dV7CFQB43bQuzKcVAHjdtC7Mp6vmQ6F86SicaMEZu-wWZAicBSjLJujhw9DNqmfRRuN&nc_ohc=qMVGbCqBtJ4Q7kNvgF0XH-Z&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fdac146-1.fna&_nc_gid=Ac3jXITYH-3S525Lb1vjcs&oh=00_AYCdBuhYaeAz-0AckUVCaTK6n1ldy83aAwaNLEiUcoA7tA&oe=67551B84]

Session :10

Open Mapping Guru gifted me for actively participating in the 𝙊𝙎𝙈 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧-𝙪𝙥: 𝙅𝙊𝙎𝙈 𝙋𝙡𝙪𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙨 training under the 🅾🅿🅴🅽 🅼🅰🅿🅿🅸🅽🅶 🅶🆄🆁🆄 Project last June 15,2024.

[https://scontent.fdac146-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/4553476141018820433365049_6528646754341050315_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=f727a1&_nc_eui2=AeEaHZbNk-vr7UUMGJjP55IfMAYv_nN_18EwBi-c3_XwcAcHjhLXbOJ7sbjgAU6aOHYjEufOecT3HhWNTxckD8i&_nc_ohc=_myEQkOSO2IQ7kNvgETnoCx&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fdac146-1.fna&_nc_gid=AVb2PC0BY_lUEdY5dg65kke&oh=00_AYA4B-obZPtEEbqQhT8mSggWKv1sbyZXsIPyc4731wLxdA&oe=67552489]

I learned in this platform about plugins which is related to Josm Map creator application 🙂 Powered by Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific & Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)

Session : 09 I received the new achievement form in the platform of Open Mapping Guru for actively participating in the 𝗥𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗔 Training under the “𝕆𝕡𝕖𝕟 𝕞𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕘𝕦𝕣𝕦” Project last May 24, 2024.

[https://scontent.fdac146-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/455216278_1018792896701136_5975869200195648656_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=f727a1&_nc_eui2=AeEmaZztDj_xusYVFFnF0jbJHRFaXc_XuFUdEVpdz9e4VUa9BzHBHYv3PpsxM27-Lh9TsTbyRKJ-j-okDN3uJLuR&_nc_ohc=NwJJ2FZd5SEQ7kNvgGuio7n&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fdac146-1.fna&_nc_gid=ANIHqkqZtzKVwAC6ti7zeCq&oh=00_AYBSyNnElaJHRocJ8Pbv5GYxv0Vm6pAS2rtdo9Q24N58NA&oe=675513FB]

Thanks to Open Mapping Hub& Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) for creating a space for me to join and get some knowledge. Also thanks to the host Mikko Tamura🏵️

Session: 08📯 𝐎𝐌 𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐮 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐗 𝐇𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝔸𝕔𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕍𝕚𝕤𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕆𝕡𝕖𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕡 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕒” Under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023 last April 12, 2024. Open Mapping Guru🩵

[https://scontent.fdac146-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/440879710_955987262981700_525066599897358830_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=f727a1&_nc_eui2=AeE9xP72zzERGWGRpRaRpqMnoBiD-GH6ThegGIP4YfpOF_dSJcxxkhx3DmvYb0lkd1jw2Qz8PQBlMhlkTUjXDr2X&_nc_ohc=X-xN68_x0xwQ7kNvgGNxPfy&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fdac146-1.fna&_nc_gid=AG8EPbsgIxvOeDKqWNWbEnc&oh=00_AYBjK6dAWYk-A7lD0zulivxhRiUhoUQuf40HKQJVpCcV-g&oe=6755090D]

Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)🥰

Session: 07📯 𝑶𝑴 𝑮𝒖𝒓𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑿 𝑯𝑶𝑻 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝔹𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕔 ℚ𝔾𝕀𝕊 𝔸𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕪𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕤. held last April 19, 2024. Under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023.

[https://scontent.fdac146-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/441286166_955998986313861_5603066662718493266_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=f727a1&_nc_eui2=AeGyVm6NaCDm2J8b9R4fUL-1tBqfKp4DA520Gp8qngMDnc2G5IdHOI3-C86vsgGwA9mepfrMKtcSAhupvqbtlS8Z&_nc_ohc=4lGQbOKj-CkQ7kNvgGYelNI&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fdac146-1.fna&_nc_gid=AS1wsfYL6Wb4GkbGkUMNt71&oh=00_AYCxWl_yAxpuGNWnI8ry1-OK6MyqB6QVIehbowDOMQ3lRQ&oe=67552272]

Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

Session: 06📯 𝐎𝐌 𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐮 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: “𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕒 𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕆𝕊𝕄 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕒 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕆𝕧𝕖𝕣ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤 𝕋𝕦𝕣𝕓𝕠” held last April 27, 2024. under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023.

[https://scontent.fdac146-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/440347288_956004342979992_4279724459264002890_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=f727a1&_nc_eui2=AeEud_82WZ4tm5jYt9qg6EIYIiKlF_pGRNkiIqUX-kZE2TCSYZYbGPNKDsqQEm4XyE48WzBEZaB8dQ6DqerzOAfh&_nc_ohc=be0gTz7C02gQ7kNvgHLWuJN&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fdac146-1.fna&_nc_gid=A0A1EXCx4MbDNVqTlUIls9W&oh=00_AYBZzp77p2gmtgeKh5xhzQj2240fF_f_TXe5Skh69C87YQ&oe=67551A20]

Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some wonderful person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

Session: 05📯 𝑶𝑴 𝑮𝒖𝒓𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑿 𝑯𝑶𝑻 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: “𝕌𝕤𝕖 ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕊𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℚ𝔾𝕀𝕊 - 𝔽𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘”

held last April 26, 2024 under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023. [https://scontent.fdac146-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/440332197_956008699646223_4279802183419937110_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=f727a1&_nc_eui2=AeGQ4TlnPvaWPi0esatHEH93EzCO3zZTgsoTMI7fNlOCymTOqN2RLraNE7Q_odXUHq_aMWz5pNrQFsu5XVzcgq3f&_nc_ohc=F8hIm-c5kMYQ7kNvgHRPJlG&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fdac146-1.fna&_nc_gid=AW6UHIez-981dLbFG_PdNeo&oh=00_AYCpITq4g-gD9rG4lSqBhDW6WV8tU57wK127g_VAxwsEkw&oe=67552863]

Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰