I am ElmoTexas, and, with my username, one might suggest that I hail from Little Elm, Texas. Which is entirely true.

When browsing my corner of the town, I noticed that all the buildings were absent from Sunset Pointe, save a few. My goal in the next few weeks is to get all of these mapped.

I came to OSM via OpenGeoFiction, a website that uses this software. I really like the incentive of this project, and will do whatever I can to make progress on it.

I use JOSM, and recommend everyone to do so, as it is extremely simple and easy to follow.

Anyway, I hope to chat with some down in the comments, and happy mapping!

While editing this evening I scrolled through my community going down the full length of the river that runs through town. I was adding any boat ramps and parking areas that were not already on the map. I found a few boat ramps which are slipways in OSM to be presented differently. I found one that was a line that made a box. I found some that were points. one that was a point along a line, and then some that were just straight lines. I found it interesting to see how some parking lots were areas while others were just points. I would assume that there is no real protocol for how to properly mark a slipway of parking lot. I just wanted to make not of this finding and share it if thats what happens to these diary entries. I am still learning the program and wanted to try this feature out. more for myself to remember that there are many ways to skin a cat.

next project may be marking the points along the Colorado river where there are campgrounds.

The great utility of Sentinel images is that it provides the most recent images, almost weekly, at resolutions up to 10m/pixel, that can help much on mapping landuse, urbanization and major features on OSM, mostly on remote places not usally acessible to survey.

Example: Growing human occupation in Amazonia
Location: osm.org/edit#map=16/-9.5540/-72.1440

Bing and DG Image (Hi-res), date of tiles here 2006:

… See full entry

I thought I’d digitize the buildings and sidewalks in my hometown of Earlville, Iowa to learn how to add data to OSM. I learned that sometimes it’s helpful to switch between maps to get more complete data. The Bing map was more recent but not as clear so I’d use the other clear map most of the time. I knew the town council had mandated that everyone put a sidewalk in front of their house and the clear map didn’t show this so I had to switch to the Bing map which had them. Unfortunately the maps didn’t quite line up so I had to do some interpolation. I also learned that it’s helpful to go to a blurry map at times especially if that map is from a different angle or different time of year as that can help see a roof outline hidden by a tree on a clear map. I know the subject line says, “Finished” and that I’ve visited it a few times to correct or improve a few things and will probably continue to do that as I become more proficient - so I’m really not “finished”. The oddest thing I ran into was how to define the denomination of a church that was a combination of two (separate with semicolon). I’m writing an app at work to pull data from OSM and create a map in our format so I have to remind myself that many values can have multiple values.

My first-week at kaart internship summer of maps, I was so excited I didn’t expect that I will able to catch up cause a lot of activities I need to do before I can join the internship so when I enabled to join even though I’m late they still gave me a chance and when I hear that news I was shock and so happy at the same time.

The day I started there a lot of instructions and tasks that you must carry out It’s may not going to be easy but when you carry out that tasks it was so satisfying and by slowly finishing every task that we’ve been met we started enjoying it.

In this week I learned a lot of new things like shortcut keys and some new techniques so we can finish our tasks faster and easier. I’m so excited and I can’t wait to discover new things and learn from them.

The internship program is still continuing and I’m learning a lot from my co-workers and instructor even from my mistake that I have done. When I realized something, it teaches me how to become more competitive and skillful in this field. But still, it’s never been easy for me to map because there are so many things that I need to learn even at this point.

Yesterday they taught us a new skill for mapping or how to create our own tile set for map. Somehow it is interesting, but the idea of designing a map was a hard thing for me. Although a had a hard time in designing yet I’m still learning to overcome it with the help of my colleagues or by practicing my skill for that and it was fun at all.

This week I’m gaining more knowledge and still figuring out my mistake to become a more efficient mapper.

Being part of the Internship Program got me to experience how it is to feel in a workplace. Their mindset when it comes to accomplishing tasks, being serious on their work and how they work, sharing and learning from the experiences of your colleagues, this are just some of the things that I have experienced in this internship.

Being an effective mapper doesn’t just depend on your skill, it also depends on how you cooperate with your colleagues. There are a lot things that I still need to know. Working with others help me understand more about mapping. Not everyone experiences the same thing, tasks can be done in many various ways. The workflow of each person may vary. Being in such an environment, I get to become a better version of myself. Everyone helps each other by sharing their strategies and how things can be done properly. I look forward for the days that are about to come.

After the second week of Kaart’s internship, I gained more experience and knowledge in geo-mapping. My JOSM skills is improving, I tend to use more shortcuts which let me finish my task faster. Aside from my JOSM skills, my experience extended more on each tasks I do and upload.

This week is more on consistent work which is applying our first week of training. I made my work accurate and detailed, in this way my data represented is clean and exact. The whole week I kept correcting my small mistakes which lessened it in my work. So far I am focusing on less errors, steady workflow and uploading accurate data.

Also in this week, we had a small workshop which is about MapBox. We created our own map with our own designed style. I learned something new again and I hope could use it in the future.

I am looking forward for the third week. Again thank you for this opportunity.

This week I mainly focus on what I did last week.The difference is that last week was about relearning the basics of the technicality on what we were about to do for the whole month. At this time using JOSM was quite familiar to me now. I now learned how to map imagery that will not just focus on the roads and buildings but the whole image as a whole also considering the details, accuracy and artistic side of mapping. Fixing some errors was easy now since I already know how to fix the problems and been tackling different errors most of the time. Some errors are difficult since I am thought yet and I am not in that level of solving such as boundary errors.

I was also though on how to design a interactive 3D map. Designing was fun and I was inclined to it. I am still learning and exploring on how to specially the codes of a map. We are still continuing an activity on road connection, still improving how to map an image at a professional level and validating my co-interns to learn what common or new mistakes had happen. I also notice not all mappers have the same logic and ability as one is, so one has a different technique on doing a task and has a specific skill set or strength in mapping, Our director even introduce us on the shallow part of the geo-mapping field and how it is part of IT field.

For me mapping is another opportunity in what I may take in the future as a professional. Since the mapping industry in the Philippines is somehow they say ‘low’ . I would consider it then as a in demand job in the country. Being a mapper and an IT student has its mutual relation to each other which will somehow beneficial to me in being a professional soon.

I have currently worked on these ‘major’ edits

• Updating/Adding Jafai Kuta and Kudang Tenda, in The Gambia
• Adding more buildings in Banjul, The Gambia
• Properly adding and updating Sare Male, The Gambia
• Adding and revising small parks of Skelmersdale, The UK.

Along with some Misc. edits in Asheboro, NC.

NOTE: All edits are made using aerial mapping, and only the ones in Skelmersdale and Asheboro do I have any actual knowledge of the locations.

Beginning in May of 2019, I began importing building footprints for Brown County, Wisconsin. These were sourced from the State Cartographer’s office, and is part of a larger project of importing this data for other counties in the state.

osm.wiki/Wisconsin_Multi-County_Building_Footprint_Import

Over the last few months, we’ve been building an offline-first field mapping tool for the OpenStreetMap ecosystem called Observe. Observe makes field surveying and verification easy for mappers, and works on iOS and Android.

Motivation

Field verification is an important part of keeping OSM data accurate. So far, field mapping exercises are largely manual, cumbersome, or require internet connectivity. OpenStreetMap has an active mobile editing ecosystem, but doesn’t offer the same editing experience as iD for beginners. Most often, mapping campaigns need a tool as good as iD that allows edits from the field to verify existing data and improve data quality.

… See full entry

I don’t like staying in months without adding one edit to my profile. I have to borrow data, power supply to make sure i add my quota to OSM today.

A_Genuine_Lover_of_OSM

#Passion_to_be_top_comes_someday_missingmaps

… See full entry

GSoC 2019 Project

Hello again OSM community! This summer, I will once again be working on a GSoC project to improve the iD editor. This time, my goal is to improve the link between HOTOSM’s Tasking Manager and the iD editor. The Tasking Manager is an incredibly valuable management tool that helps target mapping and gives new users guidance. However, the Tasking Manager has a weak connection with it’s primary OSM editor, iD. Starting an edit changes some settings on the Tasking Manager side, such as locking a task. A user is then sent to the iD editor who makes edits normally, guided by a task bounding box. Beyond this, there is little integration. A user cannot see details of the task, lock, or unlock a task without switching back to the Tasking Manager webpage.

About the project

… See full entry

As a charity effort, my work colleagues and I did trail maintenance at Lollypop Farm. I took my GPSr along and recorded the trails and streams.

A couple of months ago, the CWTS++ program ends, but our learning still continue through the internship where it’s held in school (PUP San Juan Campus). So I decided to join the internship program to experience what kind of job it is and to gain some knowledge and skills.

At first, I thought that it is somehow easy, however after our instructors introduced more info. about maps, plugins, data’s and others, it’s not a simple task to do so because I have to train myself in the decision making whether my changes are right or not, so I need to think twice or better to have a consent with my co-worker or with my instructors. But then after, I started to progress and gaining more knowledge in using JOSM application like shortcut keys in tools, proper use of tags and others that helps me to become more better in my mapping skills. Sometimes, I do have some hard time in editing because I’ve encountered some new things that are not taught during training or past lessons or I just easily forgot those things?!. Any ways, this week I’ve learned a lot and hoping to learn more.

Being part of the CWTS++ program I have been given an opportunity to join the Summer Internship. I am pleased to be here since this is new to me. After this past few days, I have learned about some new techniques when it comes to mapping and how to interpret the tags that I use.

Back then, my understanding to tagging roads were fairly basic since I interpret them at a very literal level. I did not look at the perspective of those who will be using the map that I’m working on and those people who live in that area. By being able to see and understand that, I saw how important it is to properly choose the tags that I’ll be using. Though I still make mistakes, I value what I learn from those mistakes and use them as stepping stones to further increase my knowledge when it comes to tagging. Through the help of my instructors and co-workers, I am able to do much better now than before.

What drives me to map the areas of my country is that I know that it will be a big help to those that need this information especially when it comes to emergency situations. Me and my co-workers are driven by helping those who need help in anyway possible and through mapping, we are able to make it happen. It’s like working behind the stage, what we do is very important and it makes a big impact on what is happening on the big picture.

Its has been more than a month since I had my last CWTS++ meeting at school and I can barely recall the few basics that I know in mapping. Since it was the first week and in tradition as a student I usually forget the lessons that had been taught to me by my director.

This week I mainly use JOSM which I oftenly utilise as an instrument for mapping for areas. I mostly used ID for roads because JOSM was like an unfamiliar territory to me .It was really technical as for me even until now the lessons still has not sink in properly. I learn a lot of things which includes roads that are logically near/ around a house or community. Also had been introduce to a few new plug-ins, tools, layers. Even the mapping techniques on how to approach a image was new and requires analysing the imagery. And I basically learned how to create/edit a line on somehow exactly in the middle of the road from the imagery and I had encounter new errors that are not in my capability of solving alone.

By now I am expecting myself to have like an intermediate level after this internship or something related to a higher level. I had learn that accuracy must be consistent in obtaining trust in one’s work , by that your body of work reflects you as a mapper.

After the first week of Kaart’s internship, the 2 terms in CWTS++ (CWTS++ project pilot is a service-learning program spear-headed by the MapAm❤re Initiative) here in PUP San Juan has finally helped me to apply my skills and knowledge in this internship. My knowledge in Mapping (OpenStreetMap) have went into a new level of being a professional.

Within the first week of Kaart’s internship I have experienced 2 days of training, which I was trained to be accurate in every upload. After the training, my JOSM knowledge, my logical mapping knowledge, and my accuracy sharpened. On every task that I do, I felt confident on every adjustment I make .This internship have started superbly and I am looking to forward on the next upcoming days. Everyday I gain more and more experience and that what makes me to to be accurate, consistent and fast on every task. With that said I felt accomplished and great in the first week of Kaart’s internship. I am grateful for this opportunity.