Diary Entries in English

Recent diary entries

Posted by Micheal Kal on 16 September 2024 in English. Last updated on 25 September 2024.

Well, let me share my experiences at “State of the Map 2024” in Nairobi at the University of Nairobi which I must say was like the coolest place ever for a bunch of map nerds like us to meet. As far as I can tell, it’s the place where all the folks behind OpenStreetMap, get together from all corners of the world to share their experiences, get excited about the mission of making this world more navigable with the help of our maps. It was very much like attending a large family reunion with an attempt at small talk that quickly degenerated into everyone’s passion for Open geospatial data. Group_Photo

See full entry

Location: City Centre sublocation, Starehe location, CBD division, Starehe, Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenya
Posted by b-unicycling on 15 September 2024 in English.

Since the beginning of June, I have been working on researching and locating the holy wells of County Kilkenny. I have more or less identified about 213 of them which are described in sources going back at least 90 years (Schools’ Collection etc). In some cases, it is very difficult to locate them, because their location was only given as “in such and such a townland in that person’s field”, and it is very difficult to find out who owned a field 90 years ago.

In addition to that, I have more recently started an oral history project collecting people’s memories and stories about holy wells, patterns (which is a type of originally religious festival in Ireland where people do or did things in a certain pattern around a sacred site usually on the patron saint’s feast day) and other related things. I’m uploading them to Wikimedia and add transcripts, if you’re interested: Category:Oral history about holy wells in County Kilkenny.

What has that to do with mapping, you may ask. Well, apart from locating these holy wells and holy well sites which are protected monuments (and sometimes still water sources), I’m getting local place names from my interviewees as well. Names of roads, cross roads, field names etc which are also not recorded on any map yet, but are frequently still used by locals or were used in the past, so recording them now will help locate things referred to in older sources. Some of these, like Bóthar Chiaráin (Kieran’s Road after St Kieran) potentially go back 1300 years or so.

See full entry

Location: Ballycallan, The Municipal District of Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, Leinster, Ireland

YouthMappers Pre-Event at American Spaces.

The State of the Map (SotM) 2024 in Nairobi started with the most exciting YouthMappers pre-event at American Spaces. It was clear that the conference was going to be full of inspiration and action. Our host Laura was there to welcome YouthMappers early birds from different parts of the world gathered in the venue gearing up for the day’s activities just to prepare for the conference.
YouthMappers Group Photo at the pre conference

See full entry

Location: Chuo Kikuu, Ubungo, Ubungo Municipal, Dar es-Salaam, Coastal Zone, Tanzania
Posted by johanespeter9 on 14 September 2024 in English.

STATE OF MAP 2024, Nairobi Kenya -First Time in Africa🌍

SOTM2024

You know that classic email that starts with “Congratulations! We are pleased to offer you…”? Well, on July 1st, I got one of those from Hot Open Summit, awarding me a scholarship to attend State of the Map Global in Nairobi! Thanks Hot Open Summit! Let’s stay connected, we’ve got Manila SOTM 2025 coming up! 🫡🫡🙏🤩

First thing I did? Downloading offline maps of Nairobi with OSMAnd and Maps.me , I had to get those OSM maps in my hand, ready to go. I was feeling chill, knowing I was all set for my trip to Nairobi.

From Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, the journey kicked off with 7 of us heading there in one bus. We had a fun group Hawa next to me, Innocent chilling at the far end, Anastazia, Amour, Kombe, and Benedict. I couldn’t wait to get there, and OSMAnd was the trip MVP, keeping us informed like a road-trip soundtrack “Are we there yet?”

See full entry

Location: -6,768, 39,123

Alt text This year, I had the incredible privilege of attending the State of the Map 2024 conference, hosted in Nairobi, Kenya. Over the course of three unforgettable days, I participated in insightful opening talks, lightning sessions, and deep discussions on critical mapping issues, all while meeting and learning from experts from across the globe. Nairobi proved to be a truly resourceful city for this conference. A country with diverse geography, Kenya is home to national parks, game reserves, and an airport conveniently located within the city, making it a unique blend of urban life and nature. The infrastructure was excellent, and it provided a comfortable environment for participants to learn, connect, and exchange ideas. The team behind the conference’s organization deserves a huge thank you for ensuring everything went smoothly. Their efforts made this an enriching experience for all.

See full entry

Location: City Centre sublocation, Starehe location, CBD division, Starehe, Nairobi, Nairobi County, Kenya
Posted by ivrigthighjob on 13 September 2024 in English.

DEar Diorey

hi today i basically just did like a few streetcomplete quests changed some stuff on vespucci and rn im just selecting some random part of poland and just editing that in josm thats basically all UPDATE found a piece of land with insane amounts of farmland but its gettin late so ima map it tmrw

13th of September 2024, 9:20 PM, Poland

Posted by Branko Kokanovic on 13 September 2024 in English.

tl;dr I created Maxspeed freshness tool where you can see if maxspeed tag exists, and if it does - how old it is!

Worldview

Why this tool

This tool emerged from a need within the local community. In Serbia, we have more street-level cameras and volunteers capturing road data than ever before! We even have people actively editing data based on those captures (which are not necessarily same people😀). Good problems to have! The big question is: Where should we capture images next?

We needed a comprehensive view of highways missing maxspeed tags so that people could go there. Additionally, we noticed some major motorways had outdated information—some maxspeed tags hadn’t been updated in over a decade. Everything gets old, even maxspeed tags.

See full entry

Last weekend was nothing short of magical. I had the incredible opportunity to attend my first ever global State of the Map conference in Nairobi, Kenya. This gathering of the OSM community was a fantastic space to connect with like-minded individuals and learn about the incredible work being done with geo-data technology across various sectors…Thanks to a generous travel grant from HOT Open Summit Program, I was now sure 100% I am going to make it to Nairobi. The conference itself spanned three days, from September 6th to 8th, and it was the shortest weekend I’ve ever experienced😄. Everyone was having such a great time that no one wanted to leave!

We arrived in Nairobi on September 5th, around 21:30 PM, and were greeted by the city’s chilly weather🥶. Despite the late hour and the cold, we managed to settle in and get ready for the conference. The next day, the conference kicked off, and I was both excited and nervous as I had a session scheduled for the first day, and I’d never presented in front of such a large and diverse audience before. However, the experience was incredibly rewarding, and I learned so much from the other speakers. I particularly enjoyed Diego Gonzalez Ferreiro’s presentation on UN-Maps: Supporting Peace with Open Data, Yvonne Darko’s talk on Photo Mapping from My Village to Pharmacies and Addresses, and of course, my own presentation on Women in Tech: What Worked Best for Me.😜😉

One of the best things about the conference was the opportunity to network with other attendees. I met some amazing people from all over the globe, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to strike up conversations. I am lowkey an introvert person🫣🤭 hahah so its kinda hard for me to start socializing with people but the people i met there were the coooolest people I have never see. I was comfortable talking to everyone around me (so cutesy,so demure as Hawa would say😅😅 ) . And the food? Let’s just say, the Kenyans did not disappoint! 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

See full entry

Location: Buyuni, Chalinze, Pwani Region, Coastal Zone, Tanzania

GroupPhoto

It’s really a difficult task penning down experiences that even I could not express physically, but all the same I will walk you through the mapping horizons – my journey through the incredible State of the Map Nairobi.

State of the Map (SotM) Nairobi wasn’t just a conference; it was a homecoming. This year, the first-ever Afrikan-hosted, global SotM, buzzed with the energy of passionate mappers from across the globe.

“Who did you say you wanted to share the room with?”

“Have you booked your airport pickup, using Little Cab?”

“I don’t want my Letwin to get lost in Nairobi :D”

“The eagle has landed 🔥”

“Are you in Nairobi now?”

We keep it at that so curiosity kills the cat….

See full entry

Posted by Hills95 on 12 September 2024 in English. Last updated on 3 October 2024.

OSM Uganda Group Photo What an incredible three days at State of the Map Africa 2024 in Nairobi! From 6th to 8th September, I had the privilege of connecting with brilliant minds and diving deep into the latest trends shaping the Open Geospatial world. The conference offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the incredible work of the OpenStreetMap Foundation and the passionate global community driving it forward.

The sessions were nothing short of insightful. From learning about JOSM and Open Route Service to exploring the latest web version of MapSwipe, there was so much to take in. Hearing from various OSM communities across the world was particularly inspiring, with MapKibera’s presentation standing out. Their work in promoting OSM to tackle different challenges in Kenya was truly remarkable—an inspiring example of how open mapping can drive real-world change.

See full entry

Location: Pallisa, Mbale City, Bugisa sub-region, Eastern Region, Uganda
Posted by Hawa Adinani on 11 September 2024 in English.

Now that I’ve taken a day off after the 14-hour bus trip from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam, I can finally sit and share my thoughts on State of the Map – the first time the global conference was held in Africa!!

Before starting my academic career last year, most of my 8+ years of work experience has been in the OSM and open mapping ecosystem. Check out my diary on OSM’s 19th birthday, where I shared more about my journey in this amazing community. To quote myself from that diary (I’m becoming a real academic now, haha): “OSM is a project that needs communicators, developers, managers, strategists, etc., working together to unlock its true value within the community.”

I was thrilled to see this in action in Nairobi! I met so many people working on diverse projects ranging from environment, health, climate, disaster, urban planning, etc. Most importantly, meeting people like myself (non-tech folks) focused on community organizing, communications, project management, etc, all under the OSM umbrella. This is why gatherings like these are crucial – they remind us that OSM is not just a map.

The conference experience was mixed for me because I was part of the organizing committee this time, so I got to see both sides (organizing and attending). If I had to choose, I’d probably prefer attending. But hey, if we all choose that, there would be nothing to attend, right!?

There were so many great talks! My favourite was probably On the Ground. The duo presentation was both fun and thought-provoking, making me think about how I’ve been mapping and what I could improve. Another highlight was the lightning talks - seeing young students and recent graduates so excited to share their OSM work and dreams was inspiring. It shows how OSM is shaping the next generation—boosting their confidence, networks, and more!

See full entry

Posted by 022 on 10 September 2024 in English. Last updated on 26 November 2025.

This is a bit of an experiment on how to use this Diary

9 September 2024

  • I just moved to Brooks, Alberta from Calgary,
  • After glancing at the ResultMaps page it seems like I might be the only active contributor in the area of Brooks/Newell County so that’s partly scary and partly exciting, as there’s still a lot of work to be done.
  • My first order of business will probably be figuring out why half the roads in town use an abbreviated “W” or “E” suffix as opposed to using the full word spelled out. I’ll have to work on standardizing that, although I’ll have to do some sleuthing to figure out the correct format for those.
  • I’m sure there will also be a lot of work to be done in terms of speed limits, sidewalks, stop signs, and other features that could be useful for navigation software.
  • Perhaps I’ll come back and do some editing in Calgary from time to time as well, particularly in the Taza Park area which continues to make steady construction progress.
  • I’m a busy man but love contributing to osm and hope to make some progress over the next couple of years. Thanks for reading my first diary entry~~!
Location: Brooks, City of Brooks, Alberta, Canada
Posted by Aphaia_JP on 9 September 2024 in English.

I have no idea what stop is. Precisely saying, I have no idea what Site.key.table.entry.stop is.

Oh yes, it should be a variable of this site: I found it TranslateWikiNet as an untranslated-to-Japanese variable, Osm:Site.key.table.entry.stop/ja. And it should be a certain map feature (to which site.key.table.entry.* is dedicated to). But I have not been able to figure what it is: I spent half a year already to pick it up on this website, vainly browsing here and there.

Any other language translations? Oh yes, I’ve noticed it since my first day of search. They’re Stop, Halte, 停车站 and so on. It lulls me to put it into 停留所 (ja: bus stop), but Google Image Search kept me from this temptation: it shows me some train station images too, which shouldn’t be called so in my language. Et voila, here we have Site.key.table.entry.bus stop already! So Site.key.table.entry.stop is likely for something else.

I find myself in a deadlock. Your suggestion will be appreciated. At best the pointer on this site, or on wiki, or screenshot. But for any input I’ll be grateful.