Someone ask me for “What experience do you have building websites with Open Street Maps using controls limit then monitor and report on tile usage?”

I’m currently exploring OpenStreetMap (OSM) and trying to understand what kind of real-world projects or applications can be built using it.

I’ve checked the documentation, but I’m still not sure how OSM data is typically used in actual applications or what kind of problems it can solve.

Could anyone please share:

Some common or professional use cases of OpenStreetMap

Any example project ideas or scenarios (personal, commercial, or open-source) where OSM is used effectively

Also, if possible, please suggest any recommended tools or libraries (like Leaflet, MapLibre, Nominatim, Overpass API, etc.) that are commonly used to work with OSM data.

Goal: I just want to get a clear idea of where OSM can be applied so I can plan my first project with it.

Thank you!

I have been preparing a RFC for several days, but now weekend is over and i won’t have time to finish things up. Here’s drafted tldr of a draft of a RFC in case this ends up as another forgotten project. Scope of this proposal is limited to Estonia. For international uses, I suggest to read EU report on waste sorting standardisation.

Problem: When surveying packaging recycling containers (PRC) it’s repetitive to list all kinds of waste collected there. There’s also risk of errors introduced by human input. My initial estimate is that trio of standard PRCs should get about 20-30 recycling:* tags.

Observation: PRC colours are standardised across Estonia – Paper blue, glass green and metal/plastic/beverage yellow (source). While Estonia has adapted Danish color schema as nationwide standard for garbage collection, PRCs have bit different colours. Standard-PRCs are often accompanied by reusable clothes container (no standard colouring).

Objective: Simplify & standardise mapping of different waste collected.

• Mapper has to simply pick colour(s) of the container(s) they see and..
• …preset ensures consistency of different waste types listed.
• Therefore PRC can be mapped at higher quality from further distance (assuming mapper doesn’t know PRC colour codes by hearth.

Solution: Introduce localised custom (iD & JOSM) editor tagging preset (e.g “Pakendikonteiner EE”)

Downsides:

• Difficult to scale legal rules up to international level, in some countries even to county level. Some cities may use own colours.
• Unclear if this idea is technically fully achievable (editor limitations, namely adding multiple colours to single node)
• Technical scale-up difficulties – possible performance loss is each major city or county in developed world gets own preset.

Initial idea originally published on 2025-09-12. Full 40 pages of notes are not processed yet.

… See full entry

Ditinition

Ditinition

Started with Thurso on the North Highland Way. Our preferred hotel supplier is there

GO Sync seems to go a long way in comparing GTFS to OSM handily.

It’s still a very labor intensive process, even on a relatively sparse transit system like MetroLink.

RapiD editor has rather unique feature that it can flag pedestrian crossings where node and way are tagged differently. But how to know where are such crossings if you can’t load entire city or country into iD editor? Luckily there’s overpass syntax for that. Quite a few people found this query useful, therefore I’m sharing it with wider audience.

Most of query was produced by LLM after feeding it with Overpass QL language reference. Only parent.u syntax needed manual fixing. I decided to use dynamic comparison of tag values because I wasn’t sure what would happen if there were some unique tagging typo, such as crossing=marked2 or similar.

[out:json][timeout:180];
{{geocodeArea:Estonia}}->.a;

/* Ways that explicitly have crossing=* */
way(area.a)["crossing"]->.ways;

/* Loop each way as .parent */
foreach.ways->.parent
{
  /* crossing=* nodes of parent, but
     with different crossing value */
  node(w.parent)["crossing"]
    (if: t["crossing"] != parent.u(t["crossing"]))
    ->.badnodes;

  /* Output if there is at least one mismatching node */
  (.badnodes;)->._;
  if (count(nodes) > 0)
  {
    .badnodes out tags geom meta; /* the mismatching node(s) */
    .parent   out tags geom meta; /* the parent way */
  }
}

Originally published at OSM World Discord on 2025-08-23

First post in hopefully a series of entries where I’m planning to share various OSM-related experiments I have conducted over the years.

Mapper asked if area should be mapped as grassland, scrub or heath. Since this kind of information is better to be extracted from infrared imagery, without knowing where the mapper is from, I pointed them to use global satellite dataset provided by European Space Agency (OSM wiki link) at Copernicus browser.

Two most commonly user IR imageries are using CIR-NRG and CIR-NGR styles. These acronyms essentially mean that when compared to regular RGB (red, green, blue) pictures, infrared images drop blue signal channel and instead use IR as red, and then original red and green as green and blue. For NRG, red becomes green and green turns blue; NGR is vice versa with green staying green and reds are blue.

Turned out that while Copernicus does have multiple infrared imagery layers (such as one simply called False Color is NGR), but because infrared channel is relatively overexposed compared to visible light, then default configuration showed nothing but red (IR) patches on black earth. Solution was building a custom rendering with linear adjustments.
In hindsight, Copernicus browser has button called “Effects and advanced options applied” where one could apply most of those transformations directly without custom layers.

Anyways, custom layer is basically javascript code that should execute on client’s browser for every single pixel on image and calculate RGB values for each. Here’s the tutorial.
I haven’t figured out most feasible way to add pictures to diary posts yet.

• Go to https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu/
• Click on green diagonal arrow (↗️) on sidepanel to see latest images
• Select Layers -> Custom (at bottom of list) -> Custom script (rightmost tab)
• Paste script and click apply below textbox.
• Colour balance and lightness can be tweaked using sliders under button “Effects and advanced options applied”

… See full entry

You can find a German version of this article here: Kreise in MapLibre

I want to integrate a Geolocate control into a MapLibre map and customize it both visually and functionally to fit my app.

At first, I considered using the GeolocateControl that comes standard with MapLibre. However, I quickly discarded this approach because adapting it to my needs seemed too cumbersome without a lot of fiddling.

My goal is that when the button is clicked, the display of the current location is toggled—so it can be turned on and off.

MapLibre itself offers several ways to draw circles on the map, depending on whether they should be pixel-accurate or meter-accurate.

Circles on a MapLibre Map

My starting point is a simple map.

… See full entry

As an OpenStreetMap contributor, I’ve always been dedicated to enhancing the detail and usability of local data. Recently, however, I ran into a frustrating problem: in areas I’ve mapped, the Chinese names for many places fail to display correctly in certain applications and services (like OsmAPP, JawgMaps, and MapTiler). Instead, they either fall back to Pinyin or default to the English name (name:en), which looks odd—especially when a primary name tag clearly exists but is simply ignored.

The root of the problem lies in the peculiar rendering rules of these applications, which often prioritize name:[lang] tags that match the user’s language. Even though we add a name tag, the absence of an explicit name:zh or name:zh-Hans tag can leave the renderer confused, causing it to fall back to name:en or just display the Pinyin transliteration.

Manually adding these tags to thousands of elements is obviously out of the question. You can’t just copy and paste your way through it; the sheer monotony would be mind-numbing. So, I decided to automate the process by writing a script.

Tech Stack and Script Logic

When high performance is a priority, C++ is the natural choice. I also leveraged two powerful open-source libraries:

1. pugixml: A lightweight, high-performance C++ XML parser, perfect for rapidly reading and writing large .osm files.
2. OpenCC: The community’s go-to library for Simplified and Traditional Chinese conversion, which I used to generate name:zh-Hant tags.

The core logic of my script is as follows:

… See full entry

To help make OSM more inclusive in line with the diversity statement https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Diversity_Statement I’ve gone through the wiki and changed all relevant instances of specific pronouns to their gender neutral versions. This both encourages inclusivity by including non binary people, and makes the pages easier to understand.

Pages and text that have not been changed are statements by members of the community, talks, personal user pages and other related pages where changing the phrases would reflect directly on someone’s opinion.

This resulted in changes to around ~190 wiki pages, or if you include modified templates, another ~4100 pages. Below is a list of phrases I changed to their gender neutral version.

• he/she
• she/he
• his/her
• her/his
• he or she
• she or he
• his or her
• her or his
• s/he
• him/herself
• her/himself
• him/her
• her/him

I’m surprised at the few recent pages still using he/she type references to people, namely the State Of The Map proposal for Paris 2026, especially after the drama around LGBT people and State Of The Map 2024.


Happy mapping, and I’m glad to help make the community more welcoming and accessable for all. <3
Phoebe

Myanmar Earthquake 2025 - Bago Township Roads and Buildings Mapping Toady 200 edit Mapping Contribution done

Happy to be part of the Esri India User Conference—a great opportunity to learn new trends, attend practical sessions, and connect with industry experts and scientists. Grateful to my organization Jio-bp and my lead for giving me this chance to represent at the Esri India User Conference.

Hey OSM Kerala,

I’ve recently come across these innovative “Bottle Booths” scattered across Kerala as part of the state’s push for better plastic waste management. From what I’ve gathered, they’re public recycling stations designed specifically for collecting plastic bottles to reduce littering and promote recycling. The Kochi Corporation alone has installed over 300 of them in various spots, and similar initiatives are popping up elsewhere, often tied to the Haritha Karma Sena waste collection program.

Inspired by this, I’ve started mapping them into OpenStreetMap! So far, I’ve added a few in my local area, tagging them as:

• amenity=recycling
• recycling_type=container
• recycling:plastic_bottles=yes
• Optional extras like name=Bottle Booth and operator=Local Corporation (e.g., Varkala Muncipality) if known.

I’m not entirely sure about the full benefits of mapping every single one—maybe it’ll help apps like OsmAnd or Organic Maps guide people to the nearest booth, encouraging more recycling and cutting down on plastic pollution. It could also provide useful data for environmental projects or local governments.

If anyone’s in Kerala and wants to join in, let’s collaborate! keep an eye out and add them as you go. Here’s a photo of one.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plastic_bottle_booth,_Kerala.jpg

Happy mapping!

Take a look to watch they on the outside it ain’t safe to watch look alive

I’ve been mulling over an idea for a while: what if we grab a complete snapshot of OpenStreetMap data for a given region, then run some statistics over it?

Things like which tags are most frequently used, who the top contributors are by edit count, and who has been active in that area the longest.

For the last one, “longest active” means the timespan between a contributor’s very first edit within that region and their most recent edit (also within that region). This distinction helps separate two very different contributor types: the one-hit wonders who show up during a mapping campaign, make a huge number of edits in a short burst, and then disappear forever; and the long-term caretakers, often locals, who quietly keep the map up to date whenever they notice changes in their surroundings.

To explore this idea, I had to build some tools.

Step one was downloading all OSM objects within a given administrative boundary (relation) : https://altilunium.github.io/osm-region-downloader/

… See full entry

2025.09.08

I am two days late to write this post. Life gets in the way. However, I felt I should have this in writing. On 6 September 2025, after 11:30 PM, I suddenly realized that the ending day marks something significant. It marks the 10th year completion of my journey with OpenStreetMap. 10 years ago, on this day in 2015, I entered a workshop arranged by Save the Children International in Bangladesh. The workshop was arranged by a project named Kolorob (Bengali word for the sound of a lot of people cheering together) who were training youths on how to edit OpenStreetMap. Little did I know back then that it will entirely change the direction of my life.

10 years since 6 September 2015 consists of 3654 days. Checking my HDYC told me that I mapped 3425 days in that 10 years. That is about 9.38 years of mapping each day. It felt quite overwhelming. Mapping became such an integrated part of my life that it hardly feels something I do, rather something automated that is to be done regularly.

It was a rewarding journey, mixed with bittersweet memories of field mapping in hot summer days in the sun, venturing to unknown areas for GPS tracks, remotely mapping areas after areas that I will probably never visit, spending hours after hours on validating, figuring out how to best map an area, learning new tools, plugins, taking workshops, teaching and training new mappers, solving data collection problems, and so on.

Over time, due to various aspects of life and career, I drifted apart from organized mapping community. However, my mapping continued. I kept mapping unmapped areas of the world. My joy is to take a part of the world with no features mapped and then completing it, literally putting it on the map.

I hope to continue my mapping journey, one day at a time.

Hello

y first day in mapping was sweet and exciting. I felt good to know that even small tasks I did could help improve global maps. It was interesting to discover how roads, buildings, and other features are added, and I enjoyed learning while contributing to something meaningful. That experience motivated me to keep mapping and to grow my skills further.

Hello OSM friends! I’m Bhausaheb…… from Nashik, working in GIS Industry as an GIS Engineer. Recently, I have been mapped new buildings around my locality using ID Editor.