Good day!

I’m Erika from the Philippines, an open mapping advocate and member of UPRI YouthMappers. I actively contribute to OpenStreetMap and humanitarian mapping initiatives that support disaster resilience, risk reduction, and community-based geospatial data. My journey with HOT began as a volunteer mapper through YouthMappers, participating in mapathons that create critical data for disaster-prone and vulnerable communities. Over time, I became a student leader in UPRI YouthMappers and later served as an Open Mapping Guru, helping train new mappers and support community programs within the HOT ecosystem. I also expanded my involvement in the broader open mapping community through local and international events such as Pista ng Mapa (Festival of Maps) and State of the Map. These experiences strengthened my appreciation for the power of collaboration, community building, and open geospatial data in addressing real-world challenges.

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building=canteen denomination=akṣara-puruṣottama_darśana/viśiṣṭādvaita

Radio and communication towers made of wood are rare. Lists of such objects can be found on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_site#Wooden_structures , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_wooden_buildings_and_structures and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattice_tower#Wooden_lattice_towers .

A possible further object may exist north of Kóspallag, Hungary at 47.8786466 N 18.9422987 E. However there are no pictures of this tower available. In the openstreetmap entries this object is classified as a hybrid structure of steel and wood, but Google Streetview shows it as a steel object, however it is barely visible there.

So someone should determine the exact type of this structure. It would be also a great idea, if someone could take a picture of this tower and upload it to Wikipedia, so everyone can see its type.

Further it would be great if Hungarian mappers can find out further wooden cellphone transmitters (past and present) in Hungary and add them to the list on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_site#Wooden_structures

I don’t normally think about the Sun’s direction when I go out running. When it gets exceptionally hot in summer, I start to notice it and wonder if I can tune my early morning run routes to experience slightly less heat. In principle, that should be possible. The position of the Sun can be worked out with a Python script. Combined with the angle of the Sun in the sky and your heading, it will tell you if you are running straight into the Sun or if the Sun is behind you. My personal preference is running towards the sunrise. After sunrise, you can call OSRM to optimize around solar load, defined as a function of Sun azimuth, your heading, and Sun altitude. This is probably over-engineering for route planning, though. The solar load has no simple formula, and the effect of clouds or humidity is hard to account for. Just a basic knowledge of civil dawn, sunrise time, and sunrise direction is probably enough for everyday running. But back to route generation — if you can find a metric to optimize for, you can generate new routes you have not run before. It is hard to define route novelty, but something like sun direction is easier to work with. The end goal would be to create routes that are different from what you can discover by simply using your street sense.

The Spieli

History and Motivation

From the very beginning of my OSM journey, I loved the idea of playground maps. There are several reasons for this, but I won’t go into detail here. For example: open data, maps, FOSS, and, of course, the children and their joy (and… all the parents out there will surely appreciate it when their children play at a playground - ideally with plenty of other kids 😉).

There were already some playground maps available. Some were based on OpenStreetMap data, others were not, or used a mix of both. Some looked like they were designed in the 90s, while others did not. In many cases, users were required to create an account with the maintainer’s service—or, even worse, with Google 🙈. Additionally, in these cases, photos, comments, reviews, and so on were stored in their systems, and OSM was only used as a map layer to display playgrounds in general.

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– Leia em português

IVIDES DATA™ held the second session of its 2026 OpenStreetMap Workshop, focusing on OpenDroneMap, OpenAerialMap, and custom imagery in editors. Participants also learned about relations and creating multipolygons.

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Session 2 of the 2026 OpenStreetMap Workshop - Link

 

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IVIDES DATA™ successfully held the second live session of the 2026 OpenStreetMap Workshop on May 22, 2026, during which the following topics were presented:

 

* Generating aerial imagery from drone photographs using OpenDroneMap (ODM);

* Uploading the image to OpenAerialMap (OAM) and retrieving the TMS geoservice URL;

* Resources for mapping with custom background images (GeoTIFF, via TMS geoservice) and street-level photographs (Mapillary, Panoramax);

* Overview of geoservice and image licensing and permission to use images on OpenStreetMap;

* Description of relations in OSM;

* Mapping simple areas and creating simple feature relationships (multipolygon type).

 

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We more experienced mappers realize fast that OSM Carto is just meant to show off the capabilities of the database. So many takes I have seen “I did it becuase if I did it another way (which would be the conceptual better way, also documented on the wiki) it wouldn´t show up on https://www.openstreetmap.org…”

I am launching

• github.com/HuggeK/golfTiles
• golfTiles.org

As an open source project to first generate golf-centric PMtiles to help the mapping and application who wants to display world wide coursemaps. Then move on to at least daily updates to help mappers.

Help wanted if you want to try it out!

iD tagging schema is a recording of various information about OpenStreetMap tagging. It is done in format allowing it to be both machine-readable and human-readable.

There are various ways how it can be improved, some relatively complex, some very easy.

We have list of things that should be fairly easy to implement

If anyone is interested in contributing - it could be a good start and I can promise quick review, if they would be implemented by someone.

This changes will be quite easy to write, it is not a programming - it is rather editing a relatively simple config file. But they still need to be tested, which actually takes most of the time. And if editing config file is not a very scary task and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON#Syntax is not terrifying, then you have a good chance to be able to do it.

Review afterwards should be quick like for another group of simple tasks

If you would be interested in helping with iD tagging schema, and you have any amount of technical ability… But this supposedly simple tasks are not obvious, feel free to ask here for help and I can guide you to your first PR.

Even if you never did anything with git/github etc, this could be a good start. And maybe you would later implement a more complex task

Hello OpenStreetMap community,

My name is Micheal Kaluba (OSM username: Michea Kal), and I am honored to be nominated for voting membership in the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT).

My journey with HOT began around 2016 through the Malaria Elimination Project and continued through my work with OpenStreetMap Uganda, where I served as a Field Mapping and GIS Training Associate for about six years. I currently serve as the Executive Director of Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda.

Over the years, I have been involved in mapping, field data collection, project management, capacity building, and community development initiatives across Uganda and South Sudan. Through collaborations with OpenStreetMap Uganda, Wikimedia Uganda, and other partners, I have contributed to humanitarian mapping projects, community training, and open data initiatives.

I have also participated in several international mapping conferences and community events, including State of the Map conferences in Germany, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, the United States, and Kenya. These experiences have strengthened my commitment to open mapping, local leadership, and community-driven development.

To me, HOT represents the power of volunteers, communities, and organizations working together to make geographic information accessible where it is needed most. I believe in HOT’s mission and would like to contribute more actively to its governance and future direction as a voting member.

As a voting member, I hope to support inclusive decision-making, accountability, and stronger representation of communities from underrepresented regions. I also look forward to contributing to community and training initiatives within HOT.

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This is a summary of the problem and a proposal regarding inconsistent treatment of greenery in sidlisko areas in Bratislava, Slovakia. Some arguments stem from my own experience with mapping these, some echo those I saw in various changeset comments. The following text is likely not exhaustive and I invite anyone concerned with the matter or area in question to join in discussion.

The subject

Greenery areas around blocks of flats on Bratislava’s sidlisko areas are specific. They’re typically grass, but often also with trees, benches, bins and play structures within them, all of it somewhat regularly maintained. I’ll call these areas panelak greenery for the remainder of this text.

The motivation

I began micromapping Karlova Ves and simply found that when adding detail up to splitting landuse on roads, using leisure=park becomes problematic. While leaving it mapped as huge blobs of leisure=park is an option, it’s a very rough approximation which doesn’t describe these areas in detail, which then defies the point of micromapping.

 The problem

The subject as described above implies usage identical to that of a park, and indeed, leads one to consider that leisure=park is technically the right tag for such areas. It is also apparent that these areas are not parks in the traditional sense of being compact areas dedicated to leisure and intended for the wide public. Since this is a bit of an instinctive classification, I’ll try to break it down into particularities. What differentiates these areas from parks follows:

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Hello,

Below I have compiled recent news related to the OSM Foundation (OSMF) board’s work. Most of these are or are going to be publicly documented on the OSMF website, so if you follow the Atom feed for the board meetings’ page, you can skip this.

What this diary entry is

It contains my personal selection and recollection of recent OSMF board-related updates.

What this diary entry is not

It is not intended to include details or all OSMF board-related updates. For these, you can refer to the published board minutes. This entry has not been reviewed by the OSMF board.

Why?

Informing the OSMF members is important. The board minutes describe in detail what was discussed in public board meetings, but many people don’t have time or follow the Atom feed for the OSMF’s website recent changes. At some point, I was creating annual or more frequent updates for the whole Foundation, which was a lot of work during a short period, while other tasks were ongoing.

I’m posting this experimentally, and I’m going to see whether I can continue to do so semi-regularly.

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May 2026 OSMF board updates

The board had a meeting on Thursday, 28 May 2026.

Draft minutes are here and they include minutes of the Chairperson’s report by Craig Allan and the Secretary’s report by Dani Waltersdorfer.

Some highlights are below.

Disputed territories

Rewriting the information for officials and diplomats of countries and entities with disputed territories
Craig Allan (OSMF Chair) has drafted a revision of the document for officials and diplomats of countries and entities with disputed territories, which was approved in September 2013, and which is referred to by the Data Working Group (DWG) and the OSMF. Craig circulated the draft to the board for feedback and suggested to Simon Poole (former OSMF Chair, former LWG Chair and present during the May 2026 board meeting) to review the updated policy document.

OSM data licensing

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I came to know about this brilliant piece of software about a year ago. This has made me feel fresh, and happy. At first I was just roaming around the world, seeing different things like roads, buildings, parks etc.. They felt very different from google maps, because they were highly detailed. With information such as road lanes, speed limits, road surface, type, who made it, when was it made, when was renovated and stuff. I found a goldmine of data, but for maps). Then I saw my area. Well, I was really disappointed that nothing was there except the main road. Literally not even the names of the villages. Comparing to other countries it was nothing,like comparing a super-car with crying baby! My heart was demolished. So, I decided to make my area great in OSM.

But here is a twist, Whatever you think I added 1st is not true. The 1st thing I added was the Transmission line. IDK why I added it fist, but after that I added a lot of things like, Roads, Streets, parks, Trees, local power distribution lines and poles, with sewage line, the pond, also added businesses, corrected road names, resolved 2 to 4 year old messages. And now my village is the most detailed village in my district until someone else decides to map his area.

Before ending this post. I want to say: Happy Mapping! :)

My engagement with OpenStreetMap began through my involvement as a YouthMappers volunteer, where I developed a strong interest in the power of open geospatial data for development and humanitarian action.

Calvin Amevienku is my name, a YouthMappers volunteer regional ambassador to Ghana. I have had the opportunity to support and connect student chapters, promote mapping activities, and encourage youth participation in open mapping across my region and beyond. This role has deepened my understanding of how collaborative mapping contributes to capacity building, digital transformation and community resilience.

Through my continued involvement with the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), I have contributed to humanitarian mapping efforts that support data availability for underserved communities and crisis response. These experiences have strengthened my appreciation for the role of volunteers in building and maintaining high-quality open geographic data.

Being nominated as a 2026 HOT Voting Member is both an honour and a responsibility that aligns closely with my work as a YouthMappers Regional Ambassador. It represents a transition from active contribution to meaningful participation in governance and decision-making within the HOT community.

If selected, I aim to represent the perspectives of YouthMappers and regional contributors, particularly from Africa, ensuring their voices are reflected in HOT’s decisions. I am especially interested in strengthening youth engagement, supporting local chapters, and advancing capacity building initiatives that sustain long-term participation in open mapping.

I am committed to contributing constructively to HOT’s governance processes and to strengthening collaboration among HOT, YouthMappers, and local mapping communities worldwide.

Cheers!

I recently discovered this. You can survey for Open Street Map easy if you use your camera with location tags turned on. Take lots of pictures of anything that could be added or updated while you shop, walk or drive. Then later you can go through your pictures and use the location to find where they were taken. Compare the location tag against satellite images, and add everything you find useful in your photos.

I recently went on a trip and I’m adding businesses, addresses, stop signs, speed limits to OSM this way and its really helpful. Ive been able to add so much more details that I didn’t even know I saved in my photos. Try it!

The main improvement in this release is the support for shared corner fillets. Now, when two open ways meet at a junction, the rounding applies across both ways as a single continuous operation. This feature was suggested by Paul Berry — thank you for the idea.

In addition to this new feature, the plugin is now faster due to improved interaction performance during dragging and preview. I also added several internal fixes to improve stability, mainly regarding rendering and session handling.

FilletTools is available in the JOSM plugin repository.

You can join the discussion here.

Following the proposal made a few weeks ago to expand heritage tagging for Belgium and the feedback received, I have modified and improved the sections regarding heritage tagging in Belgium in the Heritage section of the wiki, regarding Vlaanderen, Wallonie and Brussels. The tag heritage=inv has been added to indicate heritage that is not protected but is included in a heritage inventory. In Flanders and Brussels, being included in such an inventory has legal implications and means a form of ‘light protection’. For JOSM, the sections in the “Belgium (Mapping in Belgium)” and “Heritage Properties” Presets (nl:Predefined tags; fr:Préréglages) related to heritage in Belgium have been updated for Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. By the way, the “Belgium (Mapping in Belgium)” preset is the better choice here.

Versão em português

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On May 26, 2026, I completed two years as editor of the Brazilian Portuguese edition of weeklyOSM, which marked the return of the publication in that language after a hiatus of many years. Since I joined the team, the Brazilian edition has been published without fail, and I am grateful to my colleagues - Thayná Assis, Adriele Bernardo, Lívia Rios (ex members) and actually Paloma Moreira, Amanda Silva, Matheus Magalhães, Vitor Sousa and Francisco Theodoro, who have been my companions on this journey. As a record for posterity, I would like to highlight some events that have energized the global community, once again demonstrating the scope of weeklyOSM, which covers a wide variety of topics related to OSM and always values collaboration and openness.

 

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I am part of this collaborative project, which has been publishing news about the OpenStreetMap community since its inception as Wochennotiz back in 2010. If you’d like to learn more about this history, visit the EU/MychOSM Project page and tune in to the Lightning Talk I’ll be giving at State of the Map Africa 2026, taking place June 26–28. You can also review my presentation weeklyOSM-stats for the global State of the Map 2025 event, held in Manila, Philippines, from October 3–5. At this year’s event, I plan to present the updated results of the statistics and continue to take the pulse of this beloved publication of the global OSM community.

 

If you’d like to know about my observations — based on several years of working with mappers, developers, academics, NGOs, companies, and other stakeholders in this ecosystem, I invite you to read the chapter Overview of OpenStreetMap Usage and the Brazilian Case (in pt), available on Zenodo.org, which was published in my book from last year, Case Studies in Collaborative and Participatory Mapping (in pt), available on the Editora IVIDES website.

 

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Self explanatory, but I am doing a bit of micromapping and working on accurate representations of buildings and parks in the roodepoort area, close to where I work.

Hey there!! I’m Rupam Golui.. though most people online know me as Agasta and I honestly prefer that. I’m a 2nd year CS undergrad from Kolkata, India. Most of my time these days goes into open source and projects (GitHub: Itz-Agasta). I mostly work in Rust, Python, and TypeScript. Outside of code - I cook. Genuinely, not just survival cooking lol. I used to game a lot but somewhere along the way work took over and tbh I haven’t looked back. Also I love linux, currently running Arch (btw) and have been distro hopping since I was a kid… tried basically most of them, maybe move to nix next year. I rice my setup way more than I probably should, even participate in Reddit competitions for it. Could genuinely yap about this for hours. Yaa that’s mostly me, maybe someday I want to build a cool project people actually love enough that I can keep maintaining it full-time for years (hopefully).

Honestly I got here through a side project. Was building something with ocean data, needed maps, used Leaflet & Mapbox. But I got too curious about how all of it actually works behind the scenes - the data, the tools, the geocoding side of things. One thing led to another and I ended up deep in Nominatim’s codebase somehow. A few PRs later and here we are :)

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Ok so - I got into GSoC 2026!

I’ll be working on native category support in OSM’s search engine Nominatim this summer, and I’m really excited about it.

Right now Nominatim classifies every place using a single OSM class/type pair - like amenity=restaurant. It’s simple and it works, but it has some real limitations:

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Hi! I’m Sherley Sonali, a CS undergrad from IIIT Hyderabad, India. As part of GSoC 2026, I’ll be working on Valhalla RAD with my mentors Nils Nolde, Kevin Kreiser, and Christian Beiwinkel.

The project

Routing engines are quietly complex and a code change that looks small can silently make routes worse in ways unit tests never catch. RAD gives Valhalla maintainers a way to see exactly what changed in routing quality when a PR lands, and make an informed call before it merges. The system brings together a route request generator, a GitHub Actions pipeline that diffs results across router and graph versions, and a React web app where maintainers can inspect those diffs and decide.

A bit about me

I got into routing through Fleetix, a vehicle route optimization platform I built during an internship and it used OSRM to compute multi-stop routes over OSM data for real employee transport operations. Seeing how much the engine’s interpretation of the map mattered in practice, and what happens when it goes wrong, is what drew me toward Valhalla and eventually toward this project.

Where we are

The coding period has kicked off, the initial project setup is in place, and work on the request generation pipeline is underway. I’ll be using this diary to share progress and lessons learned as the project evolves.