Resumen

Problema n.º 1 desde el primer uso de las aplicaciones de navegación offline de OpenStreetMap para Android, como OsmAnd, Comaps u Organic Maps: el tamaño del mapa que hay que descargar. En muchos casos, hay que descargar todo el país o nada. Y eso suele suponer más de 100 MB, con casos que superan los 500 o 600 MB. ¿Por qué?

Experiencia personal: la llegada del smartphone al Sur Global

Durante el verano de 2013, coordiné junto con otras personas un proyecto HOT de cartografía OSM en el norte y noreste de Haití. En aquella época, la herramienta imprescindible para la recopilación de datos sobre el terreno eran los pequeños dispositivos Garmin de la serie Etrex, robustos y de bajo consumo, pero que requerían una fase de edición bastante larga en el ordenador. Llevaba unos meses con mi primer smartphone Android y, según recuerdo, OSMtracker ya existía, quizá también Vespucci (aunque no lo descubrí hasta más tarde) y OsmAnd estaba en sus inicios. Sin embargo, el ecosistema de aplicaciones aún no estaba lo suficientemente maduro como para sustituir al eTrex. Al final de la misión, vi que algunos participantes haitianos empezaban a equiparse con sus primeros smartphones.

Unos meses más tarde, ese mismo año, durante otra misión de cartografía en Mongolia, tuve una reunión con responsables del Banco Asiático de Desarrollo a quienes intenté convencer de todas las ventajas de OpenStreetMap. En un momento dado, utilicé como argumento la llegada de estas aplicaciones móviles de OSM que pronto permitirían a todo el mundo consumir los datos de OSM y contribuir a ellos fácilmente, teniendo en cuenta que los smartphones pronto estarían al alcance de todos. No tenía la sensación de estar haciendo conjeturas descabelladas: el GSM ya estaba en todas partes, parecía bastante lógico que los smartphones Android, cuyos modelos económicos empezaban a llegar, también tuvieran éxito y aumentaran la contribución y el uso de OSM.

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Resumo

Problema nº 1 logo na primeira utilização dos aplicativos Android de navegação #openstreetmap offline, como OsmAnd, Comaps e Organic Maps: o tamanho do mapa a ser baixado. Em muitos lugares, é o país inteiro ou nada. E isso frequentemente representa mais de 100 MB, com casos que ultrapassam os 500 ou 600 MB. Por que isso acontece?

Experiência pessoal: o surgimento do smartphone no Sul Global

Durante o verão de 2013, coordenei com outras pessoas um projeto HOT de cartografia OSM no norte e nordeste do Haiti. Naquela época, a ferramenta indispensável para a coleta de dados em campo eram os pequenos dispositivos Garmin da série Etrex, robustos e de baixo consumo de energia, mas que exigiam uma fase de edição bastante longa no computador. Eu já tinha meu primeiro smartphone Android há alguns meses e, pelo que me lembro, o OSMtracker já existia, o Vespucci talvez também (mas só o descobri mais tarde) e o OsmAnd estava em seus primórdios. No entanto, o ecossistema de aplicativos ainda não estava maduro o suficiente para substituir o eTrex. No final da missão, vi alguns participantes haitianos começarem a adquirir seus primeiros smartphones.

Alguns meses depois, naquele mesmo ano, durante outra missão de mapeamento na Mongólia, tive uma reunião com representantes do Banco Asiático de Desenvolvimento, a quem tentei convencer de todos os benefícios do OpenStreetMap. Em determinado momento, usei como argumento o surgimento desses aplicativos móveis do OSM, que em breve permitiriam a qualquer pessoa acessar os dados do OSM e contribuir para eles com facilidade, considerando que os smartphones logo estariam nas mãos de todos. Não tive a sensação de estar fazendo suposições infundadas: o celular já estava em toda parte, parecia bastante lógico que os smartphones Android, cujos modelos mais baratos começavam a chegar, também fossem fazer sucesso e aumentassem a contribuição e o uso do OSM.

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Summary

Issue #1 when first using offline OpenStreetMap navigation apps for Android, such as OsmAnd, Comaps, and Organic Maps: the size of the map to be downloaded. In many places, it’s the entire country or nothing. And that often amounts to over 100 MB, with some cases exceeding 500 or 600 MB. Why is that?

Personal experience: the rise of smartphones in the Global South

During the summer of 2013, I coordinated an OSM mapping HOT project in northern and northeastern Haiti with others. At that time, the go-to tool for field data collection was the small, rugged, and energy-efficient Garmin Etrex series devices, though they required a fairly lengthy editing process on a computer. I had had my first Android smartphone for a few months by then, and as I recall, OSMtracker already existed, perhaps Vespucci as well (though I didn’t discover it until later), and OsmAnd was in its early stages. However, the app ecosystem wasn’t yet mature enough to replace the eTrex. At the end of the mission, I saw some Haitian participants start to get their first smartphones.

A few months later that same year, during another mapping mission in Mongolia, I had a meeting with officials from the Asian Development Bank whom I was trying to convince of all the benefits of OpenStreetMap. At one point, I used the emergence of these OSM mobile apps as an argument, noting that they would soon allow anyone to easily access and contribute to OSM data, given that smartphones would soon be in everyone’s hands. I didn’t feel like I was making wild guesses: cell phones were already everywhere, and it seemed quite logical that Android smartphones—whose affordable models were just starting to hit the market—would also be successful and boost both contributions to and use of OSM.

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Résumé

Problème #1 dès la première utilisation des applications Android de navigation #openstreetmap hors ligne, type OsmAnd, Comaps, Organic Maps : la taille de la carte à télécharger. Dans beaucoup d’endroits, c’est le pays entier ou rien. Et cela représente souvent plus de 100 Mo, avec des records au-delà des 500 ou 600 Mo. Pourquoi donc ?

Expérience personnelle l’émergence du smartphone dans le Sud global

Durant l’été 2013, j’ai coordonné avec d’autres personnes un projet HOT de cartographie OSM dans le nord et nord-est de Haiti. À cette époque, l’outil incontournable pour la collecte de terrain était les petits terminaux Garmin de la série Etrex, solides et peu gourmands en énergie, mais qui nécessitaient une assez longue phase d’édition sur ordinateur. J’avais alors mon premier smartphone Android depuis quelques mois, et dans mon souvenir OSMtracker existait déjà, Vespucci peut-être aussi (mais je ne l’ai découvert que plus tard) et OsmAnd en était à ses débuts. Pour autant, l’écosystème des applis n’était pas encore assez mûr pour remplacer l’eTrex. À la fin de la mission, j’ai vu certains participant-es haïtien-ne-s commencer à s’équiper de leurs premiers smartphones.

Quelques mois plus tard la même année, au cours d’une autre mission de cartographie en Mongolie, j’ai eu une réunion avec des responsables de l’Asian Development Bank que je tentais de convaincre de tous les bienfaits d’OpenStreetMap. À un moment, j’ai utilisé comme argument l’arrivée de ces applications mobiles OSM qui permettrait bientôt à tout à chacun de consommer la donnée OSM et y contribuer facilement, compte tenu que les smartphones seraient bientôt entre toutes les mains. Je n’avais pas le sentiment de faire des conjectures sur la comète : le GSM était déjà partout, il semblait assez logique que les smartphones Android, dont les modèles bon marché commençaient à arriver, allaient aussi avoir du succès, et augmenter la contribution et l’usage d’OSM.

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30x30 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_by_30) is a global initiative proposed in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to conserve 30% of the area represented by Earth’s land, water and oceans. This goal has been adopted by many countries and non-governmental organizations, including The Nature Conservancy and the United States in the Biden administration’s Executive Order 14008 (Section 216) later a key element in the launch of the America the Beautiful initiative in 2022.

OpenStreetMap has adopted International Union for Conservation of Nature standards for describing protected areas, including parks, nature reserves, and other lands. As a free, open-source, community-driven and collaborative geographic feature database, OpenStreetMap is a useful tool for assessing progress towards this goal. Continual updates, world-wide coverage, native-language support and a robust open data working group governance structure; OSM is perhaps the best “live” tracker towards accomplishing this goal.

En resumen: Con panoramax.libre.net.ar hemos configurado la primera instancia (pública) de Panoramax en América. Permite la recopilación de imágenes a nivel de calle en territorio argentino.

An English version is available on my website

Panoramax es un sistema de código abierto para crear un repositorio común de imágenes a nivel de calle, ofreciendo así una alternativa con licencia abierta a Google Street View, etc. A diferencia de otras alternativas que licencian las imágenes de forma abierta, todo el software es libre y de código abierto. Además, se basa en la idea de crear una federación de servidores o instancias de Panoramax, similar al Fediverso de Mastodon, PeerTube, Lemmy, etc.

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OSM 中肯德基餐厅会用到的网站标签主要有website、website:menu、website:orders和brand:website（operator:website或许也可以写一下，但我没研究。）。

• brand:website很简单，统一brand:website=https://www.kfc.com.cn即可。

其它 URL 都需要先获取一下storeCode。

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Over the last few weeks I’ve improved the way that paths and tracks are shown on map.atownsend.org.uk in both the raster and vector versions. The aims were:

1. Improve clarity, so that their visibility in e.g. nondescript woodland was better
2. Improve consistency, so that the display of them on vector and raster looked similar to each other, and the “visual weight” of each class broadly matched when looked at together on a map.
3. Reduce confusion so that two different things were not shown in similar ways.
4. Show “good quality” paths and tracks (e.g. paved and compacted gravel surfaces) differently to other ones to help answer the “will it be muddy” question.

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Недавно добавляя заметки чтобы потом по ним добавлять что-либо (ну или проверить место) одну заметку случайно оставил открытой, там я написал “Лево от 7 столба мусорка”. Я даже не мог представить насколько агрессивные местные энтузиасты. Сейчас заметки уже нет (больше месяца прошло с её закрытия) но извините, я не знал что люди умеют лить столько говна за мелкий текст. Хватало мне неделю не заходить на осм так сразу! Люди меня обзывали всем чем только можно, говорили “Смысл этой заметки? Удались!” и “ГНИДА” (просто по приколу походу. Чем я так людей оскорбил? Там на месте бывшей мусорки кто-то машину припарковал? В чём прикол срать без причины?

Ada sedikit cerita tentang hal buruk yang saya alami waktu beraktivitas di jalan raya. Tahun 2015 klas1 SMA, jalan menuju sekolah ada kejadian tidak mengenakkan, saya mengalami kontak fisik dengan orang yang tidak saya kenal, itu terjadi di jalan raya dan sekitar 2 meter dari rumah saya, dimana ada 5 orang dan 2 dari mereka melakukan kontak fisik kepada saya, tanpa izin saya. Saya kembali pulang kerumah dengan keadaan menangis. Ketika saya kasih tau orangtua saya, mama saya langsung pergi cari orang-orang itu, dan menjeput saya di sekolah. Ada salah satu teman saya perempuan juga, yang menormalisasikan perbuatan tersebut dan berkata itu hanya memengan tanggan saja. Apakah saya yang terlalu berlebihan? Tapi itu tempat umum mereka berani, bagimana dengan tempat sepi, apakah mereka tidak akan berbuat lebih dari itu? Oleh karena itu, pemetaan jalan aman bagi perempuan sangat dibutuhkan sebagai upaya untuk menciptakan lingkungan publik yang lebih aman, nyaman, dan inklusif. Pemetaan ini membantu mengidentifikasi lokasi-lokasi yang dianggap rawan, minim penerangan, sepi, atau memiliki risiko terjadinya pelecehan dan tindak kekerasan. Dengan adanya pemetaan, pemerintah, komunitas, maupun masyarakat dapat mengetahui area yang memerlukan perhatian dan perbaikan. Selain fasilitas fisik, kesadaran masyarakat juga sangat penting. Lingkungan yang saling peduli, menghormati, dan berani membantu korban dapat meningkatkan rasa aman di ruang publik. Pemerintah, komunitas, dan masyarakat perlu bekerja sama untuk menciptakan lingkungan yang inklusif, aman, dan ramah bagi semua orang, terutama perempuan dan anak-anak sebagai kelompok yang lebih rentan terhadap risiko di tempat publik.

Nice routing algorithm you got, but have you considered I got a map, a vague sense of direction and impeccible luck.

Bin wieder Zuhause mit einer Totalwartezeit von 11 Minuten bei 4 mal umsteigen und bin mit meiner improvisieren Route mit Bus praktisch direkt vor meiner Haustür gelandet. Vielleicht wär mein weg noch schneller gewesen wenn ich statt StreetComplete und Bauchgefühl OSMand verwendet hätte aber guess I dont need to use the data, I just contribute to it…

Mein erstes mal OSM/FOSSGIS Stammtisch Berlin heute war super, bin ab sofort öfter dabei.

(Sorry fürs Denglish)

Contributing commercial vehicle GPS traces from Kerala — a routing approach

I’ve been working on a method to convert commercial vehicle telematics data into useful GPX traces for OSM contribution in Kerala.

The problem

Telematics data is segment-based — each record has a start coordinate, end coordinate, timestamp and distance, but no continuous GPS track in between. Uploading these directly produces straight lines which aren’t useful for mapping.

The solution

I set up a local OSRM instance using the Kerala road extract from Geofabrik, then route-matched each segment to the actual road network. This produces GPX traces with thousands of road-following points instead of straight lines.

Results

From two months of data covering Thrissur, Irinjalakuda, Chalakudy, Kodungallur and surrounding areas:

• 141 road-snapped segments uploaded as GPX traces
• 19 high-priority segments flagged as possible unmapped roads
• These will be cross-checked against aerial imagery in JOSM

Next steps

Reviewing the unmapped road candidates in JOSM against Bing aerial imagery. More vehicle data from the same region will be processed and contributed regularly.

If anyone in the Kerala OSM community has experience with similar data or wants to collaborate on reviewing unmapped road candidates, feel free to reach out.

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Tools used: Python, OSRM (self-hosted), gpxpy

First time writing a diary so friend I converted to mapping can find me :D

昨日、久しぶりにOSMのアカウントにLOGINした。 めちゃくちゃ前に残していたログがなつかった。

今つくってるアプリで、ささやかにOSMに貢献できるかも、と思ってる。

ボクは西暦2001年の夏に、豊橋市の小中高の学校や神社や駅などを自転車で回ってパノラマ写真を撮りまくったり、その後も消化器や諸々、GPSのPOI記録しながら狂ったように収集してた。意味あると信じて。結局、HDDが壊れてデータが消えてしまい、いまはもう。

– Portuguese below

A SPECIAL KEYNOTE ON THE REVISION OF MOZAMBIQUE’S ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANCE OF OPENSTREETMAP AND OPEN DATA

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On May 13, 2026, a roundtable discussion was held on the implementation strategy for Mozambique’s national environmental policy, which is currently undergoing a major revision. The event was hosted by the Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Pedagogical University of Maputo (FCTA UP-Maputo), in partnership with the Brazilian company IVIDES DATA®.

 

At the invitation of the organizers, Dr. Raquel Dezidério Souto (IVIDES DATA® and UFRJ, Brazil) delivered a special keynote titled “Development & Conservation” (translated from Portuguese), followed by a discussion on the recent Mozambique’s environmental strategy. A copy of the presentation can be found in Portuguese at https://zenodo.org/records/20149423 (*). 

 

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Yesterday I cleaned up some map data by removing unnecessary email and unrelated details from several objects. I am learning and trying to follow proper OpenStreetMap mapping guidelines.

把南车站路-中山南路-鲁班路-徐家汇路中间区域的楼全描了，也就是陈欣恬的家、我的家、刘珺瑜的家、我的学校那片。

[This is a work in progress, IANAL and this isn’t legal advice]

Lots of data is Switzerland is produced by the cantonal GIS offices (while it might seem to originate from swisstopo it often doesn’t), for example the hiking path/trail data is all cantonal and we can only utilise such data, even when using the data distributed by swisstopo, if the cantonal terms are compatible with our license.

In the following I’m using open in a hand wavy, “close enough” fashion here, and not applying the strict definition as per the open defintion. Class A refers to the federal ordinance definition for generally accessible geo data¹.

To set the scene: Switzerland does not have sui generis database rights regulation or anything similar, nor does it adhere to a sweat of the brow copyright doctrine. Between non-government entities any (minimal) protection available is based on contract and fair competition law. The big exception is geo data where the federal government has written in to law rights that are essentially a “data copyright light” and many of the cantons have followed suit.² There is no relevant case law that I know of and how any of this would work out in an actual dispute is, well, open.

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My name is Chukwuemeka Emmanuel Nwosu, a 300-level student of the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Port Harcourt. This diary documents my Industrial Training (I.T.) programme as I undergo it.

After careful thought, deliberation, and counsel from my mentor and my brother, I decided to carry out my I.T. programme at the Mapathon Center of the Unique Mappers Team, University of Port Harcourt. I officially resumed on Tuesday, the 11th of May 2026.

On my first day at the Mapathon Center, I had the pleasure of meeting several interesting individuals who, like me, were present for their Industrial Training. Among them were Matel, who serves as our I.T. representative, and Wisdom, both students from the Department of Geology, Rivers State University, and two of my coursemates from the Department of Geography and Environmental Management: Rania and Obasi Emmanuel. I also learned of a few other trainees I had yet to meet in person.

Notably, I was able to complete a part of the week’s assigned task on this very first day. The task required me to create a map of the University of Port Harcourt, situating it within the context of Rivers State and Nigeria as a whole, while clearly indicating the locations of Abuja Park and Delta Park within the university.

Sono entrato a far parte della community OSM da poco, e nell’ultimo mese ho iniziato a prendere sul serio l’attività, decidendo di impegnarmi per tenere aggiornato e arricchire il database. La domanda è: ci sono dei mappatori in provincia di Varese che sono disposti a scambiare opinioni e consigli?