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!

Для того, щоб будівля була схожа на реальну її краще малювати по даху, потім дивитися на два зображення супутника (наприклад ersi) і перетягувати полігон до фундаменту.

Для того что бы здание походило более на реальное его лучше рисовать по крыше, затем смотреть на два изображение спутника (наприклад ersi) и перетаскивать полигон к фундаменту.

To make the building look more like a real one, it is better to draw it on the roof, then look at two satellite images (for example, ersi) and drag the polygon to the foundation.

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!

من لوکیشنم رو ثبت کردم از زمان ریسولو نوتم هم گذشته ولی هنوز سرچ میکنم نمیاد؟ کسی میدونه چرا؟

前言

新街口作为南京乃至华东地区最重要的商业核心之一，其 OSM 数据长期存在建筑轮廓粗糙、地下空间缺失、路径拓扑混乱等问题。为此，我启动了一项针对新街口地块的系统性精细化更新计划，并在此记录操作步骤与我所制定的制图标准，供社区参考与讨论。

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一、建筑物轮廓与属性细化

所有建筑物的轮廓均参照最新卫星影像与实地核查进行重新描绘或修正，具体标准如下：

• 轮廓贴合建筑基底，避免过度简化或偏移；
• 补充 building:levels、height、name、start_date 等属性；
• 对于综合体建筑（如德基广场、金鹰国际），区分裙楼与塔楼，分别以 building 、building:part进行三维建模。

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二、地下商业空间的划定

新街口地铁站（地铁1号线×2号线换乘）向四周延伸出大量地下通道，直接连通周边各大商场的负一层。凡与地铁站地下通道直接联通的商场负一层空间，均按以下标准标注为地下建筑区域：

• 使用 location=underground 或 layer=-1 标记相关区域；
• 地下商业区域的范围多边形参照实际通道出入口与商业空间边界绘制；
• 与地铁站直接相连的通道本身，以 tunnel=yes + layer=-1 的 highway=footway 表示；
• 暂不确定是否联通的区域，暂以 fixme=需核实地下联通情况 标注，留待后续实地核查。

目前已完成地下空间划定的区域包括： 新街口百货商店 B1、金陵中环 B1

待补充区域： 金鹰国际购物中心 B1、德基广场 B1、中央商场 B1、南京国际金融中心 B1 等。

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三、路径拓扑标准

这是本次更新中最容易出错的部分。为确保路网拓扑的清洁与导航规划的准确性，我制定了以下强制性规则：

3.1 各类道路不得混接

在主要路口，行人路径（highway=footway/pedestrian）、自行车道（highway=cycleway）、机动车道（highway=primary 等） 三者之间，原则上不建议建立直接连接节点，除非现实中存在明确的路权交汇点（如行人过街横道节点）。

3.2 跨图层要素禁止连接

任何两个不属于同一 layer 值的路径要素，不得出现共享连接节点，以下情况除外：

允许连接的要素	说明
highway=steps	阶梯，连接不同楼层/层级
含 conveying=yes 的 highway=footway	自动扶梯
highway=elevator	电梯

除上述垂直交通要素外，地面路径与地下路径一律不得出现连接点。

此规则同样适用于在导航计算中看似”无害”的连接（例如建筑物轮廓与步行道路相切）。只要两个要素不属于同一图层，路径要素与非路径要素之间同样须保持几何上的独立性，仅在视觉上相邻即可。同一图层内的要素按正常规则连接，不受此限制。

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如有异议或建议，欢迎在变更集评论或讨论页留言。

Happy mapping! 🗺️

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.

For the moment the wiki only describes the tagging of protected heritage in the four Belgian regions that get the heritage=4 tag. In Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels, the heritage agencies also maintain a (more comprehensive) inventory of heritage next to a list of protected heritage items. (the situation in the German speaking region isn’t well known by me). For example in Wallonia, the heritage inventory lists 51,000 items, including 9,000 protected items.

This is a proposal to follow the practice of heritage agencies and assign a tag to all inventoried heritage objects: add a tag for heritage objects inventories: heritage=5 * This will make the heritage items included in an inventory identifiable and searchable. Until now not protected inventoried heritage in Belgium only get the tag historic=x as other “old” items. * A tag for items that are only in their inventory is already in use by OSM France and also Italy, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Hong Kong also have different types of the tag heritage. (In Belgium we use heritage=4 for protected heritage as some other countries but a lot of other countries use heritage=2 for protected heritage. The used number is specified per country). * The wiki now describes heritage as “Site/building/object registered by an official heritage organisation”.

In the last few years, there have been a number of changes at the heritage agencies in Flanders and Wallonia.

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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 VIDES 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.

English version

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Em 26 de maio de 2026, completei dois anos como editora do weeklyOSM para português do Brasil, o que permitiu a volta da publicação nesse idioma, após uma lacuna de longos anos. Desde que me integrei à equipe, nunca falhou a publicação da edição brasileira e eu agradeço aos colegas que são companheiros nesta jornada - Thayná Assis, Adriele Bernardo, Lívia Rios (ex members) and actually Paloma Moreira, Amanda Silva, Matheus Magalhães, Vitor Sousa and Francisco Theodoro. Como registro da memória, gostaria de destacar alguns fatos que animaram a comunidade global, exemplificando novamente a envergadura do weeklyOSM, que cobre uma grande variedade de temáticas relacionadas ao OSM e sempre prestigiando a colaboração e a abertura.

 

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Participo deste projeto colaborativo, que tem publicado notícias sobre o mundo do OpenStreetMap desde a sua fundação, como Wochennotiz, ainda em 2010. Se quiser conhecer mais sobre esta história, visite a página do Projeto EU/MychOSM e acompanhe a palestra breve que ministrarei no State of the Map Africa 2026, que será realizado entre os dias 26 e 28 de junho. Você pode ainda rever a minha apresentação weeklyOSM-stats para o evento global State of the Map 2025, realizado em Manila, Filipinas, entre 03 e 05 de outubro. No evento deste ano, pretendo mostrar os resultados atualizados da estatística e continuar auscultando o coração desta publicação querida da comunidade OSM global.

 

Caso queira conhecer mais sobre as minhas apreensões, fruto de alguns anos convivendo com mapeadores, desenvolvedores, acadêmicos, ONGs, empresas e demais atores deste ecossistema, convido a ler o capítulo Panorama da utilização do OpenStreetMap e o caso brasileiro, disponível no Zenodo.org, que foi publicado no meu livro do ano passado Estudos de caso em mapeamentos colaborativo e participativo, disponível no portal da Editora IVIDES .

 

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Kouk Rumlo

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.

Introduction

Hi!
My name is Francisco Albacete Chicano (but feel free to call me Paco!), and this year I have been selected for the GSoC 2026 with OSM, working on Valhalla Enhance Pedestrian routing project with my mentors Kevin Kreiser and Christian Beiwinkel.

Who am I?

Well, I am a second year student of the University of Murcia (studying computer science), who randomly discovered OpenStreetMap and began with a small programming project to learn more about it! While I was fascinated by it, I discovered OSM had projects for GSoC, I had for sure to take a try! So I started getting in touch with Valhalla as I really enjoy pathfinding algorithms and optimizations. And when I am not coding, I have been playing video games for most of my life and really like to have experiences with my family and friends (even better if there’s beer!).

What is the project about?

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Hey everyone,

My name is Manbhav Sugla. I am a 4th year undergraduate student at BITS Pilani, Goa, India studying Physics and Computer Science.

I got interested in learning about geospatial tech and that brought me to Martin TileServer.

Martin is a blazing fast vector-tile server that generates and serve vector tiles on the fly from large PostGIS databases, PMTiles (local or remote), and MBTiles files, allowing multiple tile sources to be dynamically combined into one

DuckDB, being an analytical database, and now with it’s spatial extension is a demanded source for serving vector tiles from local DuckDB databases and with its native support for querying local / remote GeoParquet files. I was selected as part of GSoC’26 to implement support for a DuckDB backend at Martin TileServer.

To track the developments on this feature, have a look at Support for DuckDB Backend.

I will keep writing diary entries to document progress on this project. Excited for all the learnings that will happen over the summer !

Jag kompletterar uppgifter i Eskilstuna med StreetComplete, t.ex. antal våningar, detaljer på busshållplatser etc.

I’ve been adding ALPRs throughout the region in my community and, first of all, wow there is so many of them. Second I am aware of what Flock cameras look like but I am unable to figure out who owns / creates the other more squat looking ones. If anyone has any information on how to identify the other cameras please let me know, I’d like for my information to be as accurate and precise as possible!