Today, panning in Kampala, Uganda, I noticed so many place=village and place=neighbourhood , often the same name is duplicated.

Uganda #Kampala #BadMapping

MapSwipe on the Web Experience

Recently, I had the privilege of leading a MapSwipe training session for a corporate group, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. While I’ve conducted online trainings before, this one felt particularly special. Despite my initial nerves, I was able to deliver a smooth and engaging training session.

Initially, I felt a bit nervous about taking on the role, especially since I was filling in for a colleague. “Corporate” to me also sounded really scary and extremely formal. However, with a bit of preparation and the support of a wonderful colleague, Nicole, I gained the confidence to deliver a successful training session. I focused on guiding participants through the web version of MapSwipe, a tool close to my heart.

… See full entry

Backround

About 6 years ago now, the Ireland OSM community had a bunch of online and face-to-face discussions. There was a desire to have a common campaign, rather than everyone just paddling their own canoe, mapping old boundaries, addding 110KV monster pylons, plotting the holy stones of Clonrickert, or whatever you are having yourself.

Why Buildings?

And so #osmIRL_buildings was born. It took lots of months to pull together. There was a discussion document put out, and lots of decisions and guidance via videos, long conversations on Telegram, and frequent issues discussed on the mailing lists. The task was designed with a few things in mind. Firstly, the community recognized that compared to other territories, we had relatively small levels of completion of buildings. Secondly, a prominent academic had stated that the Irish Government knew more about the number and condition of cattle than it did about buildings. Thirdly, a lot of citizen science projects were trying to collate and capture where derelict and disused buildings were located in cities, with the hope that they might be repurposed for housing. Fourthly, there was a National Planning Framework launched in 2018 that concluded that the spaces for the next 1 million people to live in could not be sprawl outside of Ireland’s cities and towns. There were other reasons too, but those are the ones I recall, so apologies to all those other reasons and their proponents. Nevertheless, all of the ones I mention here could have been addressed by the creation of a fully open spatial dataset of the buildings on the island, and not what passes for open data by data.gov.ie.

Reservations

Of course there were detractors; some mappers worried about the threat of being inundated by the glibness of millions of “building”=”yes” objects. One man in Kilkenny was worried that the climate would have changed by the time the task would finish. He might yet be right.

Kick Off

… See full entry

Had to write something about this. Well, the USA Geofabrik (Continental + HI and AK) extract is now well over 10GiB. And my poor Garmins still only can handle 4GiB gmapsupp.img files. Yeah, I have to lose over 6GiB of stuff now to get it to fit. I’m not sure how long this is tenable, but yes it’s a continuing struggle to get it to still work…

Session : 11

Topic : 𝑶𝑺𝑴 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓-𝒖𝒑: 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑶𝒑𝒆𝒏𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕𝑴𝒂𝒑

Offered by Open Mapping Guru Time: June 20, 2024.

Session :10

Open Mapping Guru gifted me for actively participating in the 𝙊𝙎𝙈 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧-𝙪𝙥: 𝙅𝙊𝙎𝙈 𝙋𝙡𝙪𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙨 training under the 🅾🅿🅴🅽 🅼🅰🅿🅿🅸🅽🅶 🅶🆄🆁🆄 Project last June 15,2024.

I learned in this platform about plugins which is related to Josm Map creator application 🙂 Powered by Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific & Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)

I received the new achievement form in the platform of Open Mapping Guru for actively participating in the 𝗥𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗔 Training under the 𝕆𝕡𝕖𝕟 𝕞𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕘𝕦𝕣𝕦 Project last May 24, 2024. Thanks to Open Mapping Hub& Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) for creating a space for me to join and get some knowledge. Also thanks to the host Mikko Tamura.

Session: 08📯

𝐎𝐌 𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐮 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐗 𝐇𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝔸𝕔𝕔𝕖𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕍𝕚𝕤𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕆𝕡𝕖𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕡 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕒” Under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023 last April 12, 2024. Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)🥰

Session: 07📯

𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝔹𝕒𝕤𝕚𝕔 ℚ𝔾𝕀𝕊 𝔸𝕟𝕒𝕝𝕪𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕤. held last April 19, 2024. Under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023. Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

Session: 06📯

𝐎𝐌 𝐆𝐮𝐫𝐮 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: “𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕒 𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕆𝕊𝕄 𝔻𝕒𝕥𝕒 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕆𝕧𝕖𝕣ℙ𝕒𝕤𝕤 𝕋𝕦𝕣𝕓𝕠” held last April 27, 2024. under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023.

Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some wonderful person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

Session: 05📯

𝑶𝑴 𝑮𝒖𝒓𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑿 𝑯𝑶𝑻 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈:”𝕌𝕤𝕖 ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕊𝕔𝕖𝕟𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 ℚ𝔾𝕀𝕊 - 𝔽𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘” held last April 26, 2024 under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023.

Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

Session: 03📯

𝑶𝑴 𝑮𝒖𝒓𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: “𝔹𝕖𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 𝕁𝕆𝕊𝕄 𝕍𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟” held last April 20, 2024 Under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023. Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

Session: 02📯

𝑶𝑴 𝑮𝒖𝒓𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: “𝕀𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕕𝕦𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝔾𝕀𝕊 𝕒𝕟𝕕 ℚ𝔾𝕀𝕊” held last April 20, 2024 Under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023. Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

Session: 01🛜

𝑶𝑴 𝑮𝒖𝒓𝒖 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑿 𝑯𝑶𝑻 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: “2024 𝙋𝙖𝙥𝙪𝙖 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙂𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙖 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙣” It was special session on which project I worked with attention ❤️ Held last April 19, 2024. Under the Open Mapping Guru Project 2023.

Thanks to Mikko Tamura for giving a chance (in a suitable platform ) to join with some advanced person. YouthMappers 🤍 YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh 🆗 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) 🥰

𝑰 am thrilled to share a major achievement in my journey as a dedicated mapper: passing the Open Mapping Guru 2024 Exam and earning my official certification! This recognition affirms my commitment and expertise in open mapping, marking a significant step in my mission to make a positive impact through mapping.

… See full entry

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧.” – 𝐖𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲

I am honored to have participated in the 2024 Climate Change Challenge as a member of “𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒏 𝑫𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔”. This challenge, organized by the Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific from May 20 to June 20, 2024, brought together over 200 participants from 54 teams to address climate change through collaborative open mapping efforts. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute my mapping skills alongside so many passionate individuals, and I am proud to have received the Certificate of Participation. It’s inspiring to see how open mapping can make a real impact on global climate action. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 TomTom, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) & Open Mapping Guru , 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲.

ClimateAction #OpenMapping #MappingForChange#ThePinDroppers#OpenStreetMap#ClimateChallenge#openmappingguru

The Discovery

Today was a big milestone for me as an OpenStreetMap (OSM) contributor—I submitted my first-ever bug report! 🎉

• While exploring the iD Editor, I stumbled upon something odd. When the “Quality Assurance” tab in the Help section is open, the “Keyboard Shortcuts” option becomes unclickable. Strange, right? What’s even more curious is that this doesn’t happen with any other Help tab—just this one. Naturally, I couldn’t let it go unnoticed.

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The Process

Here’s what I did step-by-step:

1. I opened the Help section and navigated through different tabs to test the behavior.

2. As expected, all the other tabs worked fine, but when “Quality Assurance” was active, the “Keyboard Shortcuts” button refused to work.

3. To make sure my findings were clear, I documented:

   • Steps to reproduce the issue.
   • What I expected to happen versus what actually happened.
   • Screenshots to visually explain the problem.

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The Submission

Feeling a little nervous, I finally submitted my findings as Issue #10573 on GitHub. To my surprise, within hours, one of the repository maintainer (@tyrasd) confirmed the issue!

Here’s the coolest twist: The issue behaves differently in other languages! For example, it doesn’t happen in the Italian locale. This insight gave me a new appreciation for the complexity of building tools that work seamlessly across different environments.

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The Reflection

This may seem like a small contribution, but to me, it feels huge. By reporting this bug, I’ve left my little mark on a platform I admire so much. It’s exciting to know that even small actions like this help improve the tools that people worldwide rely on every day.

The OSM community is incredibly welcoming, and this experience reminded me that even as a beginner, my efforts are valued.

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Final Thoughts

… See full entry

Santarém To Belém - We Ran Out Of River

Daybreak on our last full day on the river could hardly have been more depressing. The sky I could see from my hammock was a grey-brown colour, and the smell of burning wood was stronger than ever. We were in the middle of the river and there was very little visibility. It hardly even makes It into the news headlines any more, our ability to adapt to the mess we have created means that relatively few people are aware of just how serious the situation is as Amazonía burns.

Fortunately we were not going to spend all of the last leg with the smog. Slowly the sky started to clear, and things seemed better again. The forest on either side even looked a bit more like It had in the upper part of the river.

… See full entry

About 2 days ago, the map started to be darkened. This only occurs on Firefox and Chrome, and it appears to be caused by the browser’s light/dark settings. I am still not certain about the cause.

A VII Jornada de Geotecnologias do Estado do Rio de Janeiro acontece de 2 a 4 de dezembro, no Palácio da Fazenda, no Centro da Cidade.

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Palácio da Fazenda, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Contribuidores do OpenStreetMap.

A sétima edição da JGEOTEC é organizada pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) e a Escola Nacional de Ciências Estatísticas (ENCE-IBGE), em parceria com diversas universidades públicas, localizadas no estado do Rio de Janeiro - UFRRJ, UERJ, UFF (Niterói), UFF (Cabo Frio), UERJ (Maracanã), UERJ-FFP (São Gonçalo), UERJ-FEBF (Duque de Caxias). O evento, realizado de 02 a 04 de dezembro de 2024, conta com a participação de estudantes do ensino superior e profissionais da ciência da geoinformação; e ainda, com cases comerciais, corrida de orientação e a estréia da Olimpíada de Geoinformação na Educação, conectando o evento com estudantes e professores do ensino básico.

O volume de anais foi preparado pela editora IVIDES e já está disponível

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… See full entry