Today marks three years since I joined the OpenStreetMap community in May 2023. I am posting this diary entry at the exact time I published my first changeset, which I still remember clearly for its simple message: “add more data.”

It’s a straightforward phrase, but over these three years, it’s really shaped my journey as a mapper. What began as a tiny contribution has blossomed into a deep commitment to mapping my area in as much detail as possible.

Main Objectives

Right now, I’m focused on two main goals for our region:

• Power Grid: I’m mapping every single power line in Tulcea County, from the high voltage transmission lines to the medium and low voltage lines which provide power to every town and village.

• Improving Every Town: Besides the infrastructure, I aim to enhance the data for every town in Tulcea County. This involves cleaning up geometry, adding missing POIs, and making sure the map accurately reflects our local communities.

Once I’ve improved every town in Tulcea County and wrapped up the power grid, I intend to shift from regional to national efforts. My aim is to take what I’ve learned here in Tulcea and apply it to bigger projects all over Romania.

There’s a lot to tackle, but as I’ve realized over these three years, the best way to map a country is one node at a time. The upcoming changesets will make OpenStreetMap one of the most accurate maps of Tulcea, providing a level of detail that other commercial map services simply cannot match. I can’t wait to see the map evolve even further.

Removed Plateau Peak Trail. During SAR search (Dec 30) it was discovered the trail was no longer visible on the ground. Parallel trail still visible and provided access to Plateau Peak as verified by GPS.

So here are my experiences in installing Panoramax instance OSM-HR. I’ve made this from notes taken at a time, so hopefully I did not miss too much. Let me know if I did.

There are several ways to install, and I’ve decided to go with docker compose, and with regular OSM Oauth2 login.

We bumped into few issues during the deployment, but we reported them at appropriate repos, and they were fixed so nobody should be bothered by them anymore. Please do the same if you bump into some of your own!

So mostly I followed official instructions here: https://docs.panoramax.fr/backend/install/tutorials/running_docker_osm_auth/

with some preparation first as outlined in: https://forum.geocommuns.fr/t/deploying-a-panoramax-instance-the-pre-flight-check-list/1892

and info about storage needs: https://forum.geocommuns.fr/t/storage-needs-for-a-panoramax-instance/3205

Hardware

First actual hard step was getting the appropriate hardware and place to host it; see that pre-flight check list for other things like checking the law etc.

http://openit.hr/ kindly donated the hardware, and https://carnet.hr/ the place and Internet to host it. Much thanks to them!

We got quite a beast: 4U Super-Micro cse-847 server with 2 * Xeon E5-2680v2 (40 CPU threads @ 2.80GHz), 256 GB DDR3 RAM, 2x1TB SATA SSD, and 34x3TB SAS HDD (54 TB of usable HDD space after RAID6 partitioning), Nvidia Tesla P4

You can get with (much) lower specs, depending on your needs. But we have a good-hearted sponsor so yay!

Creating Oauth2 app

So firstly, I went to osm.org/, logged in, clicked on menu / “My account” / “Oauth 2 Applications” / “Register new application” and created Oauth2 application as described on: https://docs.panoramax.fr/backend/install/tutorials/running_docker_osm_auth/#creating-our-osm-oauth2-client

“Name” was set to Panoramax HR and “Redirect URIs” to https://panoramax.osm-hr.org/api/auth/redirect

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this is very intriguing I will try to keep up to date.

When I first arrived at DTU, I was surprised to discover that the map quality was largely inferior to the one back in my home country, France, and was lacking a lot of details, the most crucial being emergency-related appliances and infrastructure.

I would have expected a leading engineering university to have correct, if not excellent, mapping across its campuses, but seemingly that is not the case. I was a bit disappointed because if Denmark values inclusive design a lot, at least on paper, there is very little activity to make these accessible infrastructures easily reachable by their main targets. I guess full support for these features might also be lacking across the variety of apps using OSM data (without considering that these apps are not used by the majority of people), but yeah, a bit of a disappointment here.

So I randomly started mapping around DTU campus, sometimes raising awareness among people around me, sometimes being told to “get a life” (jokingly), but in my opinion, volunteering for something collaborative, be it a charity or an online collaborative map, adds a lot of value to one’s life. You don’t do things for yourself only. Okay, it might be a bit addictive at some point, and you might make changes that are so niche that no one cares besides yourself, but hey, the whole point of collaborative initiatives is also to embrace individual particularities, not to merge them into a bland and vague thing. By looking at the map in different places, you can notice tiny subtleties and tiny additions that show people cared. Even 11 years ago, people cared. Who knows, maybe this contributor passed away since then? Nevertheless, their work is still there and will continue to be refined further. And that is truly beautiful, in my opinion.

That’s all for today. See you later, maybe! 💚

~ Louis

Making the Map of India Even More Accurate! 🇮🇳📍

I am proud to share that I have successfully completed 100% of TomTom’s project: “India – POIs Located Not on Buildings.”

The primary objective of this project was to correct Points of Interest (POIs) that were not situated within the accurate footprints of buildings. An accurate map not only enhances navigation but is also absolutely essential for emergency services and local businesses.

Project Highlights:

Mission: Data Improvements

Total Contribution: Successfully fixed 631 out of 734 tasks.

Status: 100% Complete.

It has been a fantastic experience collaborating with the OpenStreetMap (OSM) community to make the map even more reliable.

Mapping isn’t just about finding routes; it’s about helping the world. 🌍📍

I am proud to contribute as a volunteer with United Nations Mappers. I recently achieved Level 5 (Off the Charts). This journey is not merely about statistics, but about reaching out to the communities that need assistance the most.

My Mapping So Far:

Total Swipes: 562+ (For data accuracy)

Total Area: 87 sq. km (Mapped territory)

Projects: Contributed to 9 humanitarian missions

Supported Entities: 2 major organizations

As a volunteer, every swipe I make and every kilometer I map helps facilitate relief operations during times of crisis. 💪

Alright, after successfully updating the boundaries in Bali, now, I’m shifting my focus further east across the Lombok Strait. Next stop: Lombok Island.

For those who don’t know, Lombok is a gem in the Lesser Sunda Islands, famous for the Mandalika International Circuit and its world-class surf breaks. It’s a new major tourist hub that definitely deserves some love on the map. I’ve already spent some time mapping the natural=* and landuse=* in the smaller islands.

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Baiklah, setelah berhasil mengupdate batas wilayah di Bali, kini saya alihkan fokus saya ke arah timur melintasi Selat Lombok. Selanjutnya: Pulau Lombok.

Bagi yang belum tahu, Lombok adalah permata di Kepulauan Sunda Kecil, terkenal dengan Sirkuit Internasional Mandalika dan ombak selancar kelas dunia. Wilayah ini bisa jadi pusat wisata baru yang layak mendapat perhatian di peta. Sebelumnya, saya telah memetakan natural=* dan landuse=* di pulau-pulau kecilnya.

Hi all, if anyone is attending the World Urban Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan and wants to organise an OSM / open mappy meetup with me, please reach out or comment on this diary :)

https://wuf.unhabitat.org/wuf13

Hi everyone,

I’m currently using the Valhalla API for routing, and I recently started experiencing some issues (e.g., slow responses / failed requests / unexpected results).

The issue occurred on May 4th at around 5:15 PM (Egypt time, UTC+2).

I wanted to check if there is any ongoing outage or known issue with the service at that time.

If anyone else faced similar behavior or has any insights, I’d really appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance!

Os alunos da Escola Secundária Jerónimo Emiliano de Andrade (https://esjea.edu.azores.gov.pt/), dos cursos de Técnico de Serviços Jurídicos e Técnico de Ação Educativa 1, decidiram que a melhor maneira de comemorar os 50 anos de Autonomia da Região Autónoma dos Açores era criar uma viagem por alguns dos lugares que contribuíram e contribuem para uma autonomia cada vez mais forte. Assim nasceu este mapa: (https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/pt-pt/map/viagem-pelos-lugares-da-autonomia-acoriana_1394943#5/50.750359/-0.219727)…

Editora IVIDES has produced two volumes containing the translation of the FPOSM’s ODbL License booklet

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Download EN VERSION

 

The original work Tout savoir sur la license ODbL : la licence d’OpenStreetMap pour cartographier en commun was written in French in 2024 and updated in 2026 by the Fédération des Pros d’OSM, a French organization that brings together various companies and professionals working with open data, OpenStreetMap, and related software. The authors of the original booklet are: François Lacombe (Datactivist), Florian Lainez (Jungle Bus), Antoine Riche (Carto’Cité) and Christophe Biez (Latitude-Cartagène Cartographies).

The English translation was prepared by Editora IVIDES and translated by Raquel Dezidério Souto (IVIDES DATA® and IVIDES.org®) and Modo Levo Engelbert Steve (OSM ENSTP and OSM Cameroun).

The work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 France (CC BY-SA 2.0 FR). Text of the license

 

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Every three years introvert communities from three Baltic countries try to gather together in one city and discuss things they’ve been doing. It is called SotM Baltics, and this year the conference comes again to Riga, Latvia. It’s in less than a month: 4th of June!

We’ve got just one day, and not a weekend even. But there will be many GIS professionals in neighbouring rooms (with their own conference), and generally the event will definitely feel like an oasis of open mapping.

I would like to invite you — whether you live nearby, or can fly in for a couple days — to attend and maybe present at the conference. There will be video recordings, and more importantly, a free lunch for everyone. And both the city and the weather promise to be splendid.

See the website for info and forms: https://2026.sotm-baltics.org/

For the next day I’m thinking of organizing either a workshop or a bicycle ride, whichever looks more fun.

Hello

1999 and tomorrow it’s 2000, deus volente, and HAL goes off the year after.

Today I did mapping in Baucau. I added some new roads and buildings that are not in OpenStreetMap. I am happy to be able to help the community get a better map.

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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2026 OSMF budget

The 2026 budget of the OSM Foundation is now published. You can find previous budgets here. Please note that the board may revise the budget throughout the year.

April 2026 OSMF board updates

The board had a meeting on Thursday, 30 April 2026.

You can read the Secretary’s report by Dani Waltersdorfer and the Treasurer’s report by Roland Olbricht.

OSMF’s move to the EU

Craig Allan (Chair) committed to informing the community about the status of the OSMF’s move to the EU, after a comment by Simon Poole (former OSMF and LWG chair) during the April board meeting.

OSM Local Chapters and regional communities

OSM US Inc: The OSM US and OSMF Boards had a closed, introductory meeting on 2026-04-09. The OSMF board, after a comment by imagico (guest) during the April board meeting, said that it is open to meeting with other OSM Local Chapters, if they are interested.

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在画地图时，我们往往离不开一个很重要的地标——祠堂。我先假设各位朋友们都明白祠堂对于一个村庄或一个镇街，在地理上与历史文化上的重要意义，因此就跳过解释（如果你需要了解它，这里是维基百科的链接）。总而言之，它的重要程度足以在OSM上拥有一个标记。不过，寻找一个适合它的tag，却成为了一个难题。

参考现有的例子

我先参考了OSM上，中港台三地现有的祠堂，以及它们的tag。

amenity=place_of_worship

例子有：宗祠 Ancestral Hall、劉氏家祠 Lau’s Ancestral Hall、五福堂 Ancestral Hall、宗祠、朱厝宗祠、鄭氏祠堂、祠堂、祠。

landuse=religious

例子有：扬氏宗祠、隴西堂(彭氏祠堂)、余氏宗祠、邱氏宗祠-明德堂、谢氏大宗祠。

religion=chinese_folk

例子有：劉氏家祠 Lau’s Ancestral Hall、宗祠、余氏宗祠、扬氏宗祠。

amenity=community_centre

例子有：宗祠、宗祠。

结论

从我收集到的例子来看，OSM上对祠堂的标注，多数为amenity=place_of_worship以及landuse=religious，而部分祠堂会附带religion=chinese_folk的key。这些标注初看是挺合适的，但是仔细揣摩，我发觉这并不完全准确。

这些标注更适合宗教场所。而祠堂，在文化意义上是供奉和祭祀祖先的场所，而祖先崇拜并非为一种宗教。至于religion=chinese_folk，它通常指的是中国民间信仰。虽然有些民间信仰会与祖先崇拜混合，有些祠堂会举行民间信仰的崇拜活动，但这并不代表着所有祠堂内举行的活动都有带有民间宗教信仰的成分。

有部分祠堂的标注为amenity=community_centre，这其实也反应了祠堂的另一些功能：宗族成员的聚集活动场所，比如节庆宴饮、婚丧寿喜，等等。

祠堂在OSM上难以寻找到一个合适的tag，其实就体现了一种文化上的差异——OSM来自英国，大部分OSM贡献者也来自欧美地区。它的tag和key的设置，就是默认以欧美地区的文化为基础的。而对于中港台等东亚文化地区的地图绘制，那些普适性的，比如交通设施、商业建筑、住宅、学校、公园等等，往往没有什么问题。但是当我们要标注东亚文化圈内特有的文化现象——比如祠堂——问题就出现了。

我会希望我们能够自定义一个tag，比如amenity=ancestral_hall之类的，这样的标注，会比使用多个模棱两可的标注，准确得多。

现有的解决办法：building=shrine？

我翻查了OSM Wiki，找到了building=shrine这一个tag。根据OSM Wiki对它的定义，这似乎就是目前为止最适合祠堂的tag了。

说在最后

我没有想到，对于祠堂的tag的探寻，会成为一个跨文化语境下的迷你研究。此外，我在OSM Wiki上，有找到对于牌坊的标注，感觉很有意思：

man_made=ceremonial_gate
ceremonial_gate=paifang

牌坊能够拥有一个专属的标签，祠堂，是否也能拥有呢？

TomTom Mapping Project Progress

🖋 Project Status: Active (Working on TomTom Map Tasks)

🏆 Achievements:

🧭 Completed approx 60%

💪 Strong position on the Leaderboard

🔐 Key Focus Areas:

🗺 Map Editing

📋 Note Resolution

✅️ Data Accuracy

🎬 Future Action Items:

🤝 Join the next OSM Virtual Meetup via laptop for better participation.

👥 Discuss technical hurdles and mapping issues with the community.

前言

这些随想是在去年年底写的，也许对其他 mapper 有启发，故发布。

以下经验会让画 osm 变得高效、美观、简洁，避免无线细化。

正文

1. osm 本质是抽象、简化的地图，所以画面元素要少、整洁。增加过多的元素会导致地图画面杂乱无章、不美观，而且后期维护也很繁琐。

   例：一条公路的两旁有人行道，除非有物理隔离（比如栏杆），否则推荐在道路上加 sidewalk=both，而不是把两旁的人行道都画出来

2. 要提炼出对象特征，想出表达完整又简练的画面布局，同时不要出现渲染错误。

3. 直线要直、圆形要园、方形要方、弧线要优雅大气。

4. 线条不宜有过多节点，尽量把多余的、又不影响整体的节点删掉

5. 道路、河流、森林等图画，宜大不宜小，宜长不宜短，宜整不宜碎

6. 能不重叠就不重叠。如果一片区域（比如小区、医院、学校等），有明确的边界（比如围墙），最好先画完内部道路、建筑设施，最后再画上土地利用 area=yes。否则就不要画。

7. 一般使用 iD 编辑器最简单。若想画整齐的方形建筑物建议用 JOSM，并使用 building 插件。

8. 标签方面，非必要不多加。