Diary Entries in English
Recent diary entries:
Unknown city- Ghana
Whoever is mapping Ghana and writes unknown town or city all over the place- please stop.
If you are really keen on mapping, please help importing the GEOnet Names Server Data- much more usefull. When someone comes around adding the correct names via import one has to delete all your unknown cities.
Please stop doing this- it adds only marginal value to the map and is a pain to clean up afterwards, when the map gets more complete over time.
Please use your much appreciated enthusiasm in a more sensitive way,
Thanks, Zenfunk
Coordinates:Posted by zenfunk at Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:22:28 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 2 comments
Openstreetmap in the news, 20.11.09 nytimes, guardian,
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/happy-national-geography-week/
A New Way to Use GPS
You probably know about GPS devices—maybe you even let one guide you to new destinations. But you can also use many GPS devices to gather data for Wiki maps at OpenStreetMap.org. Have students travel around their home area, gathering map data. Help them upload their data to the Web site.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/nov/19/digital-media-aol-foursquare-local-news-patch-peer
AOL sees revenues in local: Its CEO, Tim Armstrong, announced yesterday in New York that it plans to digitize entire towns with the help of Patch, the hyperlocal network it bought last year. Armstrong clearly sees a hole in the market here and plans to cover every aspect of community life from school boards to restaurants and shops. "We're hiring reporters," Armstrong said according to the business journal Portfolio.com. "Can you imagine that?"
Patch just switched to OpenStreetMap and appears to be busy with building its own map infrastructure, including designing, rendering and hosting its own tiles, according to zdnet. But that is not all. "Patch will go into stores, photograph everything and even tell consumers how many parking spaces there are," Armstrong said. "Even though it will have only 30 local communities outside New York City initially, it will scale substantially."
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3206875
CloudMade is gearing up to release a set of tools that will enable people to quickly and easily contribute to the OpenStreetMap project.
At the same time the company is looking to create a developer model that will enable developers to use OpenStreetMap data and databases in their websites and iPhone applications.
"There are really two sides to this, there's a community facing side called Mapzen and a developer platform," said Nick Black, Founder of CloudMade.
Posted by h4ck3rm1k3 at Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:18:56 +0000 in English (English)Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Started editing on Palawan, could need a mentor
After some months of rest, today I started editing on Palawan, a island in the west of the Philippines. As I am not very keen with editing OSM I would be glad if someone could look over my changes!
Posted by flip666 at Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:46:49 +0000 in English (English)Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 1 comment
My first international edits
I am now an international man of mapmaking! I've uploaded the data from my business trip to Gaborone. Fixed some roads, added a road name or two, added a number of buildings and actually added new roads that weren't on the map at all! There are lots more that need to be added.
I took a lot of pictures of street names that just weren't readable. Unfortunately, when you're only there for a day and have to work, there's only so much time to write down street names.
Coordinates:Posted by slashme at Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:35:45 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 5 comments
Tiger 2009 areas
I just finished adding the Tiger 2009 area polygon shapefiles for California. The data includes most parks, national forests, cemeteries, commercial areas, some schools, colleges and universities and more. I tried to remove the larger parks and areas to not duplicate existing areas. But some of the smaller parks were repeated and need to be manually removed. Also Tiger uses a weird set of abbreviations which I documented on the [[TIGER 2009]] wiki page. I corrected some of the later ones by opening the OSM file in a text editor and then doing a find and replace for each one. I uploaded all the counties except for Santa Cruz and Los Angeles which have already had imports done in them or have already been mapped. I added the points and water files in the bay area. A lot of these repeat what is on the ground, so I am going to let others add the other ones in their counties if they want. If anyone in the U.S. would like to upload data for their counties but doesn't know how to use the java shp-to-osm, let me know and I can email you the OSM files you can upload in JOSM.
Coordinates:Posted by nmixter at Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:11:45 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Tagwatch mission complete (for now)
Just finished a mission I set myself to clean out the UK Tagwatch (http://tagwatch.stoecker.eu) a bit. Don't panic though, I haven't been bulldozing away all the new and novel tags people are using, just going through it all carefully with a duster and having a go at the following:
*Fixing spelling mistakes. By the nature of Tagwatch, this mainly means spelling mistakes in the tags, not the values. For example, I'll definitely have caught amneity=parking, but not necessarily amenity=praking. Also I might have left a tag or two that was obviously only being used by one person as *all* instances were misspelled. ;-) This category included trailing spaces, although I think a lot of these get auto-fixed eventually even if I don't bother...
*Nonstandard -> standard tags. This was by far the biggest job, as these are trickier to spot by users outside of Tagwatch. Let's face it, we don't all remember the entire Map Features page all the time, and so sometimes we put max_speed instead of maxspeed, or think the tag for phone numbers is "telephone=" instead of "phone=". I know I do, since I've embarrassed myself by turning up plenty of my own mistakes like these as I've gone through...! Unfortunately some of the most common mistakes were made just too often to be fixed by hand by me in any sensible time: if anyone feels like finishing off "telephone=*" then go ahead, but you're in for a long job!
*Nonstandard -> nonstandard (i.e. unapproved) tags. This is the main controversial bit - I've tried to be as careful about it as I can, and I hope I haven't stood on anybody's toes too much while doing it. If I have - please do change back whatever you're annoyed about, or tell me to do it, or ask why I've done it (as a few people here and there have done already). My standard answer is that tags representing the same thing should be the same (and their exact wordings can be changed around later), so if I'm confident that Tag 1 means the same as well-used Tag 2 (and there aren't too many examples of Tag 1 to do this carefully on a case-by-case basis) then I've grouped them all under Tag 2, even if that tag doesn't have formal approval yet. Note that I'm not saying Tag 2 is good or Tag 1 is rubbish - just that there were very few examples of Tag 1 compared to lots of Tag 2. For example, one of the last things I did was take the "uk:row" tag (short for uk:right-of-way, I discovered) and merge it into the "designation" tag where all its values had corresponding values. It doesn't matter to me whether designation gets approved or replaced with something else - all I'm trying to do is make it so when the dust settles, you know where to search for the relevant nodes, ways and relations to start the conversion process.
*Grouping very minor tags. Some of these edits were a bit cheeky, but they're for the same kind of reasons as the set above. Consider them as no more than suggestions for tags you might like to use to represent a common concept...
So I know that this autumn-clean is going to be undone the very day I stop monitoring Tagwatch... but hopefully it's come in at least a bit useful and saved someone a bit of time down the line! I think I'll probably have another OSM break now though...
SbU
Posted by Strange but untrue at Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:32:58 +0000 in English (English)Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 2 comments
masts risen from obscurity
man_made:masts now seem to be rendered in Mapnik; anything else newish?
Coordinates:Posted by wilpin at Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:45:23 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Potlatch support for NearMap & more
I added NearMap to the list of imagery presets in Potlatch 1.2f which'll hopefully be live soon. This makes mapping Australia slightly easier:
Unfortunately due to a Potlatch bug the full detail of NearMap isn't available in it. It's a bit harder to set up JOSM for NearMap but the resulting detail is insane, here are some people on the beach on Rottnest Island at zoom 23 in JOSM:
Posted by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason at Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:47:48 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Nearmap, meet Potlatch, meet OSM data, meet Nearmap
as per http://nearmap.lefora.com/2009/11/12/edit-the-map-instructions/15826202/
If you're a NearMap (http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/JohnSmith/diary/8559) fan, you can now go to their website, have a cruise around their imagery with the "StreetMap" layer turned on, then when you see something not quite right, you can (now) click on their edit link and have a Potlatch screen (with the Nearmap imagery) come right up at the same spot. Genius!
With any luck the quality of edits will snowball in the areas Nearmap have covered.
Coordinates:Posted by morb_au at Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:46:13 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 1 comment
new GPS, will map!
Finally my new GPS has arrived - Garmin etrx Legend HCx. Somewhat smaller than I thought it would be but that is a good thing.
Took it out for its virgin voyage and collected a few missing streets in central Bendigo (Australia). (Definitely no chance of hitting an iceberg today with the temperature nearly touching 40C!).
Will start picking up some more detail around home when I take the kids for a walk/ride. Hopefully the Bendigo map will change often (and not just from my contributions).
Posted by Craig Feuerherdt at Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:12:33 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 3 comments
wrong representation of track
I've changed the tracktype of a track from grade2 to grade1 since it is paved. However, on the map (http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=47.87241&lon=11.68913&zoom=17&layers=B000FTF) still a short segment of the track is rendered like grade2. Looking at the data I can not see the reason for this, the whole track should be grade1. Can anybody tell me what's wrong here?
Meinolf
Posted by mevo at Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:33:45 +0000 in English (English)Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 1 comment
Joliet Area (IL)
Most if not all of the west side of Joliet (still have a couple far west subdivisions to put in yet), Rockdale and Crest Hill have been corrected. A small part of Plainfield (south part) has been corrected as well. Now I'm focused on getting Romeoville covered (about 70% completed). After I get Romeoville taken care of, I'll finish up Plainfield and eventually update the Channahon - Minooka area.
Coordinates:Posted by patester24 at Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:29:44 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
The Waterfalls of Montezuma, Costa Rica
I added a river to the waterfalls and some of the walking paths to get there. I'll have to go back to check it with my GPS.
I renamed Waterfalls to Upper Waterfalls and tried adding a point for Lower Waterfalls (right next to it) but that point isn't showing up (so I added another). And sometimes the upper falls still just say Waterfalls (or maybe that's a cache problem) at least on the edit screen it does sometimes.
Are there some kinds of layers with this editor for when to have things show up?
Gary
http://GarySaid.com/tags/montezuma/
Posted by Gary LaPointe at Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:42:39 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Montezuma, Costa Rica
Modified the map of the city a little bit. Added phones, church, school, football (soccer) field, pay phones, bus stop, Chico's bar and the two supermarkets.
Added the other road that goes through town, but people don't really drive though it, more to get to places. Added my favorite hotel (Montezuma Pacific) and tried to add a park but couldn't get it to show properly (it's on the edit screen).
Gary
http://GarySaid.com/tags/montezuma/
Posted by Gary LaPointe at Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:40:16 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Newbie
Decided to sign up to Open Street Map. I plan to do some editting of Copamnthorpe, York. I live and work here, so I should be able to add some useful information.
Posted by SharpSharp at Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:04:02 +0000 in English (English)Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 2 comments
Yahoo imagery less precise than multiple GPS tracks
I have been busy mapping along the Petite Cote in Senegal. I have found numerous occurrences of Yahoo sourced roads with multiple concurring GPS tracks lying some distance away - clearly showing that the road is not following the correct path. I corrected them with the more precise path. That shows that when multiple GPS tracks are available and concur, they should be relied upon more than third party sources.
Posted by Jean-Marc Liotier at Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:14:13 +0000 in English (English)Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 7 comments
Os Maps to be free in 2010
This will make a big change.
see http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/17/ordnance-survey-maps-online
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 2 comments
POI control map updated to current xapi rev.
Sorry to all who tried my map program which shows individual POIs on http://www.lenz-online.de/osm.
I just found out that the xapi call had to be adapted to a new revision. :(
Paul Lenz
Posted by Plenz at Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:34:12 +0000 in English (English)Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Starting Stonington, CT
Hopefully a good start....with the impetus being the NY Times article of today.
Coordinates:Posted by BenBaldwin at Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:28:00 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 0 comments
Trouble in Bayswater
I was rightly picked up on an errant Post Box reference recently, the post Box outside Bayswater Tube central London. I Cycle past it near every day, I am usually late so have little time to re check my post boxes, so today I did.
Anyway... that is not the point. Looking at the area in JOSM we have examples of recreational parks glued to streets, masking the roads - see Prince's Square just west of Bayswater ( I have not corrected it so it can serve as an example. )
To the West side of this square in the map data we have two roads overlayed over one another with different names.
Again, this is not a big deal and i have not corrected so that it can servce as an example. A street usually does not have two names ( unless there is a former and new name ).
I am not at ease with things glued to other things ( ie streets glued to parks, or rivers glued to boundaries etc ), it doesn't make sense, not in a CAD world or real world for that matter, and i usually unglue them in JOSM . A Boundary would run down the middle of a street, a park neither in a real world or any other is glued to or overlaps a street, they are distinct objects, and thus should be represented as such, especially in an electronic map / representation which has in theory an infinite degree of resolution and detail.
Hopefully i am not being a desperate pedant here, I would be glad if someone could put me straight before I run amok and start 'correcting' things in my style rather than accepted OSM style
cheers bri
Coordinates:Posted by bri g at Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:00:30 +0000 in English (English)
Comment on this entry | Reply to this entry | 4 comments
Older Entries
