Do we (OSM) have a league table for all countries/ entities (non-countries?), which is based on the quality of OSM mapping in that country?

I ask this question, because I was undertaking a MapRoulette challenge, to help with mapping in Algiers, and although some pockets of excellent mapping existed, it seemed clear that this was very much the exception.

1. How do we gather metrics, to assess the quality of mapping in a given country, so that quality can be improved?

2. How do we engage with the ‘local’ OSM community, to perhaps help them to improve mapping?

3. Can we define a regular (and repeatable) set of MapRoulette challenges, that would enable remote mapping to be carried out, in support of ‘hands-on’ mapping/ surveying carried out by ‘locals on the ground’?

4. How do we publicise tools such as StreetComplete, to help populate the data/ metadata of a country, in order to build upon the ‘big picture’ data that is gathered?

5. What are we missing, above?

Please add to this, and edit, as appropriate.

Many thanks,

Chris

I live in Wiltshire (UK), and when out walking, often see public footpaths that have fallen into disuse, and risk being completely overgrown and overlooked by the general public.

Using existing OSM data, I wonder whether lesser used footpaths could be revived; and UK (and beyond?) users encouraged to use paths, for health and wellbeing benefits, and contribution to mapping.

My idea is that this could be gamified. Users of a simple new app, or of functionality added to an existing app, would score points for walking/ wheeling along recognized paths. Different scoring could be used, for example:

*For every 100 yds/ mtrs, or path segment (?), a point could be earned.

*For paths that are used less regularly, i.e., haven’t had a GPS trace for a specified amount of time, could score more points.

*In order to encourage use of the path by a diverse range of users, including wheelchair users, significantly more points could be awarded for these users taking part.

*Points for a successful upload of a recorded GPS track.

The obvious benefits to the OSM community, and users, would be the potential to increase the amount of GPS traces that are uploaded, therefore enabling accuracy checks, and also being able to offer up additional mapping data, perhaps by using apps such as StreetComplete.

An additional benefit in the UK, would be for the Ramblers “Don’t Lose Your Way” project. This initiative is seeking to reclaim footpaths that have for, historical reasons, dropped off the Definitive Map, as Public Rights of Way. As these paths are reclaimed, walkers and wheelers would be encouraged to use the reclaimed routes, in order to earn points; therefore establishing usage and encouraging more people to use the route.

If you have any thoughts around this idea, please comment here.

Many thanks,

Chris.

Ok, following on from my earlier writing, I can confirm that I have installed and tried capturing data with both the SmartRoadSense and Roadroid Android applications, on my Pixel 6. Both apps had good points, and ‘areas for development’. I was only able to capture data, submit it, and see it on a map, with Roadroid. My understanding is that I can’t do this with SmartRoadSense, because the app infrastructure is currently dormant, due to EU funding coming to an end, but I understand from the devs, that they are about to reinvigorate the project.

Lars Forslof (Roadroid) is doing some excellent work with his propriety solution, but I think the nature of his objectives, are business oriented, and enables a ‘customer’ to request survey coverage for a defined area, which is then coordinated, at a financial cost.

My main questions/ thoughts now, are:

1. Is road surface data useful to anyone? I would suggest it is useful for deciding on routing, and can be used under open source terms, to enable interested bodies, such as highway/ local authorities to have an initial understanding of where surfaces don’t meet a required standard.
2. Is OSM the right place to record the values?
3. Can the open source community encourage the good people at SmartRoadSense to work with us, or do we need to create a new app, with infrastructure? The algorithm used to process the data is currently closed source. My preference would be to work with SmartRoadSense, and have a backlog of potential improvements, hosted on GitHub https://github.com/SmartRoadSense
4. Encourage interested users to install the SmartRoadSense APK, and to give feedback at the GitHub address. The app didn’t appear in Play Store, in the UK on a Pixel 6, so I’ve used APK https://m.apkpure.com/smartroadsense/it.uniurb.smartroadsense
5. I will write to the SmartRoadSense devs, to highlight these thoughts.

What is needed (Requirements capture)? (MoSCoW)

M= Must Have S= Should Have C= Could Have W= Won’t Have

• Updated with initial triage thoughts.

  1. Open Source (Must Have)
  2. Push Reporting (Must Have)
  3. Volunteers (Must Have)
  4. Map to indicate surfaces not already mapped (like OpenStreetCam/ Kartaview does (and Mapillary, which I believe is now closed source (Facebook. Meta)) and to indicate current position. (Should Have)
  5. Colour scheme showing age of last survey (Eg, if mapped in 6 months, one colour, if never mapped, or older than 6 months, then another, or no colour.). Do we need to aggregate the last 3 surveys, for better results? (Should Have)
  6. Suitable for different vehicles, eg car/ truck/ bike (Should Have)
  7. Supported platforms/ repositories: Play Store/ F:Droid, IOS? (Should Have)
  8. Do we need to re-invent the wheel, or can we build on existing code?
  9. API: Roadroid have already written an API, but this may not be released as Open Source (CHECK) and SmartRoadSense (Could Have)
  10. Github or other central repository to publish code? (Must Have)
  11. Technical debt/ backlog? (Must Have)
  12. What features exist in software, already? Are they important to us; should we plan to implement them?
  13. Where will any data be hosted? GDPR, etc.
  14. Agreed format for reporting (Must Have)- How do we make captured data into a format that works with https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:smoothness ? SmartRoadSense have already done some work on values to capture: • LATITUDE, the latitude coordinate at the centre of the section of the road where the roughness value has been estimated • LONGITUDE, the longitude coordinate at the centre of the section of the road where the roughness value has been estimated, IRI International Roughness Index • PPE, the average roughness level of the road section • OSM_ID, the ID of the road in the OpenStreetMap dataset • HIGHWAY, the road category according to the OpenStreetMap classification • UPDATED_AT, the last update of the data for that particular road section Periodic updates- Both maps and Open Data are updated every 6 hours. Each new update differs from the previous one just by the data points associated with roads that have been travelled in the last 6 hours. The remaining part of the dataset stays the same.

What’s the problem (Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF))?

See my original post, here: https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/lidar-mapping-of-roads/97100/14

Hi, everybody!

Motivated by the state of roads in the UK, I’m wondering if anyone is aware of any Open Source/ crowdsourced efforts to assess the condition of surfaces, and then to map them?

I’m aware of lower cost LIDAR equipment, and I believe that some Apple phones have a LIDAR capability.

I’m thinking of something like Mapillary/ Kartaview. Sensor imagery could be gathered, and then scored appropriately, so severity could be seen. I’m thinking that a 100mm pothole on an unclassified and little used road/ lane, would potentially be of less interest/ lower priority than a 50mm pothole on a major motorway/ autobahn/ freeway.

Obviously, potholes are just one example, other immediate possibilities are subsidence, wear and tear, accident damage.

I’d be keen to hear any thoughts/ feedback. Please add to this page, if you can.

Many thanks, Chris chris_debian UK

What can we do about this?

Road damages create comfort-, environmental- and security problems. Existing measurement technologies are very expensive and can only be used rarely. With smartphones you can measure often or in remote areas.

Regarding ‘mapping potholes’, I expect this to be a layer applied to OSM, not data contained within OSM. It will be open source information, for people that can use it. My thinking being that OSM isn’t a repository for other data, but it can help us gather data, and we may be able to give back to OSM.

What has already been done, by whom?

SmartRoadSense info@smartroadsense.it (seems to be broken), github and APK

• “Open Data” under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (OdbL)
• Map= https://smartroadsense.it/data/map/
• Privacy= https://smartroadsense.it/data/privacy/

Roadroid map

Kucai noted: “There was a blog post featured in weeklyOSM a while ago about measuring surface smoothness with a smartphone attached to a bicycle, using the vibration sensor. German post: Supaplex030’s Diary | Smoothness-Ermittlung über Vibrationsmessung mit Smartphone und Fahrrad | OpenStreetMap 1 English translation: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=EN&u=https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Supaplex030/diary/393565 1 I’d love to see this in an app”

How can OSM benefit form this?

IRI (International Roughness Index) Road quality/ smoothness index info can be used ‘Smoothness’ tag. Possibly ‘Surface’ tag?

StreetComplete https://translate.google.com/website?sl=auto&tl=EN&hl=en-GB&u=https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete/issues/1630

Other Beneficiaries?

hfs noted https://www.fixmystreet.com/ crowd-sources all kinds of problems. Potholes is one of the categories.

Where do we go from here?

• No further action, archive only.
• Capture requirement; prioritize MoSCoW; does a solution already exist? (I haven’t got one)
• Something else.

What is needed (Requirements capture)? (MoSCoW)

1. Open Source
2. Push Reporting
3. Volunteers?
4. Map to indicate surfaces not already mapped (like OpenStreetCam/ Kartaview does (and Mapillary, which I believe is now closed source (Facebook. Meta)) and to indicate current position.
5. Colour scheme showing age of last survey (Eg, if mapped in 6 months, one colour, if never mapped, or older than 6 months, then another, or no colour.). Do we need to aggregate the last 3 surveys, for better results?
6. Suitable for different vehicles, eg car/ truck/ bike
7. Supported platforms/ repositories: Play Store/ F:Droid, IOS?
8. Do we need to re-invent the wheel, or can we build on existing code?
9. API: Roadroid have already written an API, but this may not be released as Open Source (CHECK) and SmartRoadSense
10. Github?
11. Technical debt/ backlog?
12. What features exist in software, already? Are they important to us; should we plan to implement them?
13. Where will any data be hosted? GDPR, etc.
14. Agreed format for reporting- SmartRoadSense have already done some work on this

• LATITUDE, the latitude coordinate at the center of the section of the road where the roughness value has been estimated
• LONGITUDE, the longitude coordinate at the center of the section of the road where the roughness value has been estimated, IRI International Roughness Index
• PPE, the average roughness level of the road section
• OSM_ID, the ID of the road in the OpenStreetMap dataset
• HIGHWAY, the road category according to the OpenStreetMap classification
• UPDATED_AT, the last update of the data for that particular road section

Periodic updates- Both maps and Open Data are updated every 6 hours. Each new update differs from the previous one just by the data points associated with roads that have been traveled in the last 6 hours. The remaining part of the dataset stays the same.

Supporting Information

Sample rates? Simon270 speculated- What sampling rate is required/frequency range is of interest? It would be nice to not have to log vast amounts of data but instead do FFTs of a suitable duration (e.g. 1s) and log the relevant spectral content.

Matheus Gomes

IRI International Roughness Index

I was a co-founder of a start-up that does something similar as Roadroid. Basically we can get accelerometer data from a smartphone to convert to IRI (~road quality index), so road managers can plan maintenance accordingly. I don’t work there anymore and I don’t know the current state-of-the-art on this matter, but what I do know from experience is that these values are not perfect, but it does work nicely providing an overall of road quality (excellent, good, bad, extremely bad). Some road agencies were (2 years ago) using this kind of technology, on a pilot basis. I am not aware on any road agency using this as a replacement of traditional surveys, nor letting their contractors do that. On the OSM side, while this excellent/good/bad/extremely bad information can be directly related to the smoothness=* tag, I am not sure if this info can be maintained on a regular basis. For example, on these apps their usually divide the surveys into segments (like 20 m/100 m/1 km segments), so one has to group or split (unlikely) that to fit the OSM road segments. Probably it can be done programmatically, trying to create something that matches OSM data, and feed it constantly. Not sure what you guys think about it, but this is something that cannot be easily done on my point-of-view.

-

dieterdreist

For example, on these apps their usually divide the surveys into segments (like 20 m/100 m/1 km segments), ideally they would align to OpenStreetMap way divisions so that we don’t have to split but it still would be a burden for mappers mapping “manually” because they would not know how to deal with it on way splits –

20090112_113331_266_andnav.gpx

Minor roads around Corsham. Charles St, etc.