Kimsiniz?

Lisans eğitimi inşaat mühendisliği, lisansüstü eğitimi de harita mühendisliği/geomatik olan bir üniversite öğretim üyesiyim. Aynı zamanda da, Openstreetmap’i öğrenip Dünya çapındaki milyonlarca kişiyle birlikte harita altlığını geliştirmek ve insani amaçlarla kullanmak isteyen herkese yardım etmeyi amaçlayan Yer Çizenler Herkes İçin Haritacılık Derneği kurucu üyesi ve yönetim kurulu başkanıyım. HOT (Humanitarian Openstreetmap Team) tarafından yürütülen “Crowdsourcing Non-Camp Refugee Data Through OpenStreetMap” projesinin Yer Çizenler ile ortaklaşa yürütülen Türkiye ayağı süresince de HOT Türkiye koordinatörlüğü görevini üstlendim.

Sınır Tanımayan Doktorlar ile düzenlenen Missing Maps mapathonu

Zaman zaman yeni hobiler edinip, bir süre ilgilendikten sonra bırakmak ve devam edeceğime dair kendimi kandırmak gibi bir hobiye sahibim. Yelkensiz gemi maketimi görmeniz lazım. Dört yıldır düzenli olarak motosiklet kullanıyorum ve üç yıldır da evde kendi biramı yapıyorum. Sanırım bu ikisinden hobilerim olarak bahsedebilirim.

OpenStreetMap’i ne zaman ve nasıl keşfettiniz?

2012’de İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi’nde araştırma görevlisiyken, özgür yazılım ve açık kaynak hareketlerini takip eden yakın bir arkadaşım sayesinde keşfettim. Bana bu çevrimiçi, kitle kaynaklı ve herkesin katkı ve kullanımına açık haritayı gösterdi. Hemen değilse bile zaman içinde ilgim arttı.

Neleri haritalıyorsunuz? Erken zamanlarınızla arada fark var mı?

İlk zamanlarda haritada nadiren düzenlemeler yapıyordum ve yaşadığım ve çalıştığım bölgelerde aklıma geldikçe düzenlemeler yapıyordum. Etiketlemeden çok eksik geometrik altlığı tamamlamaya yönelik düzenlemeler yapıyordum. Artık kendimi daha olgun ve tecrübeli bir haritacı olarak görüyorum ve zaman zaman bazı objeleri nasıl etiketlemem gerektiği hakkında hiçbir fikrim olmadığını ya da bana mantıklı gelen etiketleme yönteminin genel uygulamayla örtüşmeyebileceğini itiraf edebiliyorum. Artık her şüpheye düşüşümde Wiki’ye bakıyorum ve tüm OSM kullanıcılarına, doğru düzenlemeler yaptıklarından emin olmaları adına aynı şeyi yapmalarını tavsiye ediyorum.

Böyle yapmayın.

Hangi yöntemleri kullanıyorsunuz? Saha çalışması yapıyor musunuz? SAndalye haritacısı mısınız?

Hangi araçları kullanıyorsunuz (GPS, Uygulamalar, Düzenleyiciler, kalite kontrol siteleri)?

Saha çalışmalarınızı nasıl organize ediyorsunuz?

Hem sandalye haritacılığı hem de sahada veri toplama yöntemlerini kullanıyorum. Türkiye verisinde hala çok büyük eksiklikler var, bu yüzden de her zaman sayısallaştırılmayı bekleyen bina ve yollar, düzenlenmeyi bekleyen geometriler bulunuyor. Sahada gündelik düzenlemeler için Andriod cihazımda StreetComplete kullanarak isimsiz cadde ve sokakları etiketliyorum. Yer Çizenler’in saha çalışmaları içinse OpenDataKit, OpenMapKit ve Field Papers gibi araçları kullandık.

Ek olarak son aylarda Mapillary üzerinden sokak görüntüleri toplamakla ilgileniyorum. Bu ilgi, saha çalışmalarında toplanan verilerin kalite ve doğruluk kontrolünün daha etkin bir biçimde yapılabilmesi için yeni yollar aramamızla başladı. Başlangıçta uygulamaya alışmak ve özelliklerini öğrenebilmek için telefonumu alıp sokağa çıktım ve ofisimiz çevresinde dolaştım. Daha sonra da motosikletime monte ettiğim bir aksiyon kamera ve ve telefonuma yüklediğim bir GPX kaydedici ile saha çalışması yaptığımız bölgelerin caddelerini dolaştım.

Vroom vroom

Şimdi de sokak görüntüsü üzerinden veri üretim ve doğrulama yöntemini gelecekteki çalışmalarımızda kullanarak sahada geçecek zamanı büyük oranda düşürmeyi planlıyoruz. Toplanan görüntüler, daha deneyimli haritacılar tarafından sayısallaştırılacak, veri kontrol ve doğrulama işlemleri hızlı ve etkin bir biçimde gerçekleşecek, ve yan ürün olarak da çalıştığımız bölgelerin güncel ve yüksek çözünürlüklü sokak görüntüleri kullanıcılarla paylaşılmış olacak.

Nereleri haritalıyorsunuz? Yaşadığınız bölgeyi mi, HOT projelerini mi?

Yaşadığım yerdeki HOT projelerini… :)

Bir haritacı olarak en büyük başarınız nedir?

Kişisel olarak en büyük edinimimi, geomatik (harita mühendisliği) alanındaki doktora derecem olarak görüyorum. OSM camiasına yaptığım katkı olarak düşünürsek de, henüz o başarının gerçekleşmediğini düşünüyorum.

Yer Çizenler olarak Türkiye’deki OSM kullanıcı topluluğunun büyümesine katkı vermeyi, ülke verisinin iyileştirilmesine katkı vermeyi ve STK’ların sosyal ve insani çalışmalarında ve kurumlar arası iletişimde özgür coğrafi veri kullanımını yaygınlaştırmayı hedefliyoruz. Eğer bunlar gerçekleşir ve Türkiye’deki OSM kullanıcıları Yer Çizenler veya benzeri bir tüzel kişilik etrafında toplanabilirse, o zaman başarılardan söz edebiliriz sanırım.

Neden haritalıyorsunuz? Sizi motive eden ne?

Haritalar ve coğrafi veri ile uğraşmaktan hoşuma gidiyor. Bulunduğum bölgelerin haritalarını zihnimde çizip gezinmeyi ve görselleştirmeyi seviyorum. Bu tarz dünyevi işleri genelde seviyorum. Pek fazla sorgulamadım.

Haritalamanın en zor yanı nedir?

İstanbul özelinde konuşursam, geometriyi çizecek güvenilir uydu görüntüleri kullanamamak diyebilirim. Bütün şehir, sürekli değişen bir şantiye sahası olduğundan pek çok uydu görüntüsü katmanı güncelliğini kaybetmiş durumda. Nispeten güncel olan görüntülerin de çözünürlükleri çoğu yer için yetersiz kalıyor. İstanbul’u haritalayan kullanıcılar olarak bu bizim için büyük bir eksiklik.

Kişisel olarak yaşadığım bir diğer zorluksa mevcut verideki yanlış etiketlemeler. Tecrübesiz kullanıcıların bazıları özgüven yüksekliği nedeniyle, bazıları da topluluk veri standartlarını umursamamaktan dolayı çok yaratıcı düzenlemeler yapabiliyorlar. Bazen gündelik düzenlemelerimde, bazen de Yer Çizenler ile birlikte yaptığım veri doğrulama çalışmalarında bunlar karşıma küçük maceralar olarak çıkabiliyorlar. Çoğu zaman kendimi bu yanlışları düzeltmek zorunda hissetmemden dolayı da asıl yapmam gereken işin gecikmesine neden olabiliyorlar.

Yakın zaman için haritalamayla ilgili planlarınız nedir?

Diğer üniversitelerdeki meslektaşlarımın ve hocalarımın da destekleriyle Yer Çizenler’in üniversite öğrencilerine erişmesini ve bu genç ve donanımlı insanların OSM Türkiye topluluğunu genişleterek akademide Openstreetmap özelinde özgür coğrafi veri üretim ve kullanımının yaygınlaşmasını planlıyorum. Ek olarak, en az bir katmanın (tercihen yol ağı) tam ve doğru olarak Openstreetmap’e aktarılmasını hedefliyoruz ki bu, Türkiye’de Openstreetmap kullanımını ciddi anlamda artıracaktır.

Openstreetmap’i kendi işinizde kullanıyor musunuz? Nasıl?

Üniversitede coğrafi bilgi sistemleri ve geomatik üzerine dersler veriyorum ve öğrencilerimden dönem projelerinde OSM kullanıcı kaydı oluşturarak istedikleri bölgelerde haritaya katkıda bulunmalarını istiyorum. Bu yer memleketleri, yaşadıkları yer ya da HOT tasklarından biri olabilir. Dönem sonuna kadar yaptıkları katkıları takip ediyorum ve dönem sonunda da proje notlarını yaptıkları katkıya göre belirliyorum. Bu süre içinde ben de çalışıyor ve kendi performansımı öğrencilerle karşılaştırıyorum ve benden daha çok düzenleme yapan öğrenciler projeden tam not alıyorlar. Çıtayı çok yüksek tutmuyorum, valla.

Openstreetmap ile ilgili, haritalama dışında bir şey yapıyor musunuz?

OSM’i savunuyor ve kişi ve kurumları VGI (Volunteered geographic information - gönüllü coğrafi bilgi), OSM ve özgür veri kullanımının güzelliklerine ikna etmeye çalışıyorum. Halihazırda herkesin erişebildiği ve aradığı bilgiye kolayca erişebildiği sayısal harita servisleri (Google, Yandex, Apple vb.) olan bir şehirde destekçi bulmak oldukça zor oluyor. Bu yüzden yukarıda bahsettiğim yol ağı gibi bir katmanın tam ve doğru bir biçimde üretilmesi OSM kullanımını teşvik edip hızlandıracaktır diye umuyorum.

Son olarak, söylemek istediğiniz başka bir şey var mı?

Wiki’yi kontrol edin.

Kendinizi tanıtır mısınız?

Merhaba, ben Aylin Kızılaslan. İstanbul’da yaşıyorum. Atatürk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi öğrencisiyim. OpenStreetMap kullanıcı adım: Deniz yıldızı. Bu lakabı yalnızca yardım ya da sosyal sorumluluk projelerinde kullanıyorum. Kaynağını meşhur deniz yıldızı hikayesinden alıyor, küçük bir adım dünyayı değiştirebilir.

## OpenStreetMap’i ne zaman ve nasıl keşfettiniz? OpenStreetMap’i 2017 Dünya İnsani Yardım Günü’nde bir haritalama etkinliğinde keşfettim. Sınır Tanımayan Doktorlar (MSF) ve HOT, İstanbul’da bir Missing Maps Mapathon düzenledi. Bu değerli organizasyon ve beni organizasyondan haberdar eden kıymetli arkadaşım sayesinde bu özel günde OpenStreetMap’i keşfetmiş oldum.

Neyi haritalıyorsunuz?

Genellikle doğup büyüdüğüm şehir, okuduğum üniversitenin kampüsü gibi bağlantım ve lokasyon hakimiyetimin olduğu bölgeleri haritalıyorum. Bu benim hobilerim arasında.

Nasıl haritalama yapıyorsunuz? Hangi araçları kullanıyorsunuz?

Missing maps’in haritalama çağrılarını takip ediyorum. İnsani kriz ya da sel, salgın, deprem gibi sebeplerle acil haritalama ihtiyacı olan bölgelerin haritalanmasına katkıda bulunuyorum. Haritalama için, iD editor ve JOSM kullanıyorum.

Nerede haritalama çalışması yürütüyorsunuz?

Genellikle yerel haritalama yapıyorum ama zaman zaman HOT için de yapıyorum.

Bir haritacı olarak en büyük başarınız nedir?

Ben Türk Tıp Öğrencileri Birliği (TURKMSIC) üyesiyim. Yerel ekibimle birlikte MSF Türkiye ve Yer Çizenler Derneği ekibini bir mapathon düzenlemek üzere üniversitemize davet ettik. Bu etkinlikte, o dönem insani kriz yaşanan bir yaşam alanını haritaladık. Bu konuda farkındalık oluşturmak istediğimiz etkinliğimize Atatürk Üniversitesi öğrencilerinin ilgisi oldukça yüksekti.

Neden haritalama yapıyorsun? Sizi motive eden şey nedir?

Küçük bir adımın dünyayı değiştirebileceğine inanıyor, küçük de olsa dünyada iz bırakmak istiyorum. Haritalamanın da bunun için biçilmiş kaftan olduğunu düşünüyorum. Haritada işaretlediğim bir noktanın dünya üzerinde hiç tanımadığım birine yol göstermesi, yardımcı olası ihtimali beni mutlu ediyor. Buna ek olarak haritalamayı eğlenceli buluyorum.

Haritalamanın en zor kısmı nedir?

Bir şeyin başlangıcının her zaman zor olduğunu düşünüyorum. Başlarda editor ve tagleri öğrenmek kolay olmadı.

Yakın gelecek için haritalama planlarınız nelerdir?

Daha detaylı Türkiye haritaları oluşturmak ve insani yardıma ihtiyaç duyan ülkeleri haritalamak.

Diğer haritacılarla bağlantılarınız var mı?

Evet, OSM Türkiye ekibiyle iletişim halindeyim. Mapathon’ları takip ediyorum.

OpenSteetMap kullanıyor musunuz? Nasıl?

OpenStreetMap’i genellikle İstanbul’da bir restoranın ya da cafenin yerini bulmak için kullanıyorum. Bu konuda oldukça kullanışlı. Ama Türkiye’nin diğer şehirlerinin haritaları henüz yeterli veri sağlayamıyor.

OpenStreetMap ile alakalı, haritalama dışında başka bir şey yaptınız mı?

Daha önce de bahsettiğim gibi, okuduğum üniversitede bir mapathon düzenledim. 40 arkadaşımın OpenStreetMap ile tanışmasını sağladım. Ben sadece haritalama yapmanın değil, bunun yanında topluluğunuzu ve yaptığınız işleri daha görünür kılmanın da önemli olduğunu düşünüyorum. Bu amaçla, bilgilerinizi ve heyecanınızı diğer insanlarla paylaşmak oldukça önemlidir. Çünkü bu size aynı amaç doğrultusunda hep birlikte çalışabileceğiniz daha fazla insanın gelmesini sağlar. Böylece bir topluluk olarak daha kolay bir şekilde büyüyebilirsiniz. Amacınız katkıda bulunmaksa, bunun için çok fazla yol var. Benim yaptığım da onlardan bir tanesiydi.

Son olarak, eklemek istediğiniz bir şey var mı?

Mutlu haritalamalar!

自己紹介をお願いします。

村本といいます。マッパーの方々はITに詳しいというイメージがあるのですが、私はITには詳しくなく、化学工学が専門です。日本の横浜でマッピング活動を行っています。

いつ、どのようにしてOpenStreetMapを知りましたか？

私はかつてジオキャッシャーでした。ジオキャッシングの地図がOSMに切り替わったときに、初めてOSMを知りました。周囲のジオキャッシャーからは不満の声が多く上がりましたが、一方で私は、OSMが「自由な地図」であることを知り、「終わらない遊び」であると感じて活動を始めました。

何をマッピングしますか？

いくつかのテーマがあります。 ・小さな島のリモートマッピング ・神社境内のマイクロマッピング ・ハイキングコースのマッピング ・災害地区の復興マッピング テーマにおおまかに共通するところは、商用地図がカバーできていないところをマッピングしようと思っているところでしょうか。

マッピングの方法は？現地調査派ですか？リモートマッピング派ですか？ツールはどのようなものを使っていますか？

現地調査重視です。GoMap!!は現地調査時にさっと編集できるので愛用しています。

現地調査の方法は？

旅行やハイキングに出かけたさいに、写真を撮り地物を記録します。なるべく360写真て記録するようにしています。 道路構造が複雑な場合はGoMapを使って現地でマッピングしてしまいますが、主には写真をもとに帰宅後にJOSMで編集しています。

最も大きなマッピングの成果は何でしょうか？

個人的には、青ヶ島と利島を現地調査に基づいてマッピングをほぼ完成できたことが最も大きな成果であると考えています。 青ヶ島は、日本で最もアクセス困難な場所のひとつであり、米国のNGOは死ぬまでに行くべき場所としてピックアップしました。 http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/amazing-natural-wonders-photos/ 青ヶ島の魅力はここで語る必要もないので省略。Mapillaryでバーチャルツアーを楽しむこともできますが、二重カルデラや崖を這うような道は、ぜひ現地に行って肌で感じてください。

Map: Mapillary, OpenStreetMap contributors. Elevation data: Kokudochiriin. Renderer: Kashmir.

しかしコミュニティの観点からは、WeeklyOSMの翻訳活動が最も大きな成果かもしれません。

あなたがマッピングする理由は何でしょうか？

地図は歴史です。歴史を残すために地図を作りたいと考えています。これが最も大きなモチベーションです。 日本で2011年3月11日に起こった大震災により、多くの人命やコミュニティが失われました。被害を受けたコミュニティの一部は仮設商店街を作り、それは復興のシンボルとなりました。私はいくつかの復興商店街をまわり、OSMとMapillaryでその状況を記録しました。震災から時間がたち、復興の進展にともなって、いくつかの復興商店街はその役目を終えて閉鎖されました。OSMのデータも削除されましたが、記録は残っています。Overpass turboなどのツールを活用すれば、なくなった商店街もその姿を取り戻すことができるのです。多層的な街の歴史を地図に残していけるのはOSMの大きな利点ではないでしょうか。 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/muramototomoya/20171221/1513860787

Map: OpenStreetMap contributors. Data mining: Overpass API.

マッピングで難しいところは？

メンテナンスです。 地物があることを確認するのは簡単ですが、マップされた地物が「ない」ことを確認するのは非常に大変です。また、複雑に詳細にマッピングされたオブジェクトは修正が大変です。バランスが重要だと思います。

今後のマッピング計画を教えてください。

横浜駅を対象にして、バリアフリーマップを事例をつくりたいと考えています。 これまでに、駅ビル内の歩道をマッピングしました。 次のステップとしては、駅構内の写真を活用するなど、マッピングされたバリアフリー情報をどのように表現したらよいのか考えたいと思っています。 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/muramototomoya/20171128/1511872639

Map: OpenStreetMap contributors. App: QGIS

他のマッパーと連絡することはありますか？

日本ではTwitterのハッシュタグ#osmjpでコミュニケーションが行われています。質問が投げかけられたときは可能な限り回答を返すようにしています。

自分ではOSMを使っていますか？

多くのハイキングコースはGoogleマップに載っていないので、OSMを使います。Maps.meを使うことが多いです。海外旅行のときにも、オフラインマップとしてMaps.meを使っています。しかし、日常ではGoogleマップを使う機会のほうが多いです。

マッピング以外でOSM関連の活動は何か行っていますか？

上述したように、WeeklyOSMの編集チームの一員で、翻訳活動を行っています。日本人は(私自身を含めて)英語が苦手な人が多いので、日本語の情報を増やすことが必要であると考えています。

最後に一言どうぞ。

OSMは国際的な協働活動です。カルチャーやコミュニティが違えば、マッピングやタグ付けスタイルも変わる可能性があります。そのギャップを埋めるため、コミュニケーションを拡げ、他の文化やコミュニティを尊重し、 活動をosm wikiにドキュメント化していきましょう。

自己紹介をどうぞ

私は東京に住んでいて、 地図とは全く関係のない会社で仕事をしています。

あなたはいつオープンストリートマップに出会いましたか？

2009年9月に友人に紹介されました。

Mapping party ＠ 小石川植物園

何をマッピングしてますか？

以前は道路さえ描かれていなかったので、道路が中心でした。 最近は、神社仏閣や庭園を中心にマッピングしています。

どのようにマッピングしていますか？

毎月マッピングパーティを開催しています。 サーベイ時には、フィールドペーパーを使い、またたくさんの写真やビデオを撮ります。

どのツールを使っていますか？

編集にはJOSMを使っています。

何処をマッピングしていますか？

東京都内の神社仏閣、庭園を主にマッピングしています。

マッパーとしての最大の成果は何ですか？

一昨年まで私は京都に住んでいました。 京都では金閣寺や清水寺といった17ヶ所の世界遺産をすべてマッピングしました。 その成果は昨年日本で開催されたSOTMでも発表しました。 その時のスライドはこちらです。 speakerdeck

京都の二条城 on historic.place

なぜあなたはマッピングするのですか？

楽しいからです！

マッピングで一番難しいことは何でしょう？

初心者の教育です。

日本の住所体系は大きく異なると聞きました。何か問題になりますか？

私は、地理の専門家ではないので、よくわかりません。

日本には大きく2つの住所体系があります。

一つは道路の両側に同じ住所が付く場合。 これはマッピングが難しいと思います。

もう一つは区画に同じ住所が付く場合。 これはマッピングしやすいと思います。

道路の区分も違うと聞きました。何かコメントできますか？

はい。違うと思います。 文化が違えば道路の区分も違うのは普通でしょう。 そこで、日本独自の定義をしています。それはこちらで見られます。 the wiki

あなたは他のマッパーと連絡を取り合っていますか？

はい。基本的には毎月のマッピングパーティにて。

あなたはオープンストリートマップを使っていますか？

もちろん！ 行先を確認するときなどに http://openstreetmap.org を使っています。

マッピング以外に何かオープンストリートマップに貢献していますか？

編集時のコメントを都道府県ごとにツイートするボットを運営しています。 例えば 東京都は https://twitter.com/osmjp_tokyo 京都は https://twitter.com/osmjp_kyoto です。

あと、Mapillary にも参加しています。

最後に何か一言どうぞ

Happy Mapping!!

¿Quiénes son?

Somos una comunidad latinoamericana que se encuentra en 11 diferentes países de la región. http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/geochicas_161167#3/-4.39/-53.88 En #Geochicas contamos con diferentes perfiles, venimos de la programación, las ciencias sociales, la geografía, el diseño, las humanidades. Muchas somos estudiantes, investigadoras, trabajadoras en diferentes empresas, instituciones estatales, organizaciones, universidades en nuestros países.   El nombre de #Geochicas nace como parte de la necesidad de englobar nuestro trabajo y ganas de articular el mapeo con el enfoque de género en la comunidad.

¿Cómo y cuándo descubrieron OpenStreetMap?

Conocimos OpenStreetMap desde diferentes momentos y contextos, algunas desde casi 10 años. Muchas veces desde la necesidad de encontrar herramientas e información alternativas y libres que nos pudieran ayudar en nuestros diferentes trabajos. Muchos casos de uso de OSM en #Geochicas parten desde la academia, para trabajos de investigación, otros como propuestas para visibilización de diferentes problemáticas con organizaciones civiles, como Ciudata y otros vinculados como Repubikla, o #CallesVioletas, colaborando con redes activistas. La dimensión humanitaria de OSM es otra temática que reunido el interés de varias personas del grupo.

¿Qué mapean? ¿Cómo mapean? ¿Qué tipo de herramientas utilizan?

Nos enfocamos en mapear diferentes puntos de interés que se relacionen directamente con el apoyo y desarrollo de las mujeres en nuestros países, localidades, barrios. Estamos empezando a impulsar fuertemente la aportación al mapa de equipamientos y elementos que mejoran las condiciones de vida de las mujeres, a través varios proyectos tecnológicos, de importación de datos públicos, y de mapeos participativos. También apoyamos y realizamos iniciativas que cuenten con un enfoque multidisciplinar de mapeo, como el Mapatón Masivo Regional Latinoamericano, en ocasión del aniversario 13 de Openstreetmap, desde donde se propuso mapear asentamientos informales vulnerables, teniendo en cuenta que las mujeres son muchas veces quienes se encuentran en mayor riesgo en estos espacios, y sufren en general de mayor vulnerabilidad.  

¿Dónde mapean? ¿Localmente, HOT?

Mapeamos de manera local a través de proyectos nacionales, y también de manera remota a través de iniciativas internacionales y también de HOT y MissingMaps, un ejemplo fue el proyecto de mapeo desde Crowd2Map para mejorar el mapa antes de la “temporada de corte genital femenino en Tanzania”, y así poder ayudar a las diferentes organizaciones a rescatar a las niñas en riesgo.

¿Cuál es su mayor logro como maperas?

Nuestro mayor logro ha sido poder constituirnos como un colectivo multidisciplinar y transnacional de mujeres mapeadoras. De igual manera hemos articulado diferentes actividades como espacios formativos en diferentes países como México, Paraguay, Nicaragua; y otros proyectos que apoyan a visibilizar la necesidad de discutir sobre la brecha de género en la comunidad. Estamos generando constantemente métodos para producir conocimiento sobre la participación de la géneros en la comunidad Openstreetmap.

Este año fuimos nominadas y ganamos la categoría latinoamericana de los OSMAwards y contamos con presencia de una de nuestras integrantes en el SOTM Internacional en Japón, donde realizó una presentación sobre el colectivo y nuestro trabajo.  

¿Por qué mapean? ¿Qué les motiva?

Nos motiva a mapear la necesidad de generar información abierta que sea abarcativa también hacia las mujeres, en términos de que la información mapeada es una de las bases para el desarrollo de las comunidades y los territorios y también un auxiliar más y más omnipresente en la vida cotidiana. La información se encuentra sin embargo sesgada por la amplia brecha de género que existe entre los y las colaboradoras de OSM. Esto no sólo se ve representado en el mapa desde la falta de POIs relacionados a mujeres, sino también en cómo se percibe una realidad y un mundo casi completamente masculinizado. Eso puede ser aplicado a cualquier otro mapa, pero creemos que la dimensión comunitaria de OpenStreetMap justamente le otorga una gran ventaja comparativa: este mapa sí puede rectificar esta perspectiva y representar debidamente a las mujeres.

¿Qué es lo más complicado al momento de mapper? (Ej:. Etiquetas, editores? ¿Encontrar etiquetas específicas para tu zona de interés? ¿Mantenerse motivadas?)

Una de las grandes dificultades al mapear con enfoque de género, es la falta de participación de más mujeres en la comunidad. Según estadísticas, las mujeres representamos un poco menos del 5% de toda la comunidad de OSM, y lograr que tanto nuestros intereses se vean reflejados en la agenda y discusiones de la comunidad, como contar con etiquetas que den cuenta de las necesidades de las mujeres en el mapa, es uno de los grandes retos.

¿Cuáles son tus planes de mapeo para el future?

Primero queremos conocer más sobre las necesidades en términos de puntos de interés para las mujeres que necesitan ser mapeados, a lo mismo que trabajar sobre las etiquetas que puedan apoyar a mejorar la información que se ve reflejada en el mapa. Seguimos realizando iniciativas de fotomapeo con herramientas como Mapillary y OpenStreetCam, mapeos sociales sobre memoria, sobre percepción del espacio, accesibilidad, y desarrollo de aplicaciones para OSM. También nos importa incidir en nuestras comunidades de Openstreetmap para que estas estén más sensibilizadas a la necesidad de desarrollar estos ejes con las mujeres.

¿Tienen contacto con otros maperos/as?

Geochicas emerge y queda en permanente contacto con Openstreetmap LATAM. Contamos con diferentes redes mixtas internacionales, regionales y nacionales de OSM con las cuales articulamos nuestros proyectos, y también con comunidades que no son necesariamente de OpenStreetMap, pero que cuentan con componentes de mapeo en sus trabajos diarios.

¿Cómo utilizan OpenStreetMap?

Utilizamos OSM para hacer (en un futuro cercano) análisis de la participación de las mujeres respeto a la comunidad completa, en término de creación de datos abiertos relacionados directamente con mujeres y con áreas vulnerables. También utilizamos OSM en nuestros diferentes trabajos, proyectos académicos y en nuestra vida cotidiana. También impulsamos proyectos tecnológicos con usos de OSM para mejorar la calidad de la vida de las mujeres.

¿Nos podrías comentar algo más sobre Geochicas?

Geochicas nace como una iniciativa de colaboración conjunta entre mujeres latinoamericanas maperas, a partir de discusión intensa a esa comunidad sobre la preocupante brecha de género en el SOTM Latam 2016, en Sao Paulo, Brasil. Nos conectamos entre unas 5 mujeres para realizar un panel abierto de discusión sobre esta situación, dentro de este evento, y formar una red permanente de mujeres de Openstreetmap LATAM, teniendo como objetivo tener mayor presencia y participación en estos eventos claves, aumentar nuestro liderazgo, generar un debate permanente, y también generar proyectos con el mapa, que beneficie a las mujeres.

Hemos realizado actividades formativas sobre mapeo con enfoque de género, también en foros de reflexión sobre el desequilibrio de género y sus implicaciones en los espacios activistas, de datos y tecnologías, en espacios feministas, un ejemplo de esto fue el Taller Hackerfeminista en Asunción, Paraguay, con la Liga Peatonal en la Ciudad de México, y en diferentes países de manera nacional, y también proyectos regionales latinoamericanos que articulamos con las diferentes comunidades y aliados nacionales.

¿Aparte de mapear, realizan otras actividades relacionadas a OSM?

Dentro de Geochicas, hay colaboradoras que editan y traducen el Semanario OSM, queremos tener un esfuerzo contínuo de traducción y mejora de etiquetas y descripción para temas relacionados con las mujeres. También apoyamos diferentes espacios formativos en los cuales visibilizamos la importancia de trabajar con OSM, y dentro de OSM sobre la importancia de fomentar una representación y liderazgos equilibrados de géneros. Dirigimos esfuerzos para producir conocimiento y datos sobre la participación de los distintos géneros en la comunidad, buscamos financiamiento para apoyar una mayor participación de las mujeres, y, a través del fortalecimiento de red, queremos visibilizar siempre más los trabajos hechos por ellas en el universo de Openstreetmap.

Para concluir, ¿algo más que quisieras agregar?

Desde Geochicas impulsamos el uso del hashtag #OSMintegra, #OSMintegrates y #Geochicas en Twitter, para tener discusiones, debates, lluvias de idea permanentes sobre las necesidades, percepciones y comentarios sobre género de la comunidad. También contamos con un sitio Web dónde pueden encontrar nuestros proyectos, publicaciones de nuestros diarios en OSM, e invitamos a las mujeres que quieran unirse a nuestra red de trabajo a través de nuestro canal de comunicación en Telegram.

Invitamos a todas las personas que colaboran en OpenStreetMap a ayudarnos a completar esta encuesta, sobre las percepciones y representaciones de género en la comunidad. Buscamos recopilar información que nos ayude a comprender más enteramente la situación sobre la brecha de género en OSM.

Most links point to websites written in Dutch

Last summer I noticed that Tourisme Pajottenland was using an OpenStreetMap-based map to promote a walk they organised together with Pasar. Unfortunately, the attribution was missing. So I contacted them asking them to add it and proposed to come over to explain OpenStreetMap to them.

I got a very positive reply back and the following maps with walks all got the attribution. And I was invited to discuss a possible collaboration. This meeting was in the first week of October.

Before I describe the meeting and their needs, I will try to explain how their organisation works.

I actually met the people from Regional Landscape P & Valley of the Zenne. This is one of the 17 regional landscape organisations in Flanders. Flanders is the Northern part of Belgium, where people speak Dutch. Together, those 17 regional landscapes cover most of Flanders. They all work around the same topics:

• Landscape: they work together with local governments, civilians and other organisations to improve the environment. They give advice to landscape gardens and fields with local trees and hedges.
• Nature: they set up projects to protect fauna and flora
• Education: they organise workshop, courses and activities related to nature and landscape
• Recreation: They promote recreation with respect for nature, maintain slow roads and set out signposted walks.

Perhaps this is better explained on the website of Regional Landscape Rivierenland (in English).

Besides those regional landscapes, we also have organisations in which villages work together on heritage. They are called “intergemeentelijke onroerenderfgoeddienst” (IOED). More information can be found on the website of the Flemish agency for heritage.

There is one of those IOEDs that work together with the regional landscape Pajottenland-Zennevallei: it’s called Erfgoedcell Pajottenland-Zennevallei.

Those IOEDs are now asked to update the inventory of heritage items both man-made and natural in the villages where they are active. Both organisations have to run with limited budgets and they want to use their network of volunteers to help out with the inventory. They are looking at a workflow that would make it easy for those volunteers to navigate to the heritage item and collect data about the item.

And this is the reason why I was invited. They are thinking about OpenStreetMap to support this workflow. It can be as simple as having the items available as POIs in a navigation app, or they could go all the way to add all required data to OpenStreetMap.

The data they want to collect is very extensive, but most of it is observable. That is exactly the reason why their volunteers will have to visit the place in person before filling in the form.

I received an example of such a form for a farm, but since it is still a draft, I was asked to only share it with a small group to discuss possible tags. Some information they want to collect about farms:

• shape of the building(long, square, semi-square, etc.)
• buildings materials of walls, roof,
• shape of doors and windows
• the number of bays

This seems to be more detailed than we do at this moment in OpenStreetMap.

If you have done such a project or are interested to help out to define the tags, feel free to contact me.

If you have ideas on a simple workflow on how we can turn a collection of items in OSM into POIs in e.g OsmAnd, I will be more than happy to hear from you.

We also talked about the walking networks in their area. There are plans to update the network and slightly reorganise them. And they also plan some pure digital sections, without visible signs.

After the meeting I contacted an alderman from my contacts. He got in touch with me to map a particular heritage building in his town. Turns out they are also part of a IOED named Polderrand and they have the same inventory task to do. I will visit them in the coming weeks.

Qui êtes-vous ?

Je m’appel Jamie Nadeau. Dans OSM certaines personnes me connaissent sous le nom de LogicalViolinist et sur le wiki comme james2432. J’ai grandis un peu partout, car on a déménagé beaucoup quand j’étais jeune, des places notables étant Kingston, North Bay, Ottawa et Gatineau. Mon domaine c’est celui de la technologie de l’information et je travaille dans mon domaine dans la vallée d’Ottawa. J’aime explorer le monde et m’enligné sur des nouveaux défits. James était mon surnom depuis l’élémentaire. J’ai combiné Logic (programmation) et Violinist (j’aime jouer du violon) pour former mon nom d’utilisateur.

Quand et comment avez-vous découvert OpenStreetMap ?

J’ai commencé en cherchant une alternative à Google Maps, car dans ces jours les place “hors réseau” était impossible d’y naviguer parce qu’il y avait soit aucune données ou le besoin d’avoir des données mobiles(Les donnée mobiles au Canada valent plus cher que de l’or et la couverture est plus au sud le long de la fontière des États-Unis, où la pluspart de la population s’y trouve de toute façon). J’ai découvert OSMAnd et j’ai vraiement aimé le fait d’avoir les données directement sur mon téléphone. Ma première modification était une correction sur l’autoroute 417 (je m’en souviens plus exactement pourquoi je l’avais modifié) et de là je me suis posé la question sur quoi d’autre je pourrais ajouter, et j’ai plongé dedans tête première.

Que cartographiez-vous ? Y a-t-il des différences depuis vos débuts ?

Initiallement je corrigeais des erreurs sur la carte. Après j’ai commencé à ajouté des édifices(manuellement via photo satélite), après des addresses. Maintenant j’ajoute n’importe quoi. J’ai fait de l’import CANVEC, d’addresses et d’édifices. Cartographier les villages des première nation dans le nord du Canada et les frontières des villes. Je me restreint pas à seulement le Canada.

Comment cartographiez-vous ? Sur le terrain ou “arm-chair” ?

Les deux. Quand je fesait les cartes d’intérieur des centres d’achats, j’y allais avec papier crayon et je prenais des notes. Je conduit beaucoup pour OpenStreetCam et je téléverse aussi sur Mapillary. J’ai fait une couple de tâches HOT dans une rencontre de mapping, mais certaines parties du Canada sont pire que le tiers monde. Le nord du Canada n’est pas vraiement pratique de se rendre, a moins d’y aller en canot et une couple de mois de bouffe. Moi et Rps333 avons une rivalerie amical sur qui peut couvrire le plus de terrain dans OSC/Mapillary, ce qui est bénifique, car nous avons quasiement couvert toute Ottawa à nous deux. Mes enquêtes/arpentage se font avec mon téléphone ou par stylo et papier. Mes applications favoris sont OSMAnd(contrôle des tags), maps.me(plus facile pour les POI) et keypad mapper 3 (ajoût rapide d’addresses)

Comment menez-vous vos relevés sur le terrain ?

Si c’est papier crayon, j’imprime habituellement sur ce que je fais l’enquête et je prends des notes/dessine dessus. Si c’est par téléphone, j’enregistre un GPX et ajoûte des données. Je collectionned aussi des donnée passivement via des photos(OSC/Mapillary)

Où cartographiez-vous ?

N’importe où. Majoritairement au Canada en ce moment. Ceci m’arrête pas de collectionner des données sur mon téléphone quand je suis en voyage hors du pays, une chose que ma femme s’est habitué de subir.

## Quel est votre plus grande réussite en tant que cartographe ? Finalement importer les édifices et les addresses dans OSM pour la région d’Ottawa/Gatineau et nettoyant les données. Aussi cartographier Fort McMurray pendant le feu de forêt.

Pourquoi cartographiez-vous ? Qu’est-ce qui vous motive ?

Ne pas se fier sur Google pour des données géographique et ne pas avoir une carte vide.

Quelle est la partie la plus difficile en cartographie ?

Je ne serais peut-être pas très populaire en disant ceci mais: intéragir avec la communauté. Des fois c’est difficile se faire comprendre quand tu parles à l’internationale/d’autre culture via courriel/text à la place de face à face. Des fois le monde peuvent être un peu raide, sourtout pour des nouveaux.

Quels sont vos plans de cartographie dans un futur proche ?

Qualifier tous les édifices à Gatineau/Ottawa (résidentielle/détachée/commerciale, etc) et finir de cartographié les villages des premières nations au Canada.

Avez-vous des contacts avec d’autres cartographes ?

Oui plusieurs à Ottawa, on se rencontre à peu près à chanque mois pour discuter de futur projets (Je pense ce mois-ci c’est les piste de bicycles dans la région Capitale)

Utilisez-vous vous-même OpenStreetMap ? Comment ?

Pas mal pour la navigation via OSMAnd.

Faites-vous d’autres choses que la cartographie qui soit liées à OpenStreetMap ?

Je collectionne beaucoup de photos OSC/Mapillary pour que d’autres personnes puissent contribuer. J’ai aussi créer un outil GUI pour téléverser à OSC: https://github.com/osmottawa/OSVUploadr/releases

Pour conclure, y a-t-il autre chose que vous voulez mentionner ?

OSM est étonnant comme projet! Surtout dans des cas de crise (Fort McMurray, Nepal, Haiti, etc). La communauté est très fort et veulent contribuer autant de temps à ce projet. C’est triste qu’on peu seulement récolter ce que le monde mettent de dans, donc il faut se motiver pour améliorer la carte, qui pourrait inspirer des nouveaux cartohgraphieur(euse) pour joindre un projet en pleine croissance.

Who are you ?

I’m Jamie Nadeau. In OSM some people might know me more as LogicalViolinist and on the wiki as james2432. I grew up a bit here and there as we moved a lot when I was younger, some notable places being Kingston, North Bay, Ottawa and Gatineau. My back ground is computer science and am currently working in my field in the Ottawa Valley. I love exploring the world and taking on new challenges. James has been my nickname since primary school. I came up with LogicalViolinist by combining Logic(programming) and Violinist(I enjoy playing the violin)

When and how did you discover OpenStreetMap ?

I first started seeking a better alternative to Google Maps as back then “off grid” locations were impossible to route to due to either no map data or the requirement for mobile data to navigate it(mobile data in Canada probably costs more than gold and is mostly covered near the US border, where most of the population is anyways). I came across OSMAnd and really enjoyed that you could load maps offline. My first edit was a correction to highway 417 (not exactly sure what I modified) and from that I was wondering what else could possibly be mapped and I went down the rabbit hole.

What do you map ? Is there any difference with your early days ?

Initially I would map error on the map, missing roads. Then I moved on to buildings(manually via imagery), then addresses. Now I map anything and everything. I’ve done CANVEC imports, address and building imports, mapping indigenous villages in northern Canada and city admin limits. I’m not restricted to only Canada.

How do you map ? Do you make surveys ? Are you an armchair mapper ?

Both. When I scouted indoor mapping for malls, I would go in pen and paper and start taking notes. I drive a lot for OpenStreetCam and also upload to Mapillary. I’ve done a few HOT tasks as a local mapping party, but some parts in Canada are actually worse than some 3rd world countries. Northern Canada is not really surveyable, unless you plan on going by Canoe with camping gear and couple months supply of food. Myself and Rps333 have a friendly rivalery on who can cover more in OSC/Mapillary, it’s benificial as we’ve done most of Ottawa by ourselves. Surveys are usually done with my phone or pen and paper. My favorite apps to do surveys in are OSMAnd(custom tag control), maps.me(easier for POI) and keypad mapper 3(quick address collection)

How do you conduct your surveys ? (in case you do them of course)

If it’s by pen and paper, I usually have printed off what I’m surveying and take notes/draw on it. If it’s via the my phone I’m usually recording a GPX track and logging data in. I also collect data passively via imagery (OSC/Mapillary)

Where do you map ? Locally, HOT ?

Everywhere and anywhere. Mostly in Canada right now. It doesn’t stop me from collecting data on my phone when I take a trip out of the country, something that my wife has grown accustomed to.

What is your biggest achievement as mapper ?

Finally getting the buildings and addresses into OSM for the Ottawa/Gatineau region and cleaning up the data. As well as mapping Fort McMurray during the forest fire.

Why do you map ? What motivates you ?

Not relying on Google for geo-data as well as not having an empty map.

What is the most difficult part of mapping ?

I might not be popular for saying this but: dealing with the community. Sometimes it can be hard to get your point across when dealing internationally/other cultures via email/text instead of face to face. Sometimes people can come off a little harsh, especially to new commers.

What are your mapping plans for the near future ?

Fully qualify buildings in Ottawa/Gatineau (residential/detached/commercial, etc) and finish mapping all Native villages in Canada.

Do you have contact with other mappers ?

Yes multiple in Ottawa, we meet every month or so to discuss future mapping projects(I think this month is bike lanes/paths in the Capital region)

Do you use OpenStreetMap yourself ? How ?

Mostly for navigation via OSMAnd.

Do you do anything else than mapping that is related to OpenStreetMap ?

I’ve been collection a lot of OSC/Mapillary imagery so others can contribute. I’ve also created a GUI uploader for OSC: https://github.com/osmottawa/OSVUploadr/releases to make it easier than uploading via scripts.

To conclude, is there anything else you want to mention ?

OSM is an awesome project! Especially in times of crisis ( Fort McMurray, Napal, Haiti, etc). The community is very powerful and willing to contribute so much time to this project. Sadly we only get what we put into it, so we need to keep motivated to make the map even better, which may inspire new mappers to join an already booming project.

Please introduce yourself

I am Julien Minet. I come from the Luxembourg province in Belgium, from the border between the Ardens and the Gaume. I have a degree as Bio-engineer and worked for 8 years as a researcher at UCL and now ULg - Arlon. At the moment I work in web development, GIS and digital maps.

When and how did you discover OpenStreetMap ?

I heard about OSM quite some time ago, via news sites on mapping and GIS. I started contributing in 2012. I have to admit that I did not believe in the project in the beginning. Due to the empty, white map I was really attracted to contribute. Nevertheless, there were some brave pioneers that started the work and mapped the main roads, the villages, etc. J’ai entendu parler d’OSM assez tôt, par le biais de sites d’infos sur la cartographie et le SIG. Je me suis mis à contribuer en 2012. Au début, je dois dire que je ne croyais pas trop au projet et le fait que la carte était toute blanche dans le sud de la Belgique ne me poussait pas à y contribuer. Puis, de courageux pionniers ont initié le travail en cartographiant les routes principales, les villages, etc.

How do you map ? Is this different from your early days ?

I started in 2012, at the moment, several small villages were missing from the map in my neighborhood, which I added since then, as well as some main roads. In the beginning I mapped forestry roads after registering them via GPS traces. Afterwards, I started focussing on points-of-interests, mainly shops, pubs, restaurants, banks, etc. Later on, I moved to mapping the signposted walks in my area. Since a few months, I became addicted to map the landuse. The longer one participates in the project, the more subjects one finds to map! I believe it is always a good moment to get engaged in OpenStreetMap, since there is a always a lot of details remaining to be mapped, especially in rural areas.

In the last year, I started to use the error detection tool Osmose as lot. It is a very good way to learn about the rules, to discover other mappers in “your” area and to discover new features that can be mapped.

Initially I thought that OpenStreetMap was mainly constructed via imports of open data. Later on, I discovered that this was not the case (at least not in Belgium). Since then, I believe in the “craft mapping”, mapping of items that one knows or has seen in the real world. Wanting to import open data at all costs, is no longer interesting for me, since 1) in case the data is open, it is available anyhow, 2) official data is not perfect and 3) OpenStreetMap demands some time to be constructed, so let some work to future contributors !

On the other hand, open data can be used in for analysing and validation of our map data, or in some specific cases. For examples, one day I would like to import the traces of the small waterways in Wallonia, because they are often missing in OpenstreetMap and they are difficult to map from aerial images. Since this would require a group of passionate people to follow the course of the rivers and streams, this seems like an import that is almost useful. Although swimming and walking along the streams is a great activity !

How do you map ?

Usually, I map what I know well, and after verifying it on the ground. I do not have a dedicated GPS-device for hiking, I only use my smartphone with the OpenGPSTracker app. I use it for all my outdoor activities, be it on a mountain bike or for walking. The latter happens less and less the past few years. Often, I take pictures of shops, especially of the notes indicating the opening hours and contact information, so I can later on add this information to the map.

Most of my edits where done with ID. I like this editor for its simplicity. I always use it for adding information such as opening hours, contact information, or to repair mistakes indicated by Osmose. Recently, I also started using JOSM for mapping landuse and lancover, using the “contourmerge” plugin, which is a great time saver for this type of mapping. I also use Maps.Me and Vespucci on mobile devices.

Where do you map ?

I mainly map what I know well, thus I work in my immediate surroundings and in the places I visit. I am interested in the helping out humanitarian projects such as HOT, but I hesite to start, because I do not know those places. In the beginning, I found some serieus problems in my neighborhood, clearly made by contributors that do not know the area. There has to be people in each region of the world that have an interest in becoming a contributor. Of course, the number of possible contributors interested in the project is alwayls limited, so we have to start with students following geography or IT courses. But we do not have to reach millions of people to get good results. It could be a surprise to see who is interested in the project and contributes to it. I had the possibility to meet some African students of the ULg in Arlon and I tried to introduce them to OpenStreetMap. They are often exited about the project, since it is valuable in areas where no other digital maps exist. So, yes to humanitarian mapping if one does not forget to involve local mappers, all over the world.

What is your largest achievement so far ?

I am proud of “my area”, roughly described as the Forest of Anlier and Rulles, where I made most of my contributions. I am especially happy with the result, as the official IGN maps of the forests are not always up-to-date. Some paths can disappear rapidly under the vegetation and new ones are created by the exploitation of the forest and by mountain bikers.

Why do you map ?

I always loved maps, hiking and outdoor activities. That is what attracts me the most in OpenStreetMap: going out on a bike or by foot and later on edit the map to reflect what you have noticed. I also like the geek aspect, the fact that you have an unbelievable passion to share when you are invited for a dinner on a Wednesday evening.

What is the most difficult part ?

To keep the map up to date ! And to find the motivation to update or improve what is already present.

What are you plans in the near future ?

I talked about that on my blog, mainly the landuse and the sign posted hikes. And why not, mapping the small streams ?

Do you have contact with other mappers ?

I am subscribed to the talk-be mailing list. One warning: this list generates a lot of emails, so set up your mail program to keep them in a separate, dedicated folder. I only visited a few face-to-face meetings, as they are rarely organised in Wallonia. By accident, I met Julien Fastré during one of them and we have met a few times since then. I initiated some people around me to contribute, but they only do this from time to time. And at the State of the Map in Brussels in 2016, I finally met some of the legends of the Belgian community! I think this was the best day of my live ! :-)

Do you use OpenStreetMap yourself ?

I use OpenStreetMap on my smartphone, via the OsmAnd and Maps.me apps. Having the map available offline, is always useful. I also use it to calculate routes. And finally I use it in my activaty as GIS consultant: either as background map or as data source.

Are there other things you do that are related to OpenStreetMap?

I made OpenStreetMap part of my jobs. A project that I would like to develop further is a map of businesses and services in rural areas. A map, where one can rapidly find the opening hours and phone numbers. I have developed a prototype for my village, and I use it often to see whether a shop is open. I would like to present it to other villages and collaborate with local development agencies and trade associations.

To conclude, is there anything else you would like to mention?

For me, OpenStreetMap has an enormous potential, one that is not completely known yet. And even though OSM data is not always complete nor accurate, – which largely depends on the theme and area – it should not hinder the invention of new applications. There are a lot of professions that use geographical information, often only sporadically, but thet can still have benefit from using OpenStreetMap. The data model of OpenStreetMap and its open tagging system, are both part of the success of the project and contribute to its use in innovative solutions. But there are also disadvantages. One of the challenges is the completeness and the exactness of the data. Maybe, by creating derivations, or mirrors based on the original OSM data, that we can create more easily professional applications or services that are more reassuring to its users.

There are still a lot of features that have to be added or corrected in OpenStreetMap. I hope to encourage new people to get interested in the project and to get them contributing. It does not matter whether one is an amateur or a professional, everybody can contribute.

Who are you?

I’m half German half Polish. I’m living in Bavaria in Germany. I’m a car navigation professional responsible for innovation management. Previously I worked with navigation maps and city modelling. Years before I developed specifications for 3D city models for the German government in Hamburg. Then I started to work for one of the biggest car navigation companies. I made the first trials for 3D data acquisition with laser scanning used now e.g. in Here products. I also taught for 15 years constructive geometry and technical representation techniques at the Technical University in Hamburg. My hobbies are my family, 3D modeling, painting, photography, geography and molecular medicine. I decided to use the polish part of my full name instead of nickname because I believe, I have nothing to hide when I map.

When and how did you discover OpenStreetMap?

I heard about OSM already in 2004 because of my professional work and searching after alternatively map sources for car navigation, but I started participating actively only in 2008.

What do you map? Is there any difference with your early days?

I have probably the same story as a lot of mappers: in the beginning I mapped mostly things from my immediate surroundings, then other areas I know. After two years I decided to do mapping in some badly covered areas in developing countries.

How do you map ?

In the beginning I did some surveys but because of my professional and family duties I am now mostly an armchair mapper. I spent a lot of time improving the accuracy of the map.

Which tools do you use ?

For mapping: I use JOSM, Potlatch2, OsmAnd, a digital camera and Field papers. For Q&A I use http://qa.poole.ch, keepright.at, OSM Inspector, and ITO World’s map showing the last 90 days of edits.

Demo F4 Example in Warsaw

For 3D modeling: Adobe Photoshop, ArchiCAD, and f4map. JOSM PlugIns: Kendzi3D, Kendzi3d_improved_by_Andrei, Shape Tools, CAD Tools, ContourOverlappingMerge, Tracer, PicLayer, Alignways, areaselector, buildings_tools – those plugins are the most important to me. But I use also the following plugins: DFX import, FastDraw, junctionchecking, Mapillary, measurement, merge-overlap, pdfimport, photoadjust, reverter, roadSigns, splinex, terracer, tracer2, utilsplugin2, walkingpapers.

Where do you map ?

I do mapping around the world. Previously mostly in Poland and Germany, but with time more and more in developing countries like Ruanda and Nepal. After the earthquake in Nepal in 2015 I did my mapping mostly there. The help is still needed.

What is your biggest achievement as mapper?

I have three points. First would be the organization of the Garching Workshop: I suggested there the mapping schema known now as Simple 3D Building. My good friend Kendzi, a very smart guy, developed based on this idea his plugin Kendzi3d. Now we have 3D maps.

Example 3D Building in Kendzi plugin

Secondly the lobbying for OSM in Poland and the foundation of the OSM Poland association. As the result the polish mappers got access to the very accurate government aerial images.

Third: Specification of area:highway. Another smart mapper, marimil, has programmed the visualization. Now, we have over 82000 such areas in the map. Why is it so important in my opinion? First: a better look of the map on highest zoom level, secondly: this content can help to develop apps for automated driving.

Visualization of area:highway on osmapa.pl

Why do you map?

I love the idea of open source. I have teached the Kathmandu Living Labs team in Nepal before earthquake. They used this knowledge for production of maps for rescue teams after the earthquake.

What is the most difficult part of mapping ?

I don´t understand this question :-) In my eyes it is wonderful and easy to understand project. Maybe I´m too long in this business.

What are your mapping plans for the near future ?

I wish to improve the OSM map of Nepal. I like this beautiful country and nice, friendly Nepali. Especially mapping of forest areas is in my eyes of special value: Where are forests, there are no people. This knowledge is important for disaster management. And new earthquakes are very likely to happen in Nepal.

Map of Nepal in Humanitarian Style

Do you have contact with other mappers ?

Absolutely. Many of them. I know a lot of nice and addicted friends.

Do you use OpenStreetMap yourself ? How ?

I use it for navigation and biking.

Do you do anything else than mapping that is related to OpenStreetMap?

Yes, I try to write some specification for JOSM plugins I miss. Sometimes I find people that realize this ideas, as was the case with e.g. CAD Tools. I´m also working in my free time on the S3DB 2.0 specification. It would be great to have more detailed 3D models. I am also the member of advisory board of I-locate consortium which develops standards for indoor data. I am responsible for OSM content there.

To conclude, is there anything else you want to mention?

Don´t believe everything is already mapped and OSM becomes boring. There is still a lot, a whole lot to do!

After we published the interview, Marek told us another interesting story, which we would like to share:

In 1998 I made my summer holidays in very small city in Krzywin, Poland. I had a lunch with the city major. I told him about my interest in 3D modelling. He asked me, if this could be interesting for teenagers because the city has modern computer lab in the school. I said, “I don´t know, but we can try, never did it with teenagers, only with students at the university.” Well, I spent 2 weeks with the kids and as the result we got an nice 3D model of the city. The kids worked hard, because it was their city. This time I learned, cloud projects are cool for people if they have tools and can learn how to do it. This was for me the reason to push 3D in OSM community.

Can you introduce yourself ?

The last years, my main occupation was OpenstreetMap. I was also one of the co-founders of OpenStreetMap Belgium. I am a self-employed and freelance software developer, usually related to routeplanning.

• http://www.itinero.tech/
• http://www.anyways.eu/

Furthermore, we love to travel, our daily amusement is often a visit to a pub with some friends or having a nice dinner at a restaurant.

Where and when did you learn about OpenStreetMap ?

I needed data about the road network for my job and soon you arrive at OpenStreetMap. This was in 2009 and it did not look realistic at that moment to use OpenStreetMap data, but I was intriged by the concept and in the following years, it proved to be the right choice.

##Do you use OpenStreetMap yourself ? I constantly use OpenStreetMap, both for my job and my private life. I never vist a place without an offline map of the region on my smartphone. I use OpenStreetMap daily for my job.

How do you map ?

The past few months I have not mapped a lot. I am more of an “armchairmapper”, but I strongly believe in the community, no OpenStreetMap without community. Only individual mappers behind a computer would never work well. From time to time I correct mistakes or small this that are missing that I notice by using the data, but usually I am too late. Occasionally I do some mapping for Missing Maps and Hot, mostly validating tiles.

What do you map ?

I do not really have a speciality, but when I have to pick one, it is everything related to road network and transportation. In my early days I also traced a lot of buildings and mapped quite some landuse.

What is your biggest achievement ?

That we created a real community in Belgium. At the first meetup we organised in Ghent, only one person showed up. Now, a few years later, we organised the State of the Map !

As far as mapping is concerned, I am glad that I fixed the imported landuse on the Belgian-French border, so that we can further improve this ourselves.

Why do you map ?

I am motivated by several aspects. In the first place it’s just fun and it also helps that you know are doing something useful when you add data. When I map for Missing Maps, I am mainly motivated by the humanitarian aspect. For my mapping in Belgium, it helps that the work that I deliver professionally has a better quality.

Everybody in OpenStreetMap has several reasons to map, I have some myself. I believe this is the main reason why this project is so succesfull.

Do you help out with other aspects of OpenStreetMap ?

The majority of my OpenStreetMap related activities are “other aspects”. I try to make OSM better known by the public, not only OpenStreetMap, but I try to make open-data better known. Therefore I am part of Open Knowledge Belgium, more specifically, the OpenStreetMap Belgium Working Group

This helped us to organize State of the Map 2016 at the VUB in Brussels. We also organize more meetups en Missing Maps events than ever before and we are also working at a number of new projects. I am also a HOT-member and help out with their activities from time to time.

How can we extend the community ? How can we motivate mappers ?

All my activities are based on the idea that OSM is the community and that a healthy community is the most important think to focus on.

It’s definitely a good idea to try and make sure everyone feels welcome. Mappers what are personally involved in the project are also by far the best, most productive mappers, both when it comes to mapping itself but also community building. It’s also way easier to make descisions by consensus when people meet in the flesh.

There is still a lot of room for improvement, we can try to involve some of the companies that use OSM, for example by sponsoring OSM-BE or by supporting our activities. At the moment we have no budget at OSM-BE to work with, we could do so much more with a small budget.

What is the biggest strength of OpenStreetMap ?

At the risk of repeating myself, but the answer is again the community. I think one of the best things about OSM is the realization that technology is not the answer to every question. OSM data is rich and diverse because we don’t blindly use drones, robots or some fancy algorithms. Our competive advantage is just this. The descision people make about what they map is important and it’s partly because of this OSM won’t be replaced or become obsolete by someone with a big budget.

An important 2nd place, and related to the first, is the fact that OSM is open, you can download the data and you can start doing amazing things. This is not just important just because ‘open’ is always better, without being open we would have less stakeholders that are interested in keeping the map up-to-date, less diversity and less interest in the project. Waze as a counterexample exists for one main goal, profit, or maybe some strategic advantage, OSM has as many goals and motivations as there are mappers. That’s also why discussions about the OSM data license are so important.

What is the biggest challenge for OpenStreetMap ?

It’s important to keep the community healthy and divers enough. The biggest challenge is to get together and keep together people of various different backgrounds.

It’s also important to keep some of the stuff that works now, like some measure of freedom and anarchy while still growing to a reliable partner to work with, and I’m talking about OSM-BE specifically now. I belive in a community like we have to with next to it a group like OSM-BE that places itself at the intersection of the community in Belgium and the outside world.

How do you stay up-to-date on OpenStreetMap news ?

Via twitter, mailing list, OSM Weekly, OSM diaries, HOT, I read everything. Can’t get enough of everything that’s happening in the OSM community.

Do you have contact with other mappers ?

On a regular bases a the events we organize but also via email and the mailing lists. Recently we also have a Riot channel where it’s fun to hang out.

Anything you want to add ?

Thanks to all mappers who ever edited the map, who have spoken to someone about OSM or anyone who every helped us organize an OSM related event. Thank you, no OSM without all of you!

Introduction

In this article I want to show you how one can add information about immovable heritage to crowd sourced projects such as OpenStreetMap and some of the projects of Wikimedia.

In Belgium, the list of immovable heritage is controlled by three agencies, one for Flanders, one for Brussels and one for Wallonia. In Flanders, the agency is called Agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed. They make a catalogue of the items and decide on the protection. They also provide some of their ata as open data. In their catalogue they have churches, abbeys, castles, but also small farmhouses and villas, furthermore it includes small items such as boundary stones and pillories. Occasionally, the list contains important trees on town squares.

Pillory in Aartselaar

What is a crowd-sourced project ? It is a project in which everybody can add data, unlike projects that are run by companies, where only employees can add data. When a company owns that data it can set the rules and price to get access to the data. In a crowd-sourced project, normally the resulting database is free to use and consult. If you want to find out more about crowdsourcing, read the Wikipedia article on the topic.

This also explains why it is interesting to have all the immovable heritage in crowd-sourced project: one no longer depends on an agency or copyright rules defined by that agency to know when a building was created, or use a picture of a watermill in a publication, etc.

The scope of an agency such as Onroerend Erfgoed is also limited to a specific geographic region, the crowd-sourced projects presented below all have a world-wide scope.

Let us now introduce some of the crowd-sourced projects

OpenStreetMap

This is a global database of geographical info. This database can be used to created maps. Wikipedia definition of OpenStreetMap. Note that in OpenStreetMap, we only map features that exist today. We do not map buildings that are completely demolished.

Wikipedia

An online encyclopedia about human knowledge. Items are described in articles and illustrated with images, just as in printed encyclopedia. Wikipedia definition of Wikipedia

Wikimedia Commons

A database of media files such as photos, videos sound fragments and maps. Wikipedia definition of Wikimedia Commons

Wikidata

A database about persons, facts, objects. Wikipedia definition of Wikidata

What can we contribute and where ?

The location and the floor plan of the heritage item, together with its name and some basic information can be put in OpenStreetMap. An article describing the origin and history of the item goes into Wikipedia. Photos, 3D-models, a movie taken with a drone are placed in Wikimedia Commons. And finally, a summary of the above information can be put in machine-readable format into Wikidata.

How do we collect information ?

OpenStreetMap is for a large part based on original survey. That means that the contributors go out and collect information about the world while they look at it. Wikipedia on the other hand is largely based on other sources and each article has a list of articles that are referenced. For Wikimedia Commons, one need to own the copyright of the media that one adds, or the file has to be out of copyright. Ideally, each property of a Wikidata item has a source, so just as for Wikipedia, the data is based on the work of others.

How do I collect information ?

My starting point is the list of immovable heritage items on Wikipedia. For Flanders, previous contributors have compiled a list of items per village. I wrote a [Python](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language) program that converts such a wiki-page into a file with waypoints that can be used on a GPS-device or in navigation programs for smartphones such as OsmAnd.

Garmin Dakota 10 showing heritage items as red and blue flags, as well as some details on the item

In OsmAnd the waypoints are displayed as red circles with white star. Clicking on a star shows additional information at the bottom of the screen. In case there are multiple items close to one another, the details are listed for each item

This allows me to make small detours during my planned walks in order to visit (or view) the historical items. At the location I check whether the item still exists and take pictures of it. When the item no longer exists, I inform the Onroerend Erfgoed agency later on so they can update their database as well. I have the impression that they appreciate this kind of feedback.

How do I process the collected data ?

Back home, I make sure that the pictures get georeferenced by using the GPS trace of my walk and the timestamp of the picture. I use Geotag for that purpose.

The good, georeferenced photos are uploaded to Commons Wikimedia, a name and description are added as well as some categories. This category system is not always easy to understand, but I try to at least add “Onroerend erfgoed in " and the category of the "part-village".

When this is done, I update the Wikipedia page with the list of heritage items in a town with a link to the newly uploaded photo. Of course, only when that page did not had a picture of the item before.

I also add the building layout to OpenStreetMap, and add the necessary tags to mark the area as a historic/protected item, with references to Onroerend Erfgoed. When there is a Wikipedia article or a Wikidata item those references get added as well.

Adding the necessary tags is easy in JOSM, especially when you use the preset for historical objects found in the BENELUX presets.

BENELUX Preset for monuments protected by Onroerend Erfgoed

You can also start writing Wikipedia articles for the items and/or create a Wikidata item with some properties. I recently started adding items for churches in Flanders based on information found the in the Onroerend Erfgoed and ODIS databases.

How can you use the data ?

Wikipedia

The articles on Wikipedia can be read by anyone and further information can be found through the referenced articles, e.g. the article on the Cathedral in Antwerp.

OpenStreetMap

There are a number of maps based on OpenStreetMap that show those items. #### HistOsm

Is a map created by University of Heidelberg GIScience (Geoinformatics) Research Group. More information

HistOSM, all data (c) OpenStreetMap Contributors

Historic Places

Is a map developed by some German enthusiasts in their spare time. It is available is several languages and has some nice features such as the possibility to display old maps instead of contemporary maps based on OpenStreetMap data.

Historic Places, all data (c) OpenStreetMap Contributors. Topographical Map Vandermaelen.

Each historic feature has a popup window which shows the information about the item as it is stored in the OpenStreetMap database. The popup can contain links to Onroerend Erfgoed (if there is a tag …), wikipedia and wikidata. The tag image is recognized and will display the image if it is released under an open license (as is the case for images on Wikimedia Commons). The tag wikimedia_commons is also recognized and the link will bring you to the Wikimedia Commons page displaying the category with all images on the item.

The wikidata tag can not only be explored on the wikidata.org website, but also in “beautified” pages such as Reasonator and Sqid when you click on the icons next to the Wikidata item number.

The Sint-Pieterskerk in Rumst as seen on the Reasonator website with data from Wikidata

If you look at a Reasonator page such as the one for the Parochiekerk Sint-Pieter (Q28464643), you will find a link to “Overpass” under the maps. This will show the item on OpenStreetMap. So it is possible to define user interfaces on either Wikidata or OpenStreetMap and jump to the other project.

The result of clicking the Overpass link on the above Reasonator page, shows the following page in which the Sint-Pieterskerk is highlighted and positioned in the middle of the visible map.

Overpass UI showing the item with Wikidata identifier Q28464643

Wikidata

Since the data in Wikidata is structured, unlike the full text sentences in Wikipedia, one can query the data. This makes it e.g. possible to create a time line with the inception date of Belgian churches, or a bubble chart with their architectural styles. By clicking on the links in this paragraph, you are taken to the query site of Wikidata where you can run the queries and explore the data yourself.

A time line of churches in Belgium

Architectural Styles used in Belgian churches

You can also make maps that combine Wikidata with OpenStreetMap shapes. The following map retrieves all Belgian churches from Wikidata when they have an inception date. According to this date, they get a different colour. The shape is taken from OpenStreetMap.

Combining Wikidata and OpenStreetMap

You can look at the map on my Wikimedia user page and explore the data yourself, or look at the code used to generate the map.

Conclusion

I hope that the examples give you an idea of what is possible with crowd-sourced, open data. I think the possibilities to connect Wikidata and OpenStreetMap are endless and that better integration tools will appear in the future.

p.s. the article is also published on the Belgian OSM website.

The interview is published on the Belgian OSM Website

Sorry, this month I have no time to publish a Mapper of the Month interview. I am too busy with those 9 creatures.

I hope to publish a new interview next month, when they have moved to their new homes.

From this year on, the interviews will be published on the new website of the Belgian OSM Community.

I also decided to publish them all under the title “Mapper of the Month” and drop the “Mapper in the spotlight” name.

I will continue to post links here to the interviews. The first interview that is published on osm.be is one with Steve All from California,USA.

You can still find the list of all interviews on the osm wiki

I hope you will continue reading the interviews on the new website.

English text

Jeffdelonge (Own Work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) undefined CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Qui êtes-vous ?

Je vis actuellement près de Niort (centre-ouest de la France) depuis quelques années, mais j’ai vécu dans d’autres endroits : Rennes (lieu de naissance) et sa périphérie nord, Paris et sa proche périphérie nord-ouest, et travaillé dans divers endroits en Europe (dont Londres, Hambourg ou Milan) et dans le proche-orient. Je suis ingénieur informaticien, spécialisé dans le développement et la maintenance des applications de bases de données relationnelles, la conception et la compilation de langages informatiques et l’algorithmique (mais je travaille avec de nombreuses technologies et langages informatiques), et je m’intéresse beaucoup à la localisation/l’internationalisation en participant depuis de nombreuses années au développement d’Unicode et des standards et normes de l’Internet. J’ai travaillé principalement dans des domaines liés aux télécommunications, l’encodage de l’image et la vidéo, la sécurité des plateformes, la presse et les médias, la publicité, la facturation, la gestion et la planification commerciale, et la logistique. Ma langue native est le française et je pratique couramment la langue anglaise, mais je peux lire et travailler avec la plupart des langues actuelles du monde (avec seulement quelques difficultés pour l’Arabe, mais je sais comment travailler avec et suis totalement familiarisé avec la problématique des écritures bidirectionnelles)… et quelques langues mortes aussi (latin, grec classique) Et en dépit de leur apparente complexité scripturale, le chinois ou le japonais sont assez aisés pour travailler avec, et même parvenir à produire des textes simples (les langues européennes sont en fait bien plus complexes, y compris l’anglais ! ). Mon pseudonyme sur le site/la base de données OSM et sur le wiki OSM est simplement une forme abrégée de mon nom réel.

Quand et comment avez-vous découvert OpenStreetMap ?

Je ne me souviens pas exactement, c’était il y a quelques années. Je pense avoir vu quelques liens ou discussions dans Wikipédia ou dans des recherches de cartes sur Internet. Je travaille encore selon les moments sur Wikipédia, le Wiktionnaire, Wikisource, (MediaWiki wiki, Métawiki, Commons, principalement pour structurer et indexer leur contenu et aider à leur internationalisation) et maintenant aussi sur Wikidata.

Que cartographiez-vous ? Y a-t-il des différences depuis vos débuts ?

J’ai régulièrement été intéressé dans des projets cartographiques complexes couvrant de larges zones, mais je vise des endroits plus précis quand je vois de sérieuses anomalies sur la carte OSM. Je n’ai pas d’endroit réellement dédié sur la carte OSM. Parfois je vais faire des ajustement très locaux (corriger certains noms ou ajouter certains noms manquants, accroître la précision, mais je regarde des zones qui réellement ont besoin de beaucoup de travail. J’ai participé à la cartographie de nombreuses frontières en France, Belgique, Espagne, Portugal, et certains pays africains (Maroc, et Burkina Faso depuis plusieurs mois) en cherchant diverses sources et en les compilant et comparant.

Burkina Faso in OSM Boundaries

Comment cartographiez-vous ?

Je pratique rarement la cartographie sur le terrain. Je vais cartographier certaines zones locales selon ma connaissance locale et mon expérience récente. La plupart du temps je travaille sur OSM depuis chez moi. J’ai trouvé que les GPS ne sont pas du tout nécessaires dans ma région en France, où il existe des sources plus précises (et plus étendues par leur couverture) et avec une qualité plus uniforme (Je pense que la carte du monde sur OSM devrait traiter toutes les zones avec le même niveau (croissant) de qualité et de complétude, mais je pense aussi que des zones moins peuplées et moins développées auraient besoin de davantage d’aide extérieure. Il y a de très nombreux autres contributeurs moins expérimentés qui ne se focaliseront sur des zones plus locales que si la structure générale est déjà présente et leur est déjà utile. Malheureusement dans ma région actuelle (assez rurale), il n’y a pas beaucoup de participants à rencontrer régulièrement (et parfois des conflits temporaires seront inévitables lorsqu’on travaille depuis des lieux éloignés). Pour l’assurance qualité j’utilise plus fréquemment Osmose et le validateur de JOSM.

Comment menez-vous vos relevés sur le terrain ?

Pas de méthode réellement applicable. Cela demanderait des rencontres locales.

Où cartographiez-vous ? Localement, HOT ?

Partout où c’est nécessaire et probablement le plus urgent (pas difficile à déterrer sur la carte !) ou quand il y a des changements récents importants à réaliser.

Quel est votre plus grande réussite en tant que cartographe ?

Comme mon travail est dispersé sur de nombreuses zones, il n’y a pas de choses réellement à montrer qui soit facilement identifiable à mon travail passé. En fait j’ai toujours vu d’autres cartographes participer autour dans les mêmes zones. Je ne tirerai donc pas la couverture à moi seul quand en fait ce que je réalise est de permettre à plus de participants de commencer à mieux travailler et trouver leur voie sur OSM pour continuer le travail (je ne considérerai jamais mon travail fini). La documentation est très importante, mais mon meilleur résultat est sur le wiki OSM que j’ai patiemment rendu réellement international avec plus de langues prises en charge et correctement indexées et navigables, pour faciliter le travail des traducteurs (qui auront moins besoin de régler des détails techniques compliqués), ce qui permet a plus de personnes partout dans le monde de contribuer utilement aux données cartographiques OSM dans leur région en utilisant la langue avec ils sont le plus à l’aise, et de mieux apprendre comment utiliser OSM et ses outils ou simplement trouver plus de coopérations et de soutiens locaux pour leurs activités.

Pourquoi cartographiez-vous ? Qu’est-ce qui vous motive ?

Je cartographie et aide les cartographes parce que je suis excédé de voir les anciennes cartes propriétaires obsolètes et de voir Google Maps prendre la tête sur toutes les choses sur ce terrain et filtrer ses résultats (ou ses propres stratégies commerciales) juste pour promouvoir des choses que seules les sociétés les plus larges et les plus influentes accepteront de payer à Google pour être vues sur sa carte. Et en dehors de ceci, de nombreuses zones dans le monde (et même dans des zones rurales délaissées dans des pays plus développés) ont besoin de cartes précises pour leur développement local, pour une planification améliorée et plus efficace pour pour l’organisation du travail et des activités culturelles.

Quelle est la partie la plus difficile en cartographie ?

Les parties les plus difficiles sont celles concernant de larges zones. Elles nécessitent des outils qui ne sont pas accessibles aux éditeurs en ligne (Potlatch et maintenant iD). Apprendre à utiliser un autre éditeur (tel que JOSM) n’a pas été difficile pour moi, mais il est vrai que je dispose d’un bagage technique diversifié et que je ne suis pas effrayé par certains détails techniques. Rester motivé peut être parfois plus difficile et quelque peu frustrant quand d’autres personnes ne comprennent pas la masse énorme de travail que représente les corrections de détails techniques et qu’ils voient divers petits changements mineurs qui ne leur semble pas utiles dans leurs perspective locale.

Quels sont vos plans de cartographie dans un futur proche ?

J’espère terminer toutes les communes du Burkina Faso (j’en ai délimité la plupart, sommairement sur la base de listes de villages, faute de données plus précises, mais en suivant certains éléments naturels quand ils sont visibles, tels que les rivières ; ces données restent approximatives mais avec une précision qui ne devrait pas dépasser le kilomètre : les contributeurs locaux peuvent toujours affiner, il manque notamment encore des villages non géolocalisés) et finir de lister et géolocaliser plus précisément tous leurs villages (nombre d’entre eux ont été massivement importés avec trop d’erreurs et confusions depuis des bases de données qui n’ont en fait jamais été vérifiées et comparées avec d’autre sources). L’ajout d’éléments naturels importants (notamment les fleuves et rivières) sera aussi très utile. Je continuerai à travailler sur les réformes administratives plus larges. La France restera une zone favorite (mais maintenant que la France a de nombreuses sources de données ouvertes libres à la fois précises et étendues, une plus grande part de ce travail sera réalisé avec des outils spécifiques). Améliorer la documentation me parait plus important pour organiser la façon dont se fera le travail localement et globalement, et pour expliquer pourquoi certaines décisions ont été prises dans le passé et savoir lesquelles pourraient être déclassées.

Avez-vous des contacts avec d’autres cartographes ?

Sur le wiki, sur la liste de diffusion OSM en français, sur les discussions du site OSM.

Utilisez-vous vous-même OpenStreetMap ? Comment ?

Oui pour divers projets (je ne peux pas parler sous mon nom des projets privés), y compris pour aider des associations locales à intégrer une carte sur leur site (sans avoir à payer Google, ni dépendre de la décision de Google de les masquer !)

Faites-vous d’autres choses que la cartographie qui soit liées à OpenStreetMap ?

Wikidata, de la classification géographique et quelques images sur Commons ou Wikipédia.

Pour conclure, y a-t-il autre chose que vous voulez mentionner ?

Parlons-nous quand on a des problèmes ou quand on ne comprend pas certaines choses. Et donnons plus de pouvoirs et de moyens aux contributeurs pour ajouter ce qu’ils veulent voir et promouvoir. Cette carte OSM est pour tout le monde et non destinées seulement à quelques officiels.

English translated by P. Verdy himself

Texte Français par P. Verdy

Jeffdelonge (Own Work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) undefined CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Who are you?

I currently live near Niort (central-western France) since some years, but I have lived in other places: Rennes (birth place) and its northern surburbs, Paris and its north-western suburbs, and worked temporarily in various places around Europe (notably London, Hamburg, or Milano), and the near Middle-East. I’m a professional computer engineer, more specialized in relational database applications development and maintenance, computer language designs, compilation and algorithmics (but working with a lot of technologies and computer languages), and I am very interested in localisation/internationalization with participation since many years in Unicode development and web standards. I’ve worked mostly in domains related to telecommunications, image/video encoding, platforms security, press/medias, advertizing, billing, commercial management and planning, and logistics. My native language is French, and I’m fluent in English, but I can read and work with most current languages of the world (only with more difficulties only for Arabic, however I know how to work with it)… and a few dead languages (latin, classical greek). Despite their apparent script complexity, Chinese or Japanese are extremely easy to work with, and even being able to produce some simple texts (European languages are in fact much more complex, including English !). My nickname on the OSM website/database and in the OSM wiki is just an abbreviated form of my real name.

When and how did you discover OpenStreetMap?

I can’t remember when, years ago. I think I may have seen some links or talks on Wikipedia or in searches for maps on the web. I still work sometimes on Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, (MediaWiki wiki, Metawiki, Commons, mostly for structuring and indexing their contents and help internationializing them), and now also in Wikidata.

What do you map? Is there any difference with your early days?

I’ve regularly been interested in mapping complex projects over large areas, sometimes focusing more when I saw serious anomalies on the OSM map. I’ve no really dedicated places to map. Sometimes I will make very local adjustments (fixing or adding missing names, increasing the precision, but I also look for areas that really need work. I’ve participated to the mapping of the many boundaries in France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and some African countries (Morocco, and Burkina Faso since several months), by looking for various sources and compiling/comparing them.

Burkina Faso in OSM Boundaries

How do you map?

I rarely do on-street surveys with tools. I’ll map some local areas just based on local knowledge and recent experience. Most of the time I’m working on OSM from home. I’ve found GPS to be not needed at all in my area in France where there are more accurate sources (and more extensive by their coverage) with more uniform quality (I do think that the world map on OSM should treat all areas with the same (growing) level of quality and completeness, but I also think that less populated and less developed areas need more external help. There are many less experimented users spread around the world that will focus on very local areas only if the general structure is already present and already useful for them. Unfortunately in my current region (mostly rural) there’s not a lot of participants to meet regularly (and sometimes temporary conflicts are unavoidable when working from remote locations). For the quality assurance, I frequently use Osmose and the JOSM Validator.

How do you conduct your surveys?

No method really applicable. This would require local meetings.

Where do you map? Locally, HOT?

Everywhere where it is needed and likely more urgent (not difficult to dig on the map!) or when there are recent important changes to do.

What is your biggest achievement as mapper?

As my work is spread in lot of areas, there’s no specific personal achievement that can be easily identified to my work. In fact I’ve always seen other mappers participating around the same zones. I won’t bring the cover on me alone when in fact what I do is to allow more participant to start working better and find their way on OSM, and continue the work (I will not consider my work finished). Documentation is very important, but my best achievement is on the OSM wiki where I’ve patiently made it really really international, with many more languages supported correctly indexed and navigatable, and facilitating the work of translators (that won’t need to fix tricky technical details), allowing more people around the world to contribute usefully to OSM map data in their area using the language they are more confident with, and better learn how to use OSM and its tools, or simply finding more local cooperations and supports for their activities.

Why do yo map? What motivates you?

I map and help mappers because I’m fed up of seeing old outdated proprietary maps and of seeing Google Maps taking the lead on everything on this field, and filtering its results based on user profiling (or its own commercial strategies) just to promote things that only the largest and most influent companies will accept to pay to Google to be seen on its map. And outside of this, many areas in the world (and even in rural areas that are left over in more developed countries) need accurate maps for their local development and better/more efficient planification and organization of work and cultural activities.

What is the most difficult part of mapping?

The most difficult parts are those about large areas. They require tools that are not accessible to online editors (Potlatch, and now iD). Learning to use another editor (like JOSM) was not difficult for me, but it’s true that I’ve a large technical background and I’m never scared about some technical details. Staying motivated may be sometimes more difficult and quite frustrating when other people do not understand the huge work that represent fixing technical details and they see a lot of very minor changes which do not seem useful from their local perspective.

What are your mapping plans for the near future?

I hope terminating completing all the communes in Burkina Faso (I’ve delimited almost all of them, basically based on listes of villages as there’s currently no data available with more precision, but by following some natural features when they are visible, such as rivers ; these data remain approximative but with a precision that should not exceed the kilometre : local contributeurs may still refine these borders, but there are still missing villages to geolocalize, that I’ve listed as much as possible in their commune), and finishing the job of listing and geolocating more accurately all their villages (many of them were massively imported with lots of errors or confusions from outdated and incomplete old databases that were actually never checked and compared with other sources). Adding some important natural features (notably rivers) will also really help improve the accuracy. I’ll continue working on larger administrative reforms. France as whole will still remain a favorite area (but now that France has many accurate/extensive free opendata sources more of this work will be performed with specific tools). Improving the documentation seems to be more important for organizing how work will be performed locally and globally, and explain why some past decisions were made or know which ones could be phased out.

Do you have contact with other mappers?

On the wiki, on the French OSM mailing list, on the OSM website discussions.

Do you use OpenStreetMap yourself? How?

Yes for various projects (I can’t speak about private projects), including to help some local associations integrate a map on their website (without paying Google, or depending on Google decision to hide them!).

Do you do anything else than mapping that is related to OpenStreetMap?

Wikidata, geographic classification and some images on Commons or Wikipedia.

To conclude, is there anything else you want to mention?

Let’s just talk together when we have problems or don’t understand things. And let’s give more power and means to local contributors to add what they want to see and promote. This OSM map is for everyone et not intended only for some officials.

This is my translation of Sarah’s text in German. Any misrepresentation is my fault.

Who are you?

My name is Sarah, I am from Germany and live in Dresden. I studied computer sciences and work fulltime as software developer for a small local company. In OSM I am known as lonvia, which is a word play with the Latin form of ‘long journey’.

Where and when did you discover OpenStreetMap ?

In 2008, I read a short article about OSM on the German online-service heise.de, which made me curious. I lived in Switserland back then. Very little of Zurich was mapped, and the rest of Switserland was mostly blank. I spend a complete summer traveling along and mapping a large part of the railway network in Switserland. After that I started with hiking paths. I always loved hiking and it was great to combine the old hobby with the new one. Mapping brought me in places that I would otherwise never have visited for one-day journeys. I walked the complete Jura-Höhenweg, a very beautiful trail which is more sporty than one would expect from a brief look at the map.

What do you map?

In addition to the hiking trails, I prefer to add basic infrastructure: streets, paths, POIs that are interesting for tourists, as well as an occasional address. This has changed little over the years. I add what I would like to find on the map myself.

Lately, I am getting interested in 3D-building mapping. I think that basic building information such as the number of levels is usefull to form a rough idea how a village of neighborhood looks like in reality.

How do you map?

I am a classical outdoor mapper. I used to go out with a photo camera and GPS-tracker and added the information via JOSM. Nowadays, I track with the Android-App OsmTracker. For small improvements, I like to use Android-Editor Vespucci. I use aerial imagery mainly for the final details.

Where do you map?

I am a rather impatient mapper. Systematically surveying complete neighborhoods is not my cup of tea, neither are long sessions of armchair mapping such as MapRoullette or HOT-activations. My mapping is a result of travelling and hiking journeys. Nowadays, I only find time to map during holidays.

What is the biggest challenge for a mapper?

Working together on the map. It is often more convenient to maintain your focus strictly on your own interestes and only map for those. However, without a certain regard for the interests and work of the other mappers, this will inevitably end in frustration. It starts with making decisions about tag use and continues through every edit that touches existing data. On top of that, there are a lot of unwritten rules to mapping, which we have developped through years of trail-and-error. They may be obvious to long-term mappers but are not always logical to a new mapper.

Why do you map? What motivates you?

I have always been fascinated by maps, but until the arrival of OSM, maps could only be consumed passively. What annoyed me the most, was that there were always two types of maps: on one hand detailed topological maps, with a small scale, and on the other streetmaps, that focussed on car drivers and often left out details that I found interesting. OpenStreetMap offered for the first time the possibility to build maps that I needed: a map that could be used as pedestrian and cyclist that can show the whole picture as well as the smallest detail.

What is the hardest part while mapping ?

For me, the most difficult part is to keep the map up-to-date. As long as one is looking at a blank canvas, it is easy to stay motivated to add new elements. Mainly because one sees the next day what one has done. This is less obvious when one walks through a shopping street and updates all shops. This takes a couple of hours work, while the map seemingly did not change.

What are your mapping plans in the near future?

As I already mentioned, I am not the person that plans her mapping projects. As a software developer I am interested in the project that tries to clean up the so called Old-Style-Polygone. These are multi-polygons, where the tags are not on the relation but on the ways that form the polygon. Those areas are difficult interpret by software. Quite often, one has to guess, because the ways contain conflicting information. Currently there are around 200.000 such objects in the database. I think this can be solved rather quickly, when we join forces. This is also a good moment to bring the data up-to-date, as many such areas are a couple of years old. Maybe I will become an armchair mapper for the duration of this project.

Do you have contact with other mappers ?

When I lived in Switserland, I often went to the Züricher Stammtisch and I was also there when the Schweizer OSM Vereins was founded. In the meantime this became an official Local Chapter. Nowadays, I can occasionally be found at the Dresdner Stammtisch Besides that, I have visited several State of the Map-conferences.

Do you use OSM yourself?

For day-to-day use I have OsmAnd on my smartphone. At my desktop, I basicly use osm.org for everything that requires a map. For access plans and the like, umap is very usefull.

Do you do anything besides mapping?

I am involved a lot in the software development around OSM. My most important projects are Nominatim, the software behind the searchbox on openstreetmap.org; and waymarkedtrails.org, which is a website that can display all possible routes that are found in OSM.

Furthermore I am a member of OWG, the Working Group, which is responsible for the servers on which OSM run.

Can you tell us a bit more about Nominatim ?

I came to Nominatim in 2012, when they were looking for a new administrator for the official server of the OSMF. From that moment, I take care of the server and have become the lead developer for its software. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of other developers. The last few years, the only development that was done was to allow it to keep up with the enormous grow of data in the OSM database.

And what about waymarkedtrails ?

I started with waymarkedtrails.org, because I needed a map with the hiking trails in Switserland, so I could verify the data that I added myself. Later on, I extended the map to cover the whole world, to motivate other mappers to start mapping routes. That is one of the things that works amazingly well in OSM. As soon as one visualizes data, one finds plenty of mappers that start mapping that kind of data.

In 2012, Guttorm Flatabø from Western Norway Research Institute found out about the map and used the software for a EU-project about tourism. During that project, a mobile version was developed as well as the support for the elevation profiles. We also came up with the name waymarkedtrails during that period as well as the current look and feel of the website.

The Wintersports map and horse riding map were developed together with Michael Spreng and Robert Whittaker.

It might be interesting to note that the map gets more visits from GPSies.com, a German site to visiualize GPS-tracks, than from waymarkedtrails.org.

… and to end … is there something else you want to tell?

Happy Mapping!

Wer sind Sie?

Mein Name ist Sarah, ich komme aus Deutschland und wohne in Dresden. Ich habe Informatik studiert und arbeite hauptberuflich als Softwareentwickler für ein kleine Firma hier. In OSM bin ich unter dem Nicknamen lonvia unterwegs. Das ist ein Wortspiel mit der lateinischen Form von ‘lange Reise’.

## Wann und wie haben Sie OpenStreetMap entdeckt?

2008 gab es einen kleinen Artikel über OSM beim deutschen Online-Service heise.de, der mich neugierig gemacht hat. Damals wohnte ich noch in der Schweiz. Zürich war bereits ein bisschen gemappt, aber der Rest der Schweiz war noch ziemlich weiss. Ich habe einen Sommer damit verbracht, einen grossen Teil des Eisenbahnnetzes des Schweiz abzufahren und einzutragen. Danach habe ich mich Wanderwegen zugewandt. Ich bin schon immer gerne gewandert und es war grossartig das alte Hobby mit dem neuen Hobby zu verbinden. Das Mappen hat mich auch in Gegenden geführt, die ich normalerweise nicht für Tagestouren ausgewählt häte. Unter anderem bin ich den Jura-Höhenweg vollständig abgewandert. Eine sehr schöne Strecke und sportlicher als man bei einem kurzen Blick auf die Karte erwartet.

Was mappen Sie?

Neben den Wanderwegen mappe ich am liebsten grundlegende Infrastruktur: Strassen, Wege, touristisch interessante POIs, sowie gelegentlich Addressen. Das hat sich über die Jahre wenig geändert. Ich trage das ein, was ich gerne auf der Karte vorfinden möchte.

In letzter Zeit habe ich mich ausserdem ein wenig mit 3D-Gebäude-Mapping beschäftigt, weil ich denke, dass einfache Gebäudeinformationen wie Anzahl der Etagen, nützlich sein können, um aus der Ferne eine Vorstellung vom Charakter einer Siedlung oder eines Stadtviertels zu bekommen..

Wie mappen Sie?

Ich bin ein ganz klassischer Draussen-Mapper. Früher bin ich meistens mit Fotoapparat und GPS-Tracker losgezogen und habe dann die Ergebnisse mit JOSM eingetragen. Das Tracken übernimmt heutzutage die Android-App OsmTracker. Für kleinere Verbesserungen vor Ort nutze ich auch gerne den Android-Editor Vespucci. Luftbilder nutze ich hauptsächlich für die Feinarbeiten.

Wo mappen Sie?

Ich bin ein ein eher ungeduldiger Mapper. Systematisch ganze Ortschaften abzulaufen liegt mir genauso wenig, wie längere Armchair-Mapping-Aktionen wie MapRoullette oder HOT-Aktivierungen. Daher ist Mapping eher ein Nebenprodukt von Reisen oder Wanderungen. Heutzutage komme ich hauptsächlich im Urlaub noch zum mappen.

Was ist für einen Mapper die größte Herausforderung?

Gemeinsam an einer Karte zu arbeiten. Auch wenn es oft bequemer ist, einen Tunnelblick für seine eigenen Interessen zu entwickeln und nur dafür zu mappen, wird man bei OSM nicht wirklich auf Dauer glücklich, wenn man nicht auch die Arbeit der anderen im Blick behält. Das fängt bei der Auswahl der Tags an und zieht sich durch jeden Edit, der bestehende Daten verändert. Es macht es auch nicht einfacher, dass wir eine Menge ungeschriebener Regeln haben, die sich durch jahrelanges Ausprobieren ergeben haben, die aber für einen Neuling oftmals nicht logisch erscheinen.

Warum mappen Sie, was sind Ihre Motive?

Karten haben mich schon immer fasziniert, aber bis OSM kam, waren Karten immer nur etwas, was man passiv konsumiert hat. Was mich am meisten gestört hat, war, dass man eigentlich nur zwei Arten von Karten kaufen konnte: entweder exakte topologische Karten, die dann aber einen kleinen Massstab hatten, oder Strassenkarten, die auf Autofahrer zugeschnitten waren und oftmals Details vermissen liessen, die für mich interessant waren. OpenStreetMap bot zum ersten Mal die Möglichkeit, die Karte zu machen, die ich brauchte: Übersichts- und Detailkarten für Fussgänger und Radfahrer.

Was ist der schwierigste Teil beim Mapping?

Für mich persönlich ist der schwierigste Teil, die Karte aktuell zu halten. Solange man eine weisse Fläche vor sich hat, ist es einfach, sich zu motivieren, neue Elemente einzutragen, denn man sieht am nächsten Morgen genau, was man getan hat. Das ist weniger der Fall, wenn man in einer gut gemappten Stadt wie Dresden einfach nur die Einkaufsstrasse herunterläuft und alle Geschäfte aktualisiert. Das braucht einige Stunden Arbeit, ohne dass die Karte sich sichtbar verändert.

Haben Sie Pläne, was Sie zukünftig mappen wollen?

Wie schon erwähnt, bin ich niemand, der seine Mapping-Projekte gross plant. Als Software-Entwickler habe ich Interesse an dem Projekt, die sogenannten Old-Style-Polygone aufzuräumen. Dabei geht es um Multipolygone, bei denen die Tags nicht an der Multipolygon- Relation angefügt sind, sondern an den Ways, aus denen das Polygon besteht. Solche Flächen sind kompliziert auszuwerten für Software. Nicht selten muss man raten, weil die Wege widersprüchliche Informationen enthalten. Zur Zeit gibt es etwa 200.000 dieser Flächen in der Datenbank. Ich denke, dass man sie mit vereinten Kräften schnell bereinigen kann. Das ist auch eine gute Gelegenheit zur Datenpflege, denn die meisten dieser Flächen sind schon einige Jahre alt. Vielleicht werde ich für dieses Projekt doch mal für kurze Zeit zum Armchair-Mapper.

Haben Sie Kontakt mit anderen Mappern?

In der Schweiz war ich viel am Züricher Stammtisch zu Gast und war dort auch an der Gründung des Schweizer OSM Vereins beteiligt, der inzwischen ja auch ein offizielles Local Chapter ist. Heute bin ich gelegentlich auch am Dresdner Stammtisch zu finden. Ausserdem bin ich regelmässig auf den State of the Map-Konferenzen.

Nutzen Sie OSM selbst?

Für den täglichen Bedarf habe ich OsmAnd auf meinem Telefon laufen. Auf den Rechner benutze ich hauptsächlich osm.org für alles, was eine Karte benötigt. Für Anfahrtspläne und ähnliches ist umap ein nützliches Tool.

Machen Sie bezüglich OSM noch andere Dinge ausser mappen?

Ich bin viel in die Softwareentwicklung rund um OSM involviert. Meine wichtigsten Projekte sind Nominatim, die Software hinter der Suchbox auf openstreetmap.org, und waymarkedtrails.org, eine Website, die alle möglichen Routen aus OSM anzeigen kann. Ausserdem bin ich Mitglied der OWG, der Working-Group, die sich um die Server kümmert, auf denen OSM läuft.

Können Sie etwas mehr zu Ihrem Projekt Nominatim / waymarkedtrails sagen?

Zu Nominatim bin ich 2012 gekommen, als ein neuer Administrator für den offiziellen Server der OSMF gesucht wurde. Seitdem betreue ich die Server und bin auch nach und nach zum Hauptentwickler der Software dahinter geworden. Leider gibt es nicht sehr viele andere Beitragende. Die Entwicklung der letzten Jahre hat sich deshalb hauptsächlich darauf konzentriert, dass die Suche mit dem enormen Wachstum der OSM-Datenbank mithalten kann.

waymarkedtrails.org begann damit, dass ich für mich selbst eine Karte brauchte, die die Wanderwege in der Schweiz anzeigte, damit ich meine selbst eingetragenen Daten überprüfen konnte. Später habe ich das auf die ganze Welt ausgeweitet, um andere Mapper zu motivieren, ebenfalls Wanderwege einzutragen. Das ist eine der Sachen, die wunderbar funktioniert in OSM. Sobald man die Daten sichtbar macht, finden sich auf fleissige Mapper, die Daten ergänzen. 2012 ist Guttorm Flatabø vom Western Norway Research Institute auf die Routenkarten aufmerksam geworden und hat die Software für ein EU-Projekt zum Thema Tourismus verwendet. Dabei sind die mobile Umsetzung der Karte, sowie die Höhenprofile entstanden und die Karte hat ihren heutigen Namen waymarkedtrails und ihr Aussehen erhalten. Über die Jahre sind dann weitere Karten hinzugekommen. Die Wintersportkarte und die Reitkarte haben Michael Spreng und Robert Whittaker mitentwickelt. Übrigens werden die Routenkarten heute gar nicht mehr in der Hauptsache auf waymarkedtrails.org angesehen, sondern die meisten Zugriffe kommen von gpsies.com, einer deutschen Seite zum Austausch von GPS-Tracks.

… und zum guten Ende … was möchten Sie uns noch sagen?

Happy Mapping!

Qui es-tu ?

Sus est mon alias ordinateur, le “ç” de François ne m’a causé que des ennuis au début des PC’s. Né en 1933 ( comptez vous-mêmes ) en région bruxelloise, j’ai émigré à Mol pour y travailler au Centre d’Études Nucléaires comme technicien. Lors d’une restructuration le CEN m’a viré en prépension et depuis plus de 25 ans je me la coule douce. Lors de mes études je n’ai jamais entendu parler d’ordinateurs. Heureusement au CEN j’ai eu la chance de pouvoir, dans mon coin, me familiariser tant avec le matériel qu’avec les logiciels et concevoir de l’appareillage à base de microprocesseur et de microcontrôleurs. Jusqu’à présent j’ai acheté tout mes desktop en pièces détachées. Le dernier tourne sous Ubuntu. Les laptops, je les achète. Au début, au boulot, les émulateurs pour microprocesseur coûtaient la peau de fesses, mais quelques années après la mise en pension je me suis aperçu qu’un microcontrôleur ATMEGA8 ne coûtait plus que quelques euros et était parfaitement programmable à partir d’un port série (maintenant USB) de PC avec des programme gratuits. Actuellement à la période du IOT on a des modules Wifi (Nodemcu, ESP8266) bardés d’interfaces, programmables sous Arduino. Un de ces modules transmet la température de la véranda à la toile et je peux la consulter par smartphone. J’ai mon propre nuage, Owncloud, avec un disque dur d’1 TB piloté par un Raspberry Pi, vous savez, cet ordinateur pour enfants.

Comment et quand as-tu découvert OpenStreetMap ?

De par mon passé de pilote ULM, rallymen, promeneur et géocacheur j’ai toujours manipulé des cartes et dès son apparition je me suis intéressé au GPS, d’où le besoin de cartes, de préférence gratuites. Depuis 2008 j’ai un compte OSM, mais j’utilisais les cartes bien avant malgré les grandes zones blanches sur OSM à cette époque. Mes débuts de mappeur datent seulement de 2011. Le seuil à gravir me semblait trop grand. Par hasard, une ligne haute tension s’arrêtait au pylône de ma rue et j’ai tenté de la prolonger en recherchant la suite des pylônes. Lorsque la ligne haute tension ainsi complétée est apparue sur les cartes OSM, l’élan fut donné et par la suite tous les sentiers pédestres ont suivi, puis les nouvelles rues, les noms des rues, les maisons, les numéros des maisons, les zones, etc, etc. Résorber les zones blanches.

Utilises-tu OpenStreetMap au quotidien ?

Sur le Garmin Dakota20 et sur le smartphone sous Android se trouvent les cartes de toute l’Europe, régulièrement mises à jour. Lors de nos voyages en car - nous ne faisons plus de voyages en voiture - je sais mieux que le chauffeur où l’on se trouve. D’Andorre j’ai toutes les pistes de ski en poche. Sur le smartphone avec 32 GB de mémoire j’utilise OsmAnd, Locus et Oruxmaps. J’ai testé Vespucci pour ajouter les numéros des maisons, mais c’est inutilisable en plein soleil avec des mains moites.

Quelle sorte de contributeur es-tu ?

Pour mapper, je ne quitte plus mon fauteuil. Comme éditeur, j’emploie JOSM. Je l’ai rangé quelque temps lorsqu’il me remplissait tout le disque dur, mais ces défauts ayant été résolus, je l’ai repris car on y intègre de plus en plus de facilités tel que les liens vers les images photos et AGIV pour la Flandre. À [Anvers j’ai assisté à une réunion principalement orientée vers HOT, j’ai donné suite à la dernière demande de Jorieke et j’ai rempli quelque carrés. Il faut bien un peu s’adapter et j’ai difficile à me tenir strictement aux instructions, ce qui n’arrange pas l’uniformité de la carte.

Que cartographies-tu ?

Actuellement on dispose d’une imagerie nettement supérieure et des informations de AGIV et CRAB pour le numéros des maisons ; c’est une nette amélioration par rapport aux anciennes données de Bing. Je charge d’abord avec le tool de Sander les informations par numéro de code postal, généralement dans la région autour de Mol, mon point d’attache, et je corrige la forme des maisons, les rues, les noms de rue, zones, etc. Jusqu’à compléter la zone au maximum. En fonction des conditions atmosphériques, cela peut prendre quelque semaines à quelques mois. J’essaie de ne pas faire trop longtemps la même chose mais j’ai horreur des relations lorsqu’il s’agit d’apporter des corrections de noms.

Quelle est ta plus grande prouesse en tant que contributeur ?

De pouvoir suivre. Mais j’aurais préféré qu’on me demande: quelle est ta plus grosse bévue ? Dans JOSM le ‘”Q” (forme orthogonale) m’a déjà joué de vilains tours lorsque par hasard toute une zone résidentielle est sélectée et que l’on ne l’a pas remarqué car elle se trouvait en dehors de l’écran. On voit soudainement pendant l’envoi défiler un grand nombre de modifications, parfois plus de mille, et pas moyen de l’arrêter. Le seul moyen que j’ai trouvé pour corriger la bévue est de d’utiliser le smartphone et OsmAnd et de remettre tout en place. Mais cela peut prendre quelques jours s’il s’agit de tout une ville ou d’un village. Cela a quand même un avantage, les zones sont adaptées à une situation plus récentes et réduites. Il est remarquable de constater le nombre de bois rasés, de quartiers entiers qui ont surgi de terre et combien de prairies ont été labourées. Une ligne haute tension y a également été construite. Mais excuses s’il n’y a plus la bonne tension et si certaines caractéristique ont disparu. Si vous trouver un pylône sans fil et sans son ombre, n’hésitez pas à le supprimer. Que personne ne m’ait fait de remarque à ce sujet m’étonne, mais j’ai remarqué que certains font des zones résidentielles beaucoup plus petites, ou ai-je faux ? En fait, je trouve que dans JOSM, pour le “Q”, on devrait insérer une sécurité comme celle qui demande confirmation lorsque l’on déplace une route ou une zone avec trop de nœuds sélectés à la fois. Un compteur signalant le nombre de corrections ou d’additions serait également souhaitable car cela limiterait le nombre d’entrées à jeter lorsqu’on se retrouve avec une erreur qu’on ne parvient pas à corriger.

Pourquoi cartographies-tu ?

C’est toujours gai de se promener par un sentier qu’on a mis soi-même sur la carte. Depuis longtemps je soutiens tout ce qui est “open” et gratuit. C’est aussi une bonne forme d’occupation et une manière de rester à jour. C’est mon SUDOKU à moi. Peut-être inconsciemment le désir de laisser quelque chose à la postérité et d’aider l’humanité. Mais ne philosophons pas trop.

Fais-tu d’autres choses liées à OpenStreetMap ?

Je suis régulièrement les messages du mailgroup pour savoir ce que pensent les autres mappeurs, mais encore entreprendre et entretenir, je ne le fais plus. J’admire le travail des tous ces programmeurs et de ce qu’ils réalisent avec toutes ces données. Mais beaucoup de choses me dépassent.

As-tu des idées sur la façon dont nous pouvons étendre la communauté OpenStreetMap, pour motiver plus de gens à contribuer ?

Ne comptez pas trop sur ceux de mon âge, j’ai essayé mais sans succès. Le problème c’est que la masse de données à introduire est énorme et les connaissances en informatique que cela requiert. Le seuil à franchir est énorme pour la plupart. On trouvera probablement plus d’intéressés parmi les nouveaux pensionnés. Leur connaissance en informatique sont meilleures. Cela doit venir des jeunes en attirant leur attention sur l’énorme quantité de données mises à leur disposition gratuitement comme programmeur, mais les données doivent aussi être introduites. Je suis parvenu à convaincre un prof de géographie à soumettre à des élèves des travaux à l’aide de OSM, mais entre-temps il est lui-même en pension. Il y a des sites comme http://www.seniorennet.be ; ils ont des groupes notamment sur les ordinateurs et Linux ; quelqu’un peut démarrer un groupe.

Quelle est, selon toi, la plus grande force d’OpenStreetMap ?

C’est qu’il fait fi des frontières et qu’il aide à faire un monde meilleur.

Quel est le plus grand défi pour OpenStreetMap ?

De rester comme il est et de résister au piratage et au vandalisme. Heureusement, c’est gratuit et il n’y pas grand chose à gagner. Pourtant je me demande parfois si ce que je mappe ne peut pas être utilisé par des groupes malveillants dans des zones troublées. Bamako et ses environs par exemple.

Comment restes-tu au courant de toutes les petites nouvelles liées à OpenStreetMap ?

Essentiellement via le mailgroup Belge.

As-tu des contacts avec d’autres cartographes ? Comment restes-tu en contact ?

Mon premier contact a été avec Lodde1949 ; à mes débuts nous étions tous deux par hasard à mapper dans le même patelin, lui en JOSM et moi en Potlatch, ce qui peut donner pas mal d’ennuis. Nous avons convenu que j’irais mapper ailleurs, mais il m’a fait remarquer qu’avec JOSM il suffisait de “deux ou trois clics” pour faire une maison. Non sans peine je me suis mis à JOSM. Par curiosité j”ai assisté à une réunion à Anvers où il était surtout question de HOT. J’ai aussi participé à quelques Hangouts. Pour le reste c’est très peu. Il y en a deux près de Mol, mais ils sont très irréguliers.

http://www.hdyc.neis-one.org/?susvhv

Pour conclure, y a-t-il encore quelque chose que tu souhaites dire au lecteur ?

Puis-je insister auprès de tous de ne pas effacer ce que d’autres ont introduit, même si c’est bâclé. Effacer peut signifier un adepte de moins. Les images sous-jacentes sont actuellement bien plus précises et mieux alignées que celles utilisées il y a quelques années. J’ai moi-même tendance à effacer et à redessiner, mais je ne le fais qu’avec ce que j’ai auparavant introduit moi-même. Dans JOSM un Ctrl H est vite fait et peut rappeler de bon souvenirs. Parfois je m’exaspère quand je vois que l’on a ajouté des détails alors que la base est mal placée, détails dont je ne vois pas l’utilité. Pourquoi ne pas s’assurer que la base est convenable ?

Bon, j’arrête, car je commence à radoter.