I recently stumbled upon the direction=forward/backward key. It can be used to denote from which side a highway=give_way or stop is valid. Without that tag, a router would add a penalty also when crossing from the ‘wrong’ side, which would lead to wrongly calculated travel times.

As we have a lot of give_way- and stop-signs mapped in Graz (~1500), I was looking for an efficient way to add the direction=* info on it.

For adding “direction”, you need to know the direction of the underlying way. In the default JOSM map style this is only visible if you click on it. I was looking for a style that shows the way direction on default. I found none, so I wrote one. It is now available in JOSM via Settings → Map Paint Styles.

The style shows the direction of ways with a highway=give_way/stop/traffic_signals only (the ugly red >). I found no way to show the “direction”-tag by rotating the symbol or to show an arrow besides it in or against way direction, so I simply chose an up-arrow (↑) for “forward” and a down-arrow (↓) for “backward”. The orange background allows easy spotting of missing “direction”-tags.

I quickly got tired of searching for not-yet-tagged nodes in JOSM manually, so I wrote an Overpass Turbo query. Open the link, click Run to show give_way’s with missing direction, then Export → Load into JOSM. Now you can have all the traffic signs in your area at once in JOSM ☺.

The orange rectangles show quickly where the tag is missing. My workflow to add them fast was:

• Zoom in via scroll wheel close enough to clearly see the direction of ways
• With the mouse, mark all (hold CTRL) orange nodes that are to be tagged “forward”
• I keep direction=forward in my clipboard, so I press CTRL-SHIFT-V
• Mark all that are “backward” (click the first without CTRL)
• Press ALT-A (I keep direction=backward as last used tag); press Enter with my thumb on the Num-pad

If someone has a quicker work-flow, I’m always pleased to learn to map more efficiently ☺.

Just keep in mind, that JOSM doesn’t know about nodes tagged with a direction yet - so it doesn’t change the tag when you reverse the direction of a way!

I would hope to see the “direction”-tag implemented in some routers soon ☺

I’m working as a freelancer for opendi AG (Munich), where I did set up an OSM Rendering-Server with Mapnik/PostGIS.

Performance after initial setup was way too slow, so i’ve done some work for rendering speed tuning. I’ve written a small How-To because i haven’t found one in the OSM-Wiki:

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Species/PostGIS_Tuning

Having some ideas for improving PostgreSQL performance too? It’s a wiki, add it ☺

Ich wurde am 21.6.2013 zu einem Gastvortrag über OSM an die FH Kärnten nach Villach eingeladen.

Folgende Themen wurden behandelt:

• Community-Building in OSM
• Open (Government) Data
• JOSM-Tipps für Fortgeschrittenen (Praxis-Teil)

Die Folien stelle ich unter CC-BY-SA auf Github zur Verfügung:
PDF.

Den Quelltext dazu gibts hier:
https://github.com/species/vortrag-osm-fh_ktn_6-2013

Vielen Dank an den Studiengang Geoinformation und Umwelttechnologien für die Einladung!

I’ve long searched for a straightforward way to convert OSM XML Data into shapefiles for use in common GIS applications. I’ve even set up my own PostgreSQL/PostGIS server for this task - a long and painful way to get data into QGIS.

But today I found a much simpler and faster approach (at least for points):

• Load data into JOSM
• Save as .geojson (use file-ending .geojson, not .json!)
• in GGIS, Layer -> Add Vector Layer… : choose type GeoJSON, open file.
• in Layers tab, right click “Save As… : ESRI Shapefile”

Note: for ways and polygons, you have to split up the data in JOSM first. Export an extra .geojson for nodes, ways and polygons each because QGIS only handles one datatype a time.

Nächster OpenStreetMap-Stammtisch in Graz Ende November!

eine Doodle-Umfrage zwecks Terminabstimmung findet ihr hier:
http://doodle.com/88eve3z3mmtm62zr

Diesmal werde ich den Stammtisch Aufgrund mehrheitlicher Bitte früher,
um 18:00 ansetzen - aber ohne Zwang, wir sitzen sicher länger ;-)

Zwecks Agenda und sonstigem bitte die Wiki-Seite konsultieren:
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Graz/Stammtisch

Die Termin-Abstimmung läuft bis Montag, 14.11. 23:59.
Ich werde danach gleich der Doodle-Anmeldung entsprechend den Tisch
reservieren.

Ich freue mich auf Euer kommen!

lg, Michael

Ich habe an den Grazer Linuxtagen 2011 einen Einsteiger-Vortag zu OpenStreetMap gehalten.
Die Folien sind hier zu finden:
http://glt11-programm.linuxtage.at/events/24.de.html

Vielen Dank für das Zahlreiche Interesse!

Yesterday i got some hours free, so i took paper and pencil and mapped most of the missing buildings adjacent to my street Moserhofgasse...

Corrections are welcome :-)

My second bike tour, where i contributed my experience to OSM!

Graz-Kumberg exactly 1h with only a small astray in the LKH area of Graz - but found some unmapped footways and a Cafe :-)

Swimming in Kumberg - 27°C water - wonderful!

Back to Graz some more inconvenience ... i should avoid those mtb tracks ...
but i found a new track alongside an small astray. Also corrected surface and incline here.

Just before Graz i found a dangerous error... A street marked as pedestrial, and the last meters as residential - but in reality it was a track type 2 and then type 4 at very steep slope ... even a tractor wouldnt crawl up here...

I've carried my Freerunner at almost all Bike tours the last years for map and GPS and logging, but this time i first found time to get myself into mapping with JOSM and using the collected data :-)

- added a small footway at Thalersee as well as a short bicycle way from Thalersee southwards.
- added Parking areas near Thalersee