Journey and Beyond

OpenStreetMap

What Wikipedia is for open knowleadge is OpenStreetMap (OSM) for open map (spatial) data. Through the hands of thousand and billions the project aims to create a detailled map of the world. Every single person can help to make sustainable improvements to his or her favourite navigation system or map provider if they use OSM as a source. OSM enables person just like you and me to make a difference, without relaying on government and companies. OSM lives the Community Spirit. Your changes are visible to our database thousand and billions relay on in just some seconds. This allows you to see your changes alive directly after upload.

Problems

The project OpenStreetMap has serious problems like

• some mappers not listening to data customers or ignoring their opinion directly,

• missing proper communication/exchange between stakeholders (mappers, developers, organisations, companies, initiatives, (governments) ),

• negative energy against companies working on the OSM project,

• non-orthogonal tagging,

• use of two or more tags for the same purpose,

• lack of proper tagging documentation (some really good experienced mappers and good writers at the same time do it right),

• mappers actually do not consult others before creating a new key/tag and not documenting it properly (e.g. Key:diaper . We still suffer from the damage the key diaper imposed)

• lack of appearance in various Mainstream presses

Strengths

The project OpenStreetMap has also serious strengths like

• being FOSS and being open to inclusion,

• being diverse (many different cultures participating),

• open and friendly to newcommers,

• innovative and creative disrupting,

• enormous flexible (tagging) workflows (made use of in CA RESTE OUVERT and BLEIBT OFFEN (german version)),

• showing what community effort is capable of,

• reducing costs for studies in spatial data analysis,

• interests of various disciplines like research, gov, organisations,

• improving the world in a good way (make people hope, make it a better place to be)

Solving problems

My journey and my live aims to give inspiration to others. Initiatives made by me but not backed up by something or someone will likely fail (I always try - if working alone - to modernize or find different workflows which most people do not wish)

The list below aims to bring forward the goal of tagtransform, community empoverment, empovering of in OSM marginaled minority groups like women (refer to Geochicas)

Some mappers already said one or more points from this list, some points came from me and some from someone else:

Project Number	Project Name	Description	Hashtag	User/Organisation
001	Video tutoring	Video tutorials on Youtube plus on another platform (supporting our ideals of privacy, freedom and openness)	#osmvideotutoring	Pending organisational work for Germany
002	OSM Wiki Data Items	Adding Data Items to the wiki of OSM for machine readable tagging information	#osmdataitems	OSM Wiki Community
003	OSM Wiki Data Items Editor	Editor for easy adding or modifying Data Items	#osmdataitems-editor	I know one but I think I am not allowed to name him/her here. He set up Data Items.
004	OSM Wiki Page Generator	Based on Data Items a bot should generate human readable wiki pages. Mappers should then just note down things a machine cannot understand, process or read.	#osmwikipagebot	I know one but I think I am not allowed to name him/her here. He set up Data Items.
005	Communication with various stakeholders of OSM data like developers, mappers, data customers etc.	Improving the communication between all stakeholders. We can build on our mailing lists but we might need to change some details.
006	Help plattform for newcommers	Offering a “marketplace” where newcommers can get help/reach experienced mappers	#osmhelping
007	Making more in-person mapathons	Mappers meet other mappers in-person (real life) to map a certain area. This improves inclusion for some people it is then easier to join. A positive side effect: Other people ask the mappers what they do there and they can tell about OSM = spread the word	#osmmapathon	Local Communities
008	MapDiscover	Community and user friendly map service based on OSM data that can compete against Google Maps	#mapdiscover	MapDiscover Team (in its first states just for particular regions in Germany)
009	Working with translation services	Not all can speak English so we need a system which translated ML and other OSM communication to the native language of the user without disrupting the communication flow		OSM-community-building

This is not the end, this is just the beginning of a wonderful story “Community improves the world”

Journey And Beyond

The Journey Never Ends

There’s an ongoing questionnaire I’ve started to see what did it effort to motivate mappers to participate, to join OSM and to help to improve the map. This little diary provides an anonymized overview of the answers:

Survey

• Opportunity to help providing an alternative source for geo-data that is corporative and free for all.
• Opportunity to access free topography data.
• Opportunity to see changes on the map immediately instead of days or months after. This way you get a good reward yourself (you feel like “Oh wow! That was just me! I helped to improve something sustainable and innovative!”).
• OSM is more detailed than the maps of other Map Providers.
• Saw that objects were missing on the map
• Free license
• Privacy
• Enjoying that people come together, work together and make something non-commercially.
• OSM allows “creative use of geodata”, allows more than just one user group to profit from.
• Geodata can be used offline.
• Enjoy that you can improve the map by yourself rather than relaying on others.
• Enjoy that you get to know the world around you better.
• Your contributions are yours and not Googles or some other company.
• I can actually help people to navigate and find places better.
• Spotted a mistake and enjoyed that I can improve it right away.
• I love the friendly community.
• The maps in my area from various map providers were catastrophic.

Result of the survey

The result is a promotional text we will use for Hamburg but which can also be used in other cities and countries with slight differences:

Variation 1 (Translated from german)

The open project OpenStreetMap aims to create free map data for walkers, car drivers, cyclists, hiker and many more. Our collected data are used by HVV (Hamburger Verkehrsverbund) and the Tagesschau but also by games such as Pokemon Go. Everybody can participate. You don’t need any technical background or to know how to work with maps.

Variation 2

The open project OpenStreetMap aims to create free map data and lets you improve map data by yourself without requiring any technical knowledge. You also don’t have to know how to work with maps. Our tools will make it easy for you to add to it. And you will see changes you make to our huge database immediately instead of having to wait for months. You don’t believe this is true? Try yourself out and download the app “StreetComplete” for Android on Google Play, F-Droid or directly by APK.

Variation 3

The open project OpenStreetMap aims to create free map data and lets you improve map data by yourself without requiring any technical background. The changes you make are really yours and not the ones from a company. You work hand in hand with a joyful community ready to help you out when you get stuck. OpenStreetMap is the data used by many NGO’s in crisis regions because they’re the most up to date ones and because they can improve it right away.

Variation 4

The open project OpenStreetMap aims to create free map data and should you spot a mistake you can fix it yourself without waiting for months for having your changes disabled because the changes you make are immediately visible to others and can be used by them. That is why OpenStreetMap is in most cases more accurate and more detailed than the maps from other map providers.

More variations to come. I will make use of every single input from you.

One has an idea and finds others to step in. Together they make the world a better place. That’s Community Spirit!

What I notice when interacting with our OSM Community that we all work together on one mission: To create a sustainable highly detailed world wide map free for everyone to use and to work with, to merge with other data and to do something disruptive. Our community is very large and active around the globe. Despite our ethical, cultural and social differences we share one mission.

What I understand under the term “Community Spirit”: Working together on one mission to make the earth a better place for (almost) everyone, to change environment on a large, middle or lower scale. Community Spirit is the positive site of acting together to do something great and sustainable.

But why do we live the Community Spirit inside from the OSM Community? Because we can, because we believe in a future. Because we know our effort is important to mankind and soon awareness about our great mission will rise.

We all do great things. Humanitarian OpenStreetMap helps organisations like doctors without borders to offer medical help to people in low developed regions around the world where maps are highly outdated and not accurate enough. Mappers who don’t know each other meet in mapathons (mapping parties). Mappers in cities begin to connect to each other through chat groups, mailing list and of course local groups and they begin to fight, to fight for their interests and values. JOSM- and iD developers both are doing a great job in programming mapping tools which make mapping easier, less complicated and less frustrating, allowing not-so-computer-skilled folks to join in and participate. They all play a role in burning down barriers. The weeklyOSM Team, a bunch of great people, are bringing together information from almost all OSM societies.

People begin to do something great by themselves instead of waiting for a company to do it. Strangers are coming together and work hand in hand on a project. You can do it too! Come and choose from the many community projects all around the globe e.g. Wikidata, Wikipedia, Code for International, OpenStreetMap, Debian Community, Fedora Community, Translation Community, Open Knowleadge Foundation and many more. They’re reaching to you, just grab your chance and get in and make our world a better place to be. Work together in communities to make our world a better place.

I believe in you, I believe you can be sooo empowering and great in improving our earth.