OpenStreetMap
This week I uploaded my 400,000th Mapillary ground-level image. This is, I suspect, the largest collection of ground-level imagery of Turkmenistan. Some of the images were taken after sundown of the M37 national highway so as to map U-turns visible even with only illumination from headlights.
Discussion
Comment from GOwin on 11 December 2018 at 13:09
Awesome! 🙇
Comment from kucai on 12 December 2018 at 03:56
Camera make & model? Reliability issues? Tips? Good work!.
Comment from apm-wa on 12 December 2018 at 11:41
@kucai, I use a 16Gb RAM Samsung Galaxy smartphone with large (minimum 32Gb) SD card to store the images. The main reliability issue is that it has a tendency to log out of Mapillary periodically for no apparent reason, and if I am in an internet dead zone (there are many in Turkmenistan) it refuses to collect images until I can log back in. In summer I have to position the phone close to the windshield defroster vent on the dashboard and crank up the air conditioning so it blows directly on the camera, or it will overheat (direct sunlight+camera+charging battery+GPS generates lots of heat). When it overheats, it simply shuts down.
I have another Samsung with less RAM (8 Gb) and have found when it has collected a few thousand images, it takes forever to boot Mapillary up and sometimes simply locks up. 16Gb seems to work much better.
Main tip is to plug it into the cigarette lighter to keep it charged, and monitor the battery. I also carry a backup smartphone for when this one fails for some reason.
Comment from Peter Bremer on 13 December 2018 at 06:56
Congratulations! The world needs more photos, especially in those places where the commercial ones don’t come. 😁
Comment from eneerhut on 2 January 2019 at 00:29
Congratulations @apm-wa. We really appreciate your contributions. The world, myself included, does not know enough about Turkmenistan, so thanks for capturing such extensive imagery there. There is a little surprise waiting when you reach the 500,000 milestone. I recently passed 400,000 as well so why don’t we race each other there ;)
Comment from apm-wa on 2 January 2019 at 04:46
@eneerhut, you will have a head start as I am presently on vacation in the United States and won’t be back in Turkmenistan until late January. Good luck!
Comment from eneerhut on 2 January 2019 at 04:56
Enjoy your well deserved vacation then!
Comment from Peter Bremer on 2 January 2019 at 09:01
@apm-wa, vacations are a great opportunity to take Mapillary photos! ;-)
I have also been struggling a lot with the Mapillary app before with my older phones. You might want to try alternative apps for collecting the photos, but then you must geotag and upload the photos yourself afterwards. I have had great success with DailyRoads Voyager (very stable, but limited to one photo every 5 seconds) and Hidden Camera Snapshot (now removed from the Play Store, don’t know why).
Comment from Peter Bremer on 2 January 2019 at 09:03
^^ Forgot to mention, both of those apps allow to turn off the screen during capture, which results in less battery use, less overheating, and more privacy for you.