The Virtual Institute for Sustainable Development - IVIDES.org® , a virtual research institute on the SD matter, and the IVIDES DATA®, a small Brazilian company on information technology consultancy, are lauching a new partnership with the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in order to use OpenStreetMap on the collaborative mapping of disaster risk for coastal communities on the northern coast of the state of São Paulo (Brazil).

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The Virtual Institute for Sustainable Development - IVIDES.org® and the IVIDES DATA company®, in a partnership with the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP), is starting an effort to provide technical supervision and training for collaborative mapping with OpenStreetMap involving three localities (one of them in indigenous lands) along the Northern Coast of São Paulo (Brazil). These communities are still suffering with the consequences of the latest big disaster, occurred on 2023, and constitute areas with common environmental problems, like inapropriate solid waste, rivers’ pollution and deforestation.

The research focus on the micromapping with OpenStreetMap and uMap in order to develop the “Participatory Environmental Mapping” approach[1] using the collaborative approach.

We hope this project can show better the usability of open data and open software on the disaster risk reduction research, with community participation and improving the personal skills of the collaborators. It is very important, specially on areas with low income levels and literacy. This citizen science approach can opportunize the community participation.

… See full entry

%{count} contribution(s) in the last year

section on the user page, should be edited. For numbers greater than four digits, periods are placed in groups of three for easier reading, but OSM user profiles have numbers that are difficult to read, such as 1234565885. If we write this as 1.234.565.885 or 1,234,565,885. The contribution counter will be easier to read.

Yesterday, I attended the OpenStreetMap Local Chapters and Communities Congress 2026 online.

There were at least 15 participants who signed the attendance list on the event’s HackMD document, representing a range of countries including the Philippines, Italy, the United States, Canada, Greece, Indonesia, Belgium, Kenya, and Brazil. The document is available publicly here.

After introductions and updates from the OpenStreetMap Foundation Board, the session moved into a group discussion titled “Challenges in OpenStreetMap and overcoming those challenges.” This discussion was conducted through Mentimeter, allowing participants to submit anonymous responses to guided questions.

Here is a (selected) summary of the discussion results:

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Question 1 : If a new mapper asked you “what’s the hardest part about being in the OSM community?” what would you say.

“So many smart people. All with their strong opinions about how things should be done.”

“Dealing with abusive community members.”

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testblog

Vuoden 2025 lämpimällä kaudella tuli tehtyä 3 tarkoituksellista kartoitusprojektia eri vaiheissa, joista osa liittyi uusien pyöräpysäköintialueiden etsintään ja osa oli ihan puhdasta StreetCompleten ja Wandrerin pisteidenkeruuta.

Keväällä ennen vappua tuli käytyä seuraavat paikat läpi pyöräpysäköintipaikkojen toivossa:

• Sairaalat ja terveyskeskukset.
• Urheiluhallit.
• Päivittäistavarakaupat (marketit ja supermarketit).

Näissä ideana oli käydä läpi paikkoja, joissa ihmiset säännönmukaisesti käy ja joissa pyöräpysäköinnille on kysyntää. Urheilukentät urheiluhallien sijaan olisi vielä kiinnostavampi aihe pyöräpysäköintien sijaan, mutta en saanut tehtyä järkevää hakua Overpass QL:llä, joka ei olisi samalla tuottanut isoa määrää pieniä puistoja tulokseksi.

Tämä kun tuli valmiiksi ennen kuin kesä varsinaisesti ehti alkaa, niin kävin pienen henkilökohtaisen kriisin läpi, että kesäksi suunniteltu projekti tuli valmiiksi aivan liikaa etuajassa. Joten sitten piti keksiä jotain muuta tehtävää, jotta motivaatio säilyy ja StreetComplete onneksi tarjosi sellaista.

StreetCompletesta tehtäviä viihdyttämään

StreetCompletessa olevista tehtävistä tuli poimittua vuoden 2025 lämpimälle kaudelle seuraavanlaisia omaan karttaan:

• Liikennevalojen olemassaolo risteyksissä (Are there traffic signals that show when to cross here?). Tämä oli kesän ja alkusyksyn pääprojekti.
• Keskisaarekkeen olemassaolo risteyksissa (Does this crossing have an island?). Tämä tuli otettua listalle sen jälkeen, kun liikennevalojen olemassaolo oli saatu kartoitettua.

Keskisaareketietoa en saanut käytyä läpi ennen kuin lämmin kausi loppui ja sää oli liian kylmä, että olisi pärjännyt ilman hanskoja.

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Javni overpass serveri su u zadnje vrijeme preopterećeni i bacaju greške…

Jedino trenutno “rješenje” je dizanje vlastitog servera. Postoje razne upute za ručno dizanje svoje instance servera, ali se čini kao puno pipkavog posla: osm.org/user/SomeoneElse/diary/408252

Srećom, @Johannes_Gramsch je spomenuo da postoji gotov Docker container; i zaista, postavljenje istog je dosta malo posla (i većinom samo nekoliko sati čekanja da downloadi završe, i parsto GB mjesta na disku).

Meni je trebalo ispod pola sata posla, ali sa uputama može i za ispod 10ak minuta. Detalji na:

https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/overpass-api-performance-issues/140598/35

Ein Spaziergang durch Weißig und Döhlen

Am heutigen Donnerstag machte ich einen meiner vielen Streifzüge durch Döhlen. Besonders ins Visier genommen hatte ich die Streuobstwiese in Freital-Weißig, die mir durch eine Meldung im Freitaler Anzeiger wieder aufgefallen war. Kommend von der Bushaltestelle an der Schulstraße gelangt man über einen Weg zum Zaun der Wiese, wo weiter rechts eine Infotafel aufgestellt ist. Da keinerlei Verbotsschilder auffallen, nahm ich die Gelegenheit war, das Tor selbst zu öffnen und auf die Wiese zu gehen. Bei einem früheren Besuch kamen mir viele Schafe entgegen, heute sah ich kein einziges Tier. Negativ viel mir auf, dass sich vom Eigentümer lediglich um die Streuobstwiese gekümmert wird, nicht jedoch um das Gebiet um den Wettingrundweg bis zum Beginn der Böschung auf dem Gelände des Getränkehandels. So ist der Wettingrundweg unpassierbar. Die Wiese ist glücklicherweise keine Sackgasse, da am oberen Ende des Hanges ein weiteres Tor existiert, durch das man auf das im Süden angrenzende Feld gelangen kann. Von da an ging ich gen Osten zu dem in den Wald führenden Weg. Über eine erst kürzlich entdeckte Schneise gelangte ich wieder in den Wettingrund. Obwohl es Niederschlag gegeben hatte, konnte ich meine zweite Mission, die Kartierung des periodischen Gewässers, nicht fortsetzen, da dessen Verlauf zu verwinkelt ist und kein Wasser zur Nachvollziehung des tatsächlichen Verlaufes floss. Das steht also noch als Ausflugsziel für einen Regentag aus. Um wieder zur Weißiger Straße zu gelangen, schlug ich mich teilweise durchs Niemandsland die Böschung hinauf. An der Bushaltestelle am Mittelweg endete meine heutige Tour.

Ale o co chodzi?

This text was written by me a couple weeks ago. In the mean time I noticed that my computer struggles with the amount of data to process. That’s why I will need to use another way how to create my map. Anyway, I did not want to scrap this diary entry. I learned already a lot of things and maybe you are curious about my map, so here it is:

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Like this or similar could the map look like. This mock-up was made with the QGIS GUI and OSM data downloaded over the overpass api. bigger resolution here

In this diary post, I want to show you what I am currently working on in my free time, what my motivations and inspirations were for starting the project, and what problems I have encountered. I also want to share what I have learned and what I plan to do with the project in the future.

… See full entry

Yesterday or the day before, Florian contacted me to see could we map hogbacks on OpenStreetMap. Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Florian and I have spoken at two Digital Humanities conferences about citizen science and mapping and Wikidata and all that craic before, and one of our co-panellists Meagan’s doctoral thesis was about hogbacks. These are very large stones carved into the shape of very likely buildings (longhouses mostly) and date to the 10th to 12th century. They are pretty cool, to be honest. They are called hogbacks, because they also resemble the curved back of a pig, especially, when the carving is very worn and cannot be made out, which is maybe why they called them that back in the 19th century. The Vikings presumably had a far cooler name for them, but they didn’t write that down for us. Those stones were used as grave markers. (I don’t watch any of the Viking Netflix and other series, but maybe they made an appearance? Let me know in the comments - as if this was YouTube.)

Hogbacks survive or are known to have survived (who knows what might still lie undiscovered underground) in Northengland and to a lesser extent and with stylistic differences in Scotland, Cornwall (where they are called “coped stone”). One example each is known in Ireland and Wales.

Following the pattern of ogham stones for which I did go through the proposal process, Florian and I decided that we would go for the tag historic=hogback with the additional subclassification of hogback=coped_stone for the Cornish examples. I made the “executive decision” that we would be the only people mapping them anyway and that the number is so small that a proposal process would be a waste of time. I’m prepared to be judged for that.

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I’ve recently learnt how to use the “Building” plugin on JOSM and it’s so slay.

Hello! I made my 1000th edit today which also just so happened to roughly coincide with the 1 year mark of my OSM journey. I have had so much fun learning about OSM and connecting with so many cool members of the community.

I started my work on OSM improving the data in my home town of Wilson Wyoming, which continues to be my main focus, although I have done some smaller projects outside of this area. It has been so rewarding to watch my work come together to create such a carefully detailed representation of its unique and beautiful geography. Through all this work I have not only deepened my passion for geographic data, I have had the pleasure of developing the understanding necessary to truly comprehend the marvel of the world’s greatest map, the open street map. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of such a remarkable feat of humanity and commendation to our planet.

… See full entry

Estimados

Hace 22 días aproximadamente subi una traza llamada Potrerillos, he revisado y hasta la fecha no se visualiza en el mapa, por favor me gustaría saber cual es el motivo o como debo hacer para sea visible en los mapas; ya que será de mucha ayuda a los montañistas que visitan esta zona y con cierta regularidad se pierden.

Gracias.

Definition

From Wikipedia [2026-03-24] : “A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other types of named border markers, known as boundary trees, pillars, monuments, obelisks, and corners. Border markers can also be markers through which a border line runs in a straight line to determine that border. They can also be the markers from which a border marker has been fixed.”

Tagging in OpenStreetMap

Usual tags are:

• boundary=marker
• collection=yes the marker is a part of the collection of historical markers
• format:top=* describes the shape of the marker’s top
• format=* describes the shape of the marker
• height=* height of the marker
• historic=boundary_marker OR
• historic=boundary_stone
• inscription=* inscriptions on different sides of the marker could be separated by a sign “ “ ( vertical line) or “/” (forward slash)
• marker=border_stone
• material=*stone, concrete, iron, etc.
• moved=yes indicates that the marker is not on its original position
• name=*
• old_ref=* the (old, changed) number written on the marker
• ref=* the number written on the marker
• year=#### (year) (or documented tag start_date=*)

Existing sources

Maps

• Institut cartographique militaire, Carte de Belgique, 1:20 000. [1969]. (https://historical.osm.be/)

• Geo.be. Sous les onglets Cartes > Couches > Unités administratives > AdminVector, on peut afficher une carte de Belgique, qui après zoom adéquat, présente outre les limites, des points représentant des bornes. (https://www.geo.be/)

• [more to follow]

Archives

The archives contain:

• general maps
• maps specific to boundary marking
• boundary agreements
• minutes of boundary surveys
• minutes of boundary marking

Belgium

• Archives générales du Royaume - Algemeen Rijksarchief

France

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HOT Mentorship Program 2025: Mapping Fire Incident Hotspots in Nairobi, Kenya.

In the last quarter of 2025, I was privileged to be part of the HOT Mentorship Program. I was a mentee in the third cohort, focusing on Open Community Building. I got to experience first-hand what it takes to work on an individual research project here in Kenya. My project was voluntary, but I learned a new meaning of that word through the project. According to the Oxford Learners’ Dictionary, voluntary is an adjective that refers to “actions done willingly, of one’s own accord, or by free choice, rather than being forced, paid, or compelled by law”. I understood that part very well, but I had little knowledge that free will doesn’t necessarily mean zero budget. So there was that.

What does it take to carry out a research project in Kenya?

While there is no “one size fits all” blanket that defines the needs for all projects, here are a few key points to consider before starting any project:

• General purpose of the project: academic thesis, community building, etc.
• Data: required datasets, available data sources, required licenses and terms of use.
• Scope of the project: geographical extent, objectives of the research project,
• Resource allocation: time, human resources/ stakeholder engagement, financial resources or physical resources.
• Legal Requirements: Associated licenses that may be required depending on the nature of the project.

Mapping Fire Incidents in Mukuru Kwa Njenga

… See full entry

Durant les mois d’Avril et de Mai, je vais faire comme à Jassans en 2025, c’est à dire faire des relevé hebdomadaires de ref=* des lampadaires de Chaleins:

Carte: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/fr/map/carte-releve-lampadaire-de-chaleins_1371864#13/46.051374/4.819221

Dates actuelles:

Aujourd’hui (22/03)=Zone 1=Lancement Chaleins !

28/03/2026=Zone 2

04/04/2026=❌ Annulé=FCO 2026

11/04/2026=Zone 3

18/04/2026=❌ Annulé=Conscrits de Frans

25/04/2026=Zone 4

02/05/2026=Zone 5

09/05/2026=Zone 6

16/05/2026=Zone 7

23/05/2026=Zone 8

30/05/2026=Zone 9

06/06/2026=Zone 10=Finalisation de Chaleins

Les dates peuvent bougé en fonction de mon planning perso…

Incluso edifícios numeração interpolada na região do Tatuapé , Parque São Jorge, e Jardim Maranhão.

Editoriales Intro: März 2026, Wien, Paris

Im März 2026 fühlt sich OpenStreetMap gleichzeitig vertraut und fragil an: Wien routet seine Fahrpläne auf OSM-Basis, Start‑ups bauen Geschäftsmodelle darauf, humanitäre Organisationen verlassen sich im Katastrophenfall auf OSM‑Gebäudeumrisse. Gleichzeitig wissen Eingeweihte, dass große Teile dieser „kritischen Infrastruktur“ an einer Handvoll Ehrenamtlicher hängen – vor allem dort, wo es um Serverbetrieb, Kernsoftware und die API geht. blog.openstreetmap

Mit dem Fördervertrag der deutschen Sovereign Tech Agency über 384.000 Euro für die Modernisierung der OSM‑Kernsoftware steht erstmals schwarz auf weiß da, was viele in der Community seit Jahren behaupten: OSM ist digitale Grundversorgung – aber ihre Wartung ist weder institutionell noch demokratisch so abgesichert, wie es dieser Status vermuten ließe. Parallel laufen die Vorbereitungen für State of the Map 2026 in Paris, das Ende August als globales Treffen der OSM‑Community stattfinden wird – inklusive Calls für Session-Proposals und Wissenschaftsabstracts, die gerade jetzt im März geöffnet sind. Es liegt in der Luft, dass Paris der Ort wird, an dem sich entscheidet, ob OSM eher technokratisch oder partizipativ weiterwächst. 2026.stateofthemap

Aus Wiener Perspektive wirkt diese globale Debatte keineswegs abstrakt. Die Stadt setzt zunehmend auf partizipative Formate, um Mobilität, Stadtraum und Klimaanpassung zu gestalten; OSM‑Daten fließen in Routing, Accessibility‑Anwendungen und diverse Forschungsprojekte ein. Gleichzeitig reproduzieren OSM‑Daten selbst urbane Ungleichheiten: Innenbezirke sind hochdetailliert, während periphere Siedlungen, informelle Treffpunkte oder Angebote für vulnerable Gruppen oft unsichtbar bleiben. mdpi

Diese Kolumne nimmt Wien als Labor, um vier Ebenen zusammenzudenken:

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Mnoho pozornosti kolem OpenStreetMap si v posledním období žádá kauza, která možná rozhodne o budoucnosti celého ekosystému otevřených map. Overture Maps Foundation, konsorcium vedené společnostmi Amazon, Meta, Microsoft a TomTom, se pokouší prosadit svůj Globální entitní referenční systém jako oficiální standard v rámci Open Geospatial Consortium. Na první pohled jde o technický detail – způsob, jakým se mapovým prvkům přidělují jedinečné identifikátory. Pod povrchem se ale schyluje k něčemu mnohem zásadnějšímu.

Tento systém má za cíl vyřešit náročné propojování dat z různých zdrojů. Univerzální identifikátor by umožnil propojit katastr, dopravní data a body zájmu bez složitého mapování. Zní to lákavě, ale já v tom vidím onen známý princip, že nadějné řešení se snažením všehoschopných stane problémem pro všechny ostatní. Kdo bude mít právo identifikátory přidělovat? Kdo určí, co je samostatnou entitou hodnou svého čísla? Pokud se GERS stane standardem, stane se Overture de facto správcem registru mapové skutečnosti.

Reakce už proběhla v únoru. Simon Poole, jeden z nejuznávanějších hlasů v komunitě, varoval v diskusi na osmf-talk, že přijetí GERS by znamenalo „zakotvení Overture jako referenční datové sady pro celé odvětví“ . OSM by se pak mohlo ocitnout v roli podřadného dodavatele syrových dat, který nemá slovo v tom, jak je mapový svět strukturován. V únoru 2026 se k Overture připojila společnost BrightQuery, která přináší data o stovkách milionů organizací a lokací z vládních zdrojů. Overture tak buduje paralelní datový základ, který má ambici být úplnější a „autoritativnější“.

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Agradeço, desde já, a sua leitura… Dedico este breve artigo aos cinco anos e algumas semanas desde que comecei a editar no OpenStreetMap, e atingi mesmo 400 sessões de edições (aquando do momento de escrita). Eu pelo menos festejei um minuto :) Na minha opinião, é muito importante contribuir para a sociedade através do OSM, apesar de isto não ser a minha primeira prioridade. Claro que tenho a vontade de continuar a editar o mapa, acabando por ajudar aqueles que desfrutarem do site. Cumprimentos, e até breve.