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.

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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.

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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

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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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Zkoumám stav tras a pokouším se nalézt jak doplnit relace.

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.

This post presents the results of a student project carried out by the following group: Pierrick Causeret, Humbert de Chastellux, Paul Enjalbert and Othman Ouhaddou.

Introduction

This project is a follow-up of last year’s project Shade-optimized routing paths for pedestrians which introduced a shade routing calculator for OSM. Our objective was to make this project available on mobile.

Our github repository

Choosing an App

We first had to choose an app or website to work on. We wanted something easy to publish for us and easy to install for potential users. It also needed to work on both Android and iOS. This excluded all apps that didn’t have plugins or ways to customize them without editing the core code. With all those constraints, we settled on OsmAnd.

Creating the shade data

The full pipeline integrates the previous project, which is the calculation of the shade percentage for each way. This information is then added in the .pbf file as a tag, and then converted to .obf for the app.

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Map of Irish Wetlands https://wetland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/sidebar/index.html?appid=0b602456f4e54b2b808b9cf8d6472cad

Cartographie des jardins de Baiao, parc public de Cormeilles en Parisis.

I’m new to this.

I did what most people probably do and added/adjusted footprints of houses in my neighborhood. Great but I soon noticed that there were choices to be made about what did or didn’t get included, what level of detail to go to, etc. and no really obvious source of guidance about that.

Which is probably just as well, because if there were masses of prescriptive guidance about every little thing a new user would get buried. Anyway. I settled on what seemed reasonable to me and fleshed out the neighborhood a bit. Fun.

I’m a private pilot, so I checked out my local airport to see how things looked there. It was really quite good in some respects, if a little out of date. But again since there’s no guidance the previous editors had just made reasonable assumptions and got on with it. I noticed a few taxiway connections were missing (I taxi along them regularly so I know they’re there!) and added them. Then realized that the previous editor had only been adding taxiways that correspond to the painted lines. Reasonable but in reality things are more joined up than that. Food for thought.

So I thought I would check out a large nearby airport. Whoever did this has made a different set of assumptions about what a reasonable level of detail is. Nothing wrong with them, just different.

Then I checked out Chicago O’Hare. Wow. Someone went to town here. Every single parking spot in the parking garage is individually mapped. That seems excessive (and dragged my machine to it’s knees as well). I’m sure some aggregation would be better. Never mind.

Checked out Newark. Much more reasonable level of detail here. But I suppose that depends on what you expect people to use it for. JFK is different again.

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O Município de Saúde receberá um novo Colégio Estadual de Tempo Integral, este que será construído no perímetro rural da cidade.

O Colégio Modelo Ernesto Carneiro Ribeiro iniciou suas atividades em Saúde em 1902 na Praça Ruy Barbosa, centro da cidade; recebendo uma nova sede no Bairro do Beco em 2008; e agora, ganhará uma nova estrutura próxima do Bairro Nova Saúde.

A estrutura será construída pelo Governo Estadual da Bahia num terreno antes pertencente à prefeitura, agora doado. Ao que se sabe, não há data prevista para o início da construção.

Demais obras no município:

• Urbanização da Praça da Vila Lelinha; (iniciado)

• Urbanização e Drenagem no Alto da Santa Cruz;

• Unidade Básica de Saúde no Bairro do Cardoso;

• Modernização do Mercado Municipal de Carnes - futuro Mini Shopping;

• Revitalização do Mercado Municipal;

Wraz z wprowadzeniem linii nocnych komunikacji miejskiej w Legnicy zamknąłem trwający kilkanaście miesięcy projekt dotyczący transportu zbiorowego w Zagłębiu Miedziowym. Kolejno zostały wprowadzone sieci komunikacji autobusowej w Polkowicach, Lubinie i Rudnej, Głogowie i Legnicy wraz z gminami ościennymi. Na obszarze podległym opracowaniu, obejmującym 2734,94 km2, mieszka ok. 400 tys. osób. Według moich szacunków był to największy powierzchniowo i ludnościowo fragment obszaru Polski, pozbawiony w OSM opracowania komunikacyjnego.

2026年04月01日に移管予定の道路 ・山梨県道513号(梁川猿橋線)…大月市猿橋町藤崎地区 ・滋賀県道116号(六地蔵草津線)…栗東市 ・滋賀県道226号(佐目敏満寺線)…犬上郡多賀町敏満寺

2026年04月01日にダイヤ改正予定のバス ・瀬戸市コミュニティバスこうはん線（経路も変更） ・瀬戸市コミュニティバス下半田川線 ・瀬戸市コミュニティバス曽野線 ・名鉄バス16系統（菱野団地-瀬戸駅前) など

For some reason, the sidewalks near main roads in Sandy have been deleted without much warning. I just have to question what is with these changes and who is responsible for removing the work of mine and others.