April 21st, 2014 – May 5th, 2014
A summary of all the things happening in the OpenStreetMap world.

• Simon Poole talked about the fairly unknown fix-the-map webpage, which is a welcome page for new OSM members and mappers.
• The “last” open OSM bug has been closed. Many bugs have been moved to the OSM notes system.
• Osmlab on github provides the functionality to add your own “Local OSM Groups“.
• The working groups of the Humanitarian OSM Team (HOT) are going to be rebooted. Also Rafael Avila Coya plans a data import for his HOT activities for eHealth Africa in Kano, Nigeria. Read more here.
• “OpenStreetMap and the Open Data Movement” by Simon Poole.
• Richard Fairhurst wrote a blog post about “Building cycle.travel’s bike directions with OSRM“.
• A new version of GNOME Maps will be published soon. It is a simple map application developed in javascript, using the Gjs bindings and OSM map data.
• The openhistoricalmap.org has been updated to the latest OSM code base. See an example of New York 1854.
• Ilya Zverev and “Grouping Mapnik’s labels“.

Authors: Pascal & Dennis – (thx @ “Wochennotiz”)

April 7th, 2014 – April 21st, 2014
A summary of all the things happening in the OpenStreetMap world.

• The program of the SotM-EU in Karlsruhe, Germany (June 13th-15) is online now. Get your early bird tickets here.
• All videos of the SotM US 2014 are online.
• DigitalGlobe announced that they will bring “timely and relevant imagery to OpenStreetMap” implemented in the popular OSM editors iD or JOSM.
• Ilya Zverev created a new browser-based OSM editor called: Level0.
• Slide is an OSM iD editor add-on to optimize line mapping with GPS data.
• The OSM Inspector address view (which checks for misspelled addresses or addresses without matching roads) is now available world-wide.
• BBBike.org now also offers SRTM data downloads in OSM pbf file format.
• The OSM Stack: A mind map visualization by Christophe Rodier.
• Jue Yang, Kate Chapman and Chris Henrik worked on a new and better “HOT OSM Export Tool” during the SotM US. You can read more about their results here.
• A second update about the HOT response for the “2014 West Africa Ebola Outbreak“. Also, a summary is available here.
• SK53 wrote a blog post about Nick Whitelegg and his “10 years of footpath mapping for OpenStreetMap“.
• OSM map of Budapest (Hungary) with live public transport.
• OSM diary entry “Elevation carving using OSM waterway data” by Andrew Buck.
• The new tool “OsmHydrant” by Robert Koch simplifies the process of adding and editing hydrants in OSM.
• Chrill Hill wrote a blog post on how you can use/create historical map overlays for OSM.
• Harry Wood created a video about “Updating the Olympic Park in OpenStreetMap“.
• OSM contributor ybon added GeoRSS support on uMap. He is also working on a Heatmap made for uMap. What is uMap?
• Quattroshapes offers OSM boundary downloads for different administrative levels.

Authors: Pascal & Dennis – (thx @ “Wochennotiz”)

March 24th, 2014 – April 7th, 2014
A summary of all the things happening in the OpenStreetMap world.

• If you want your city, state or country to have better OSM data, you need more local mappers. Some important suggestions by Richard Weait.
• The Humanitarian OSM Team (HOT) wrote an overview article about the “2014 West Africa Ebola Outbreak Response“.
• In 29 hours 68 contributors mapped the entire city of Mamou (20,105 buildings), the center of the Ebola outbreak.
• Jorieke wrote a report about a mapping week in Lubumbashi in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
• OpenAddresses has been launched: “The free and open, global address collection“.
• OSM contributor Zverik about “A year with imagery offset database“.
• Chris Fleming and “Android Apps for Mapping“.
• Andy Allan published a few screenshots from his new Lightning tile-server.
• The University of Heidelberg organized an OSM workshop for children.
• The maybe fastest OSM routing engine (OSRM) got several improvements. Read Dennis’ complete list here.
• OSM contributor sabas88 tried to map in 100 countries in 100 days.

Authors: Pascal & Dennis – (thx @ “Wochennotiz”)

March 10th, 2014 – March 24th, 2014
A summary of all the things happening in the OpenStreetMap world.

• The OSM project has been recognized by the Free Software Foundation Europe with the Document Freedom Day Award 2014.
• The HOT has an emergency request to map Guinea Conakry – Gueckedou, Macenta, Kissidougou. You can read more in the initial mailing list post and on the OSM wiki page.
• Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) has published an “Open data for resilience initiative – Field Guide” and mentioned the important role of OSM and HOT for disaster management.
• A new version of MapRoulette has been launched. It is a gamified approach to fixing OSM bugs that breaks common OSM data problems into micro tasks.
• mkmap, who created OSM Garmin maps, received a major routing upgrade. Read the full announcement.
• OSM iD editor usability study: Looking for test persons.
• The upcoming FOSS4G-Europe conference will take place at the Jacobs-University in Bremen, Germany.
• OSM Switzerland created its own OSM map style which is also available on github.
• Severin Menard is a new member of the HOT OSM board and he wrote a blog post about his latest activities.
• Richard Weait wrote a blog post about “Courtyards! Multipolygon Relations in OpenStreetMap“.
• OSM contributor Stalfur described how he mapped Botswana via Facebook.
• The weather radar screens at the Melbourne Formula1 Grand Prix used OSM.
• OSM contributor RoadLessTraveled reviewed different tools for “Quickly Mapping Stores & Street Numbers w Android“.
• Felix Butzbach created a Pacman-style game based on OSM maps for Android. Give it a try.

Authors: Pascal & Dennis – (thx @ “Wochennotiz”)

February 24th, 2014 – March 10th, 2014
A summary of all the things happening in the OpenStreetMap world.

• The U.S. Department of State wrote a blog post about the “MapGive” campaign which makes “it easier for new online mappers to learn & get involved creating open map data for humanitarian & development causes.“
• “Six months on from SotM 2013” and “how you are getting on with your pledges to OSM”?
• A new version (6891) of the JOSM OSM editor has been released and allows HTTPS access to the OSM API. The JOSM Mappaint Style Coloured Streets 2.0 has been updated too.
• The Geofabrik extended their free OSM “Point of Interest” (POI) shape file downloads.
• OSM contributors AndiG88 and vvoovv about “SPAM” problem in the OSM contributor diaries and how to solve it.
• Simon Poole blogged about the “Current work on vespucci“. What is Vespucci? An OSM-Editor for Android. Vespucci also supports the tag name suggestion function which is already implemented in the OSM iD editor.
• OpenLoveMap: A project for more love. (German) blog post by contributor thomersch.
• OSM contributor dalek2point3 wrote a summary about the fixing progress of the imported TIGER data in the US. He also wrote a blog post about “What parts of the US are well taken care of by OSM Contributors?” with some interesting analyses.
• “OSM provider CloudMade shuts its doors on small users“, blog post by Eric Jiang.
• IBM Business Analytics Proven Practices: Using OpenStreetMap In IBM Cognos BI Reports.
• The OpenRailWayMap has a new server, give the services a try here.
• Just in time, the OpenSnowMap can create individual resort mapping incentives.
• OSM contributor bdiscoe wrote a blog post about “JOSM scripting plugin: be a power user!“. Please be careful when doing “mass-edits” and read OSM’s “Mechanical Edit Policy” wiki page!
• A new open-source 3D city platform (ViziCities) that uses OSM data has been released on GitHub.
• A new release of the (open-source) FlightGear Flight Simulator that uses OSM data has been released.
• There is a new mailing list that covers topics such as: “Outdoor sports, wilderness and natural features mapping, everything from scuba diving to paragliding, from undersea volcanoes to Mount Everest, related software and talk.“
• Robin Lovelace tested and compared web map APIs: Google vs OpenLayers vs Leaflet.

Authors: Pascal & Dennis – (thx @ “Wochennotiz”)

February 10th, 2014 – February 24th, 2014
A summary of all the things happening in the OpenStreetMap world.

• First ideas for this year’s OpenStreetMap 10th Anniversary Birthday party are summarized in the OSM wiki. We’ll be partying at several locations around the world!
• The OSM sys admins have enabled encryption (SSL) to all openstreetmap.org websites which enhances user privacy.
• Commercial OSM users can show their support and join the OSM Foundation (OSMF).
• Generate revenue for OSM by using dedicated links when shopping at Amazon.
• Jochen Topf announced that Taginfo (a system that finds and aggregates information about OSM tags) has been moved on an OSMF Server. Harry Wood provides some additional information in his OSM blog post here. Jochen is also working on a data repository where you can test your developed OSM applications.
• A study by the Red Cross stressed that armchair-mapping can not replace on-the-ground mapping for the assessment of destroyed buildings.
• DaCor wrote in his “iD Newbie friendly feature request” post about adding IRC functionality to the OSM iD editor.
• Saman Bemel Benrud and “Randomness in map design“.
• OSM contributor SK53-OSM wrote a comprehensive blog post about the (in)correct OSM tagging of “wood, … or is that forest“.
• OSM contributor igeopr about his “Project: 2014 Puerto Rico Roads Update“.
• OSM Spain has a nice (Spanish) campaign to bring a friend to the OSM project. Similar to the famous “Best of OSM“, they created a “Best of OSM Spain“.

Authors: Pascal & Dennis – (thx @ “Wochennotiz”)

January 27th, 2014 – February 10th, 2014
A summary of all the things happening in the OpenStreetMap world.

• Wired.com: “At Sochi Olympics, Crowdsourced OpenStreetMap Trounces Google Maps“, but Zverik clarified: “Sochi was not mapped for the Olympics“.
• Grant Slater provided some information about two new OSM servers (Clifford und Ascalon).
• The Congo Mapping (#mapcongo) party will take place on Febrauray 15th, in Berlin (Germany). Come and help improve the map!
• The next Karlsruhe (Garmany) OSM hack weekend will take place on Saturday, 15th. They are also planning some activities for the #mapcongo mapping party.
• The next Berlin hack weekend will take place directly after the FOSSGIS conference on March, 22nd-23rd 2014. More information in the wiki.
• Pascal Neis created a new website which can filter OSM changesets by a specific comment.
• Rodolphe Quiédeville created some real-time charts of OSM edits.
• Blog post by Derick Rethans about “Hunting for Postboxes in the UK“.
• Mikel Maron and his “HOT Year“.
• OSM contributor 51114u9 created several HOT OSM tasks for the Bolivian floods.
• Pascal Neis and Dennis Zielstra published a new publication about “Recent Developments and Future Trends in Volunteered Geographic Information Research: The Case of OpenStreetMap“.
• If you trace objects from areal imagery, please be aware of the imagery offset. You can find important information in the wiki. JOSM has a plugin for the offsets correction.
• The OSM contributor svimik created some up-to-date statistics about OSM Estonia.
• OSM US has some “scholarships specifically targeted to women” for the State Of The Map US conference in Washington D.C.

Authors: Pascal & Dennis – (thx @ “Wochennotiz”)