I am honored and humbled to introduce myself as one of the nominees for the 2025 Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) Voting Membership.

My name is Adamu Muhammad Adamu, a geographer, mapping advocate, and dedicated leader from Gombe State, Nigeria. I currently serve as the President of the National Association of Geography Students (NAGS) at Gombe State University, where I also lead our active YouthMappers chapter—a platform that has significantly shaped my journey into open mapping, humanitarian work, and global collaboration.

• What HOT Means to Me

HOT represents more than an organization—it is a movement that embodies inclusion, empowerment, and action.

To me, HOT stands at the intersection of technology and humanity, where data becomes a tool to respond to crises, build resilience, and bring visibility to marginalized communities. It is through HOT that young people like myself have found a purpose in contributing to real-world solutions, bridging the gap between global challenges and local realities.

• My Journey into Mapping and HOT

My engagement with HOT began in 2020 through YouthMappers. What started as curiosity evolved into a passion and a responsibility to serve. I joined mapping campaigns, led training sessions, and participated in field data collection. In time, I became a mentor and mobilizer, encouraging others to see maps not just as tools, but as voices for the voiceless.

In 2024, I was proudly selected as a Leadership Fellow to represent my country in Bangkok, Thailand, and now selected as a Volunteer Regional Ambassador for YouthMappers in Nigeria, a role through which I support chapters across the country, encourage inter-campus collaboration, and promote open mapping as a vehicle for humanitarian and sustainable development.

• Selected Projects and Community Impact

1. Kwakwambe Village Mapathon – Adamawa State.

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Comme les vitesses max sur les ter Ste-Pazanne -> Pornic / St-Gilles sur Open Railway Map étaient totalement fausses, avec du 80 voire du 60 de St-Hilaire jusqu’à Pornic, j’ai cherché et trouvé des cabrides de conducteurs qui affichaient les vraies vitesses de ligne. Voici donc ces lignes enfin correctement cartographiées. Merci aux ADC qui font des cabrides, et vive le pays de Retz :)

Hello OpenStreetMap and HOT Community,

I’m Brazil Singh, from Bangladesh, and I’m honored to be nominated as a 2025 Voting Member of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT). I want to take this opportunity to share my story, what HOT means to me, and how I hope to contribute as a voting member.

I currently serve as an Open Mapping Guru at the Asia Pacific Hub and as a Regional Ambassador of YouthMappers. Through these roles, I’ve been able to support my community and contribute to open mapping efforts across the region. I’m also actively involved with the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s Communications Working Group, where I help strengthen global community engagement and communications.

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What HOT means to me

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I will stop editing here after more than year of contribution because of various reasons, mainly political reasons.

I feel like continuing to support the project which is politically involved in mapping scope is not my moral thing to do anymore.

OSM’s ridiculous policy about who controls the ground, those determine the border is far more ridiculous than occupation itself. I am not surprised that these people do not understand what is international recognition means. The policy of “who controls the ground” is simply supporting any “invasion / annexation / or whatever term here” and running away from the reality of internationally recognized borders. If OSM is run by Europeans or Americans or Russians (who support their invasions and military presence in Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia) I am not remotely shocked. Because if they understood, world would not have been this trash since WW2.

I have seen it first time when I was removing fake Armenian names from the Karabakh area (was under occupation in between 1992 and 2024), DWG contacted me about not removing them because they have talked to Armenians who felt nostalgically bad about those. I was in utter shock for an American in DWG who did not think about occupation a second, but being fully biased on occupiers side asking how they would feel.

The same goes to Russo-Ukrainian war, for some reason they show Donbas as Ukraine area while it is under occupation, but showing Crimea not as a part of Ukraine while it is under annexation and occupation.

Same situation is with Georgian occupied areas.

I am familiar with double standards of Europeans, so no surprise here at all. You guys can enjoy mapping with disputed areas and changing borders every day.

Good luck to you all!

I’m a skilled cartographer and GIS professional with expertise in mapping, spatial analysis, and information visualization using various software, including ArcGIS, QGIS, AutoCAD, ACAD, and OpenStreetMap. I create informative maps, conduct network analysis, and perform connectivity studies to drive insights and inform decision-making, leveraging my skills in GIS mapping, spatial analysis, and cartography to deliver high-quality solutions and contribute to projects that require spatial analysis, mapping, and data visualization.

Cartographers in Uganda’s National Water and Sewerage Corporation would play a vital role in water resource management by creating maps of water infrastructure, such as pipes and treatment plants, and mapping water sources like rivers and lakes. They would also identify areas prone to flooding, monitor water quality, and inform infrastructure planning using geospatial data. By providing accurate spatial data, cartographers would enhance planning, efficiency, and decision-making, working closely with engineers, hydrologists, and environmental scientists to ensure effective water resource management and infrastructure development.

//孤江逝蓬屿，九川归海闾。 //童时向大地涂鸦，亲切与问候，河滩与玩耍。 //涛推沫积岸，潭映空城虚。 //向着变小的公园走去，着梦的领巾染亮了池。 //枷手绘淮渎，禹步测太行。 //望着从未去过的大洋，想象着地球的另端。 //正影求地中，过洋伴牵星。 //歪斜的铅笔勾画着地图，摇晃的单车追逐着积云。 //无当朝碧海，也未暮苍梧。 //独自狭目换从近地轨道俯瞰，精确的点值代替畸变的步量。 //世界映射于所见之内，地史编译自双手之间。 //纵握星月，把使地国。 //只不过， //宽阔的巷宇与屹立的厦尖缩小着， //直到足以被一个坐标系全然考量。 //包括那本早已黄霉的地图册。 注：本诗存在诸多可借读意象，但不存在任何对于平台及贡献者等组织势力的评价，仅作为个人文学作品，请理性看待。

Cuando se usa Google Maps, realmente se está accediendo a un conjunto de herramientas y características que se ofrecen ahí. No es solo el mapa base, por lo tanto la comparación con OSM no puede ser de solo el mapa base sino de todas las funcionalidades.

Aquí muestro una comparación de servicios dentro de la plataforma Google Maps, y el conjunto de opciones equivalentes en el ecosistema de OpenStreetMap.

Es una lista en crecimiento, por lo que quedo atento a los comentarios para complementarla.

Google	OSM
Maps	OpenStreetMap-visualización + Mapnik-renderizado + CartoCSS-estilo
StreetView, Panoramio	Mapillary, Mapilio, KartaView, Panoramax
Aplicación móvil y mapas offline	OsmAnd, Maps.me, https://organicmaps.app/, Locus Map, muchas otras
My maps	uMap
Map Maker	iD, JOSM
3D buildings	F4 demo, Streets gl
Indoor maps	indoor equal, OpenlLevelUp
Route Planner	OpenTripPlanner, Valhala, GraphHopper, OSRM
Bird’s eye	OpenAerialMap, hay datos aquí, aunque no es equivalente
Local guides	OSM Mappers, communities
Ranking, contribuciones	OSM stats
Reviews	ORA, lib.reviews, aunque no son proyectos muy desarrollados
Servicio de Teselas (Tile services)	Mapbox, OpenMapTiles, otros
API	Leaflet, OpenLayers, MapLibre GL JS
Geocoding - address	Nominatim
Buscador	Overpass, Sophox, Postpass

• Satelite - No libre, pero se puede acceder a las de Microsoft Bing, Esri.
• Aerial View - No hay opción
• 45º imagery - No hay opción
• Immersive View - No hay opción
• Real time traffic - No hay opción libre, http://mapbox.com/traffic-data
• Weather - No hay opción
• Lens in Maps - No hay opción

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May 16, 2025 (22.46 PM) : “Before starting validation on Project 18915, would you mind assisting with validation on another project first? It would be helpful for practice on a few tasks/grids beforehand.”

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Since this is my very first validation project, I thought it would be best to train myself beforehand.

To start, I needed to choose a project to validate. I preferred a recent and active one, so I decided on Project #20468, which was created in response to the recent earthquake in Myanmar. The objective of this mapping project is to identify clusters of residential areas to support better disaster mitigation efforts in the future. Individual buildings do not need to be mapped—only clusters of houses (more than five) using https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:landuse=residential.

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The first issue I encountered after clicking the “Validate” button was that JOSM needed to be open with “Remote Control” enabled.

So, I opened JOSM, navigated to Edit → Preferences → Remote Control, and enabled the option. Once that was done, the task loaded successfully from my browser into JOSM. That was a pleasant surprise—I hadn’t known JOSM had this feature.

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Next issue: my favorite keyboard shortcuts from the iD editor didn’t work in JOSM. I figured the keys might be different, and wondered whether someone had already created a shortcut conversion table between iD and JOSM.

Eventually, I found the relevant information.

At the moment, I don’t need many shortcuts—just a few essentials. The wireframe toggle is particularly important since it helps me cross-check OSM data against the underlying satellite imagery. Additionally, I often want to inspect specific OSM objects; I’ve already prepared several Violentmonkey scripts (such as BetterOSM and OSMHelper) to satisfy my curiosity. For that, I need to open the original URL of an OSM object in the browser.

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I LOVE OSM

讨论在Telegram「OpenStreetMap China (OSM中国)」之「行政区划 Administration」主题发生，本日的群组讨论由平潭县和平潭综合试验区的标注处理引发，进而谈到了关于place标签在国内标注的讨论，主要包含下面内容：

下午十六时至晚上二十一时的讨论

• 「黑区」关系的标注：黑区是指非正式行政区划建制但是有行政管理机构的地域（行政管理区），通过讨论，群组内同意「几套牌子是几个relation，实际管辖用来区分是否作为subarea和subarea缀在谁下面」。以平潭县和平潭综合试验区为例，存在二者实体，故二者关系分开，但区域重叠；县归属福州市（在未明确县为试验区管辖时），试验区直属于福建省，故将县作为福州市的subarea，试验区作为省的subarea；省、市的界线均包含平潭。
• 街道、社区的节点标注（未达成共识）：现状街道在国内大量有标注，但与街道相近、同为政府派出机构的区公所不进行节点标注；街道、社区是否标注在不同地方情况不一致，群组对是否一定要标注二者未达成共识。支持者认为有很多街道、社区的名称可以代表地名，即使是不代表地名，其作为一个实际存在的行政实体也该标注；不支持者认为也有很多街道是「〇〇路街道」、社区是「{小区名}社区」，而地图已有该〇〇路道路或{小区名}小区（类型为way），但街道驻地可能与该路相距甚远（节点位置偏差过大），或与小区过于重合（重复标注），导致节点的标注反而不清晰。
• 行政区划和其他地名标注：群组同意在国内place标签之「city」「town」值现状已经与行政区划强相关，前者用于直辖市、地级、县级行政区，后者用于乡级行政区；群组同意不应该将「city」「town」仅绑定在行政区划（及黑区）上，无行政建制区域的地名（比如自然村、一些工业园区）也需要通过place表示，且在必要情况下也可以使用「city」或「town」（比如现状=*胶南，https:=*//wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:胶南市被撤销，但现状明显单独成城），不过应该控制此类标注的数目。有人提出有行政区划建制的应当先标注行政区划的节点，剩下的再按照place原定义标注，且不添加行政区划通名（自然村有争议）；此外，有人提出没有建制时应该先考虑是否有其他要素可以表示该地名，如有，则优先使用其他要素（详见下一条）；也有人提出town、city级别的非行政区可以使用place=suburb处理，不过同时被认为是滥用suburb（未形成共识）。

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【编辑】晚上二十一时以将的讨论

• 有具体要素则不添加额外的地名节点：群组同意在一个具体要素较为知名，导致要素周边的区域也被统称这个要素的名称的情况下，当该要素仍然存在、指代该周边区域的地名与要素本名相同或等价、且该区域没有与该要素偏离过远，则不应额外添加地名节点。例如重庆解放碑是一座具体的纪念碑，重庆居民一般统称该碑及附近步行街街区为「解放碑」，在纪念碑被绘制的情况下，不额外添加带有place标签的「解放碑」节点；又如延吉火车站南部一片区域被称为「铁南」，明显为该火车站之南之意，但因为该地名比火车站多了「南」之意，可以标注。

A particular goal of mine will be to map Jackson Mississippi’s highest poverty areas. Source: Poverty Rate by Open Data for the City of Jackson, MS

There are many more neighborhoods with high poverty rates in the city of Jackson, MS but these below will be my primary focus. Once these areas are mapped, the scope will expand.

Focus

1. The neighborhood block Northeast of Boling Street and Bullard Street.

   Includes: Hoover Street, Daniels Street, McAdoo Street, Broadview Street, Ford Avenue, Englewood Street, Hermitage Street, Garden Circle, Sagamore Street, Sagamore Street, Lynda Street, Breazeale Street, Dutchman Row, Palo Alto Street, Richmond Circle, and Ford Avenue.

2. Immediate area around Hawkins Field Airport.

   The area Northeast of Sunset Drive, Coleman Avenue, and Elraine Boulevard up to Medgar Evers Boulevard.

3. The area between West Silas Brown Street, West Pascagoula Street, and South Gallatin Street.

ابيدوس فهد

Joining the Unique Mappers Network Nigeria has been a turning point for me. As a passionate student of Surveying and Geoinformatics, stepping into the world of OpenStreetMap was like unlocking a new level in my career and community impact journey.

My OSM Goals Contribute high-quality spatial data that makes real-life impact Master advanced mapping tools like JOSM, iD Editor, and HOT Tasking Manager Inspire fellow students and young professionals in Nigeria to embrace open mapping Support humanitarian mapping, disaster response, and climate resilience efforts.

To Everyone in the OSMFight Arena… This is more than a competition – it’s a movement. A call to action. A chance to leave our digital footprints across the globe. So whether you’re mapping buildings in Port Harcourt, roads in Kano, or health facilities in Bauchi – know that YOU are making a difference.

Let’s light up the map, one building at a time! Let’s bring the crown home 🏆🗺️ Let’s make Unique Mappers Network Nigeria proud 🙌🏾💚

It works !! OSMfight as a gamification for community engagement of OSM contribution -This week we are engaging paired mappers for OSMfight for the next one week - we need to get our project task running,engaging and fun to map https://tasks.openstreetmap.us/projects/815#description

OSMfight this week engages volunteers from our 1. Unique Mappers Abuja Mapathon Center 2. Unique Mappers Enugu Mapathon Center 3. Unique Mappers Port Harcourt Mapathon Center 4. Unique Mappers Kaduna Mapathon Center and others

Our challenge remains breaking the barrier of high cost of internet data subscription in Nigeria

Sustaining our mapathon centers with basic volunteering motivations

Engaging data users stakeholders workshop and lost more

We look forward to our partners and supporters !!!!!

You can support us here https://uniquemappers.org/donate/

Deutsche Post, which operates almost all of Germany’s postboxes, recently changed the collection times for most of them. This was discussed on the German Forum starting 4th of April. I wondered if this could be seen in the database.

So I created this diagram:

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Monte Alcuza (ubicación) visto desde el oeste, en Montes de Málaga. Fuente: trabajo propio (CC BY-SA 4.0) disponible en Wikimedia Commons.

Recientemente se han añadido al mapa de Málaga los puntos singulares del terreno, diferenciando entre picos y collados. También se han añadido los datos de elevación sobre el nivel del mar de dichos puntos. Se ha tomado como fuente el Mapa Topográfico Nacional, disponible en el sitio web de OpenStreetMap. El Instituto Geográfico Nacional dio permiso hace años para la utilización de esta información y el propio Instituto está acreditado adecuadamente en la página de colaboradores de OSM. La diferencia entre un «natural=peak» y un «natural=hill» es muy controvertida en OSM, por lo que se ha optado por añadir los picos como «natural=peak» y los collados como «natural=saddle». Los datos se han revisado uno por uno.

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Lista de atalhos de teclado para JOSM (Use!)

Lista de atalhos de teclado para JOSM (Use!)

Veja todos os atalhos e outras dicas em vídeos curtos no link sobre Dicas rápidas de JOSM

A - Adicionar nó
B - Adicionar prédio retangular
C - Combinar linha
E - Seleciona pontos a partir de linhas selecionadas
G - Desgrudar linhas
I - Selecionar geometrias que se cruzam ou tocam
J - Unir nó à linha
M - Mesclar nós
O - Alinhar nós em círculo
P - Dividir linha
Q - Ortogonalizar / Deixar no esquadro
S - Selecionar. Alterna entre selecionar retângulo e laço
W - Melhorar a precisão da linha
X - Extrudar
Ctrl A - Selecionar tudo
Ctrl C - Copia geometrias e tags
Ctrl V - Cola geometrias e tags
Ctrl Y - Refaz passo desfeito
Ctrl Z - Desfaz passo feito
Shift E - Seleciona linhas a partir de pontos selecionados
Shift V - Roda o validador
Shift Y - Simplifica geometria removendo pontos desnecessários. Sugere-se usar o valor 0,5.
Ctrl Shift C - Copia apenas tags
Ctrl Shift V - Cola apenas tags

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“Tudo vale a pena, se a alma não é pequena”: minha carta de agradecimento

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Prezados colegas,

Sou a Dra. Raquel Dezidério Souto, presidenta do Instituto Virtual para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável - IVIDES.org e pesquisadora em estágio pós-doutoral junto ao Programa de Pós-graduação em Geografia - PPGG-UFRJ. Gostaria de participar deste momento especial de comemoração dos 30 anos do Laboratório de Cartografia, GeoCart-UFRJ, com esta singela mensagem de agradecimento por toda contribuição na minha trajetória acadêmica e profissional, aos professores coordenadores, Dr. Paulo Menezes e Dr. Manoel Fernandes, e colegas de laboratório; gratidão estendida ao PPGG-UFRJ.

Ainda em 2012, eu ingressei no PPGG-UFRJ, como doutoranda do programa, tendo conseguido o primeiro lugar no processo seletivo de novos pesquisadores na linha “Planejamento e gestão ambiental”, com o projeto que teve foco na concepção de uma metodologia para geração de assinatura de sustentabilidade para os municípios costeiros do Rio de Janeiro, a partir de um sistema de indicadores de sustentabilidade. Naquela etapa da minha carreira, o apoio incondicional do Prof. Paulo Menezes foi fundamental, me levando a alcançar o meu título de doutora em ciências (geografia) em 2016. A tese está disponível no Portal Minerva da UFRJ.

Em 2019, eu regressei ao PPGG-UFRJ e ao GeoCart, como pós-doutoranda, também como primeira colocada no processo seletivo, com o projeto de pesquisa sobre a aplicação de mapeamento participativo para inferir sobre a qualidade ambiental na zona costeira (ZC) do estado do Rio de Janeiro. Consegui executar o projeto proposto e, atualmente, está disponível uma plataforma de mapeamento colaborativo da ZC do RJ, que adota formulários eletrônicos para a entrada de dados, construídos com KoboToolbox; além do OpenStreetMap e do uMap, para disponibilização dos dados e informações em um mapa interativo, acessível pela Internet. Esta iniciativa pode ser conhecida no portal do IVIDES.org.

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Streetcars Rule

I’m trying to make a map of a streetcar line that I think ought to be built.