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My morning walks got replaced by Car driving lessons.

I turn on my GPS and go for driving and after returning I upload the traces to OSM.

I am wondering other than uploading the GPS traces, is there any other way I can utilize my local knowledge to contribute to OSM.

Location: Ward 4, North Zone, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Bhubaneswar (M.Corp.), Khordha, Odisha, India
Posted by Tohid69 on 25 October 2025 in Persian (فارسی).

ویژن یا هدف هترین مسیری که یک انسان تو زندگیش می‌تونه ادامه بده برای زندگی کردن و نفس کشیدن فقط تعیین هدف و پیش رفتن به سوی آن نترسیدن در راه و چالش‌ها برای رسیدن به هر آنچه که می‌خواهد

Location: قائم, ناحیه ۱ منطقه ۲, منطقه ۲, شهر مشهد, بخش مرکزی شهرستان مشهد, شهرستان مشهد, استان خراسان رضوی, ایران

I’m honored to begin my journey as a 2025 Fellow with the Open Mapping Advocacy Network (OMAN) under the HOT Open Mapping Hub – West and Northern Africa (WNAH). Over the years, I have actively contributed to the open mapping ecosystem through OpenStreetMap Sierra Leone and YouthMappers, as a 2023 YouthMappers Leadership Summit Fellow and 2023–2024 YouthMappers Regional Ambassador for West Africa and a Trainer, OSM Sierra Leone. These experiences have shaped my passion for leveraging geospatial technology as a tool for sustainable development, data-driven decision-making, and youth empowerment.

I applied to join the OMA Fellowship because I deeply believe in the transformative power of open data and participatory mapping to promote inclusion, community actions, and resilience. The OMAN Learning Initiative provides a meaningful opportunity to expand my skills in course design, open mapping advocacy, and community engagement, while collaborating with my co-fellow to co-create impactful learning resources that empower local mappers and communities across West Africa. Together with my co-fellow Jimerveille Thierry-Ngouama, we’ll be co-developing the course “Open Mapping for City Management and Planning.” This learning initiative explores vital and practical themes such as: -Open Data for Sustainable Cities -Informal Settlement Mapping -Disaster Preparedness and Resilience -Disability Assessment and Accessibility Mapping -Revenue Generation and Urban Innovation These themes strongly resonate with challenges faced across West African cities, where limited access to reliable geospatial data often hinders effective governance and urban development. Open mapping offers a powerful and practical pathway to strengthen urban planning, disaster risk management, and inclusive infrastructure design ensuring that no community is left behind.

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Location: Mile 88, Tonkolili District, Northern Province, Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone
Posted by Jimerveille on 24 October 2025 in English. Last updated on 28 October 2025.

About me

A geospatial tools and technologies enthusiast from the Republic of Congo. First, a chapter’s Vice-President of YouthMappers de l’Université DENIS SASSOU-N’GUESSO, before serving as a Technical YouthMappers Regional Ambassador. Now, more than pleased to shape the future of Open Mapping within the North and West African region as a Content and Community Engagement Fellow at the HOT WNA Open Mapping Hub.

How did I end up here?

Having witnessed the power of Open Mapping, I am dedicated to raising awareness around it and its related tools and technologies. So, when I heard about the Open Mapping Advocacy Network (OMAN) Learning Initiative, I felt excited to dive into it. More interestingly, the selection process to become a fellow in this program was one of the best experiences I have had. Indeed, no interview for shortlisted, the selection team directly provides us task to complete, linked to what is expected of us and what we are supposed to be doing once selected. This process taught me a great deal about situational thinking and problem-solving.

According to my view, why is open mapping so important?

Open mapping is neither just about freely available online maps for getting from place A to B nor collaborative mapping projects anyone can join. It’s really about democratizing locational knowledge for facilitating decision making, helping problem solving, and supporting one’s geographic experience. The reason why the course under development is titled “Open mapping for sustainable cities” and will be subdivided into five (05) modules, emphasizing an introduction and four (04) mapping thematic as follows: informal settlements, disaster management, disability assessments, and revenue generation.


A propos de moi

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Digitalni ortofoto Lučelnica 2018 na TMS i TM serveru

Dof

Završavamo sa Cadcom DOF objavama. Do sad objavljene snimke su već od prije u obradi: Igrane, Božava, Kali, Sali, Gornja Rijeka, Lišane. Zadnje u ovom setu kojeg smo dobili je Lučelnica DOF sniman 2018.

Za korištenje potrebno je ručno upisati TMS adresu u željeni editor.

Kao i za prethodne snimke kreiran je i projekt na našem Tasking Manager servisu koji olakšava grupno uređivanje određenog područja. Uključite se i provjerite sve kuće, prometnice, staze.

Kad koristite TM servis za odabir zadatka automatski se učitava gore navedena podloga.

Location: Blažina, Lučelnica, Općina Pisarovina, Zagrebačka županija, 10253, Hrvatska

A few days ago I found what appears to be a criminaly underviewed video (currently with 81 views) about imagery interpretation. I almost cannot believe I hadn’t seen it up untill now. It’s breif, contains many of the points I’d write to others about, and there’s next to nothing which I dissagree with. A wonderful addition to my feedback toolbelt.

I want to give this video a signal boost in all relevant mapping channels, since it’s a fantastic resource which can help contributors improve their imagery interpretation. An Introduction to Aerial Imagery for New Mappers

The video is titled for beginers, but the fundamentals don’t change; check it out!

Posted by FrodoMappins on 23 October 2025 in English.

Dear Bilbo,

What a calamity! Just this morning, I attempted to properly document Sandyman’s Mill in OpenStreetMap—you know, the watermill where they grind all the Shire’s grain—and I discovered to my absolute horror that OSM has no proper tagging schema for Shire watermills! Oh, they have man_made=watermill for those dreadfully generic watermills elsewhere in Middle-earth, but nothing that captures the essential hobbitish details: the number of grinding stones, the undershot versus overshot wheel configuration, or most importantly, the weekly flour production capacity (measured in seed-cake equivalents, naturally). I sat there at my mapping desk, GPS coordinates at the ready (SY 1234 5678, if you must know), completely flummoxed—rather like the time Bilbo tried to explain his Elvish poetry to the Gaffer. Looks up with determined gleam in eye

I realize I must take matters into my own furry-footed hands! If the wider OpenStreetMap community hasn’t created proper specifications for Shire watermills, then by the Green Dragon’s best ale, I shall create them myself.

“By Elbereth! A proper preset definition for hobbit watermills!” I exclaimed, nearly spilling my tea over the JSON structure before me. This beautifully formatted file would let any mapper document our mills properly—but first, I needed Sam’s expertise to determine which fields truly mattered. Next: I rush to Bag Shot Row, waving my GPS device at a bewildered Sam in his garden!

This is the json object that same and I came up with.

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Posted by hbogner on 22 October 2025 in Croatian (Hrvatski). Last updated on 24 October 2025.

Digitalni ortofoto Lišane 2018 na TMS i TM serveru

dof

Nastavljamo sa Cadcom DOF objavama. Do sad objavljene snimke su već od prije u obradi: Igrane, Božava, Kali, Sali, Gornja Rijeka. Sad je na redu Lišane sniman 2018.

Za korištenje potrebno je ručno upisati TMS adresu u željeni editor.

Kao i za prethodne snimke kreiran je i projekt na našem Tasking Manager servisu koji olakšava grupno uređivanje određenog područja. Uključite se i provjerite sve kuće, prometnice, staze.

Kad koristite TM servis za odabir zadatka automatski se učitava gore navedena podloga.

Location: Mamići, Lišane Ostrovičke, Općina Lišane Ostrovičke, Zadarska županija, Hrvatska
Posted by scruss on 21 October 2025 in English.

Mapped a new bit of The Meadoway this morning. It’s not quite open yet so there are construction gates (TIL they’re called https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:barrier=hampshire_gate). I will have to remember to remove them when the trail opens (December, they say).

As this is likely to be one of the very few ways with road_marking:colour=blue, I want to show people that it really does: Construction gates across new section of The Meadoway path at Marcos Blvd (or if that didn’t work: ).

I really should add a relation for The Meadoway, but I use iD and relation editing happens for other people. This new path should probably be part of the Gatineau Corridor Recreational Trail and Trans Canada Trail - Toronto relations, but probably shouldn’t be part of the Pan Am Path relation since this was built more than a decade after the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games.

GPS Trace: 2025_10_21_07_47_571.gpx

Changeset: 173584061

Location: Bendale South, Scarborough Centre, Scarborough, Toronto, Golden Horseshoe, Ontario, Canada

We (Teritorio.fr) publish an approach and an implementation of a strategy to reconstruct OpenStreetMap object history at a semantic et geospatial level, beyond the technical object history.

It should help to review the OpenStreetMap changes. It supports geometrical and also semantical OSM object spiting or semantic concept moved from one objet to an other.

A demo is available online https://teritorio.github.io/openstreetmap-logical-history-component/

And the the code is open source : https://github.com/teritorio/openstreetmap-logical-history

The full story on

Posted by hbogner on 20 October 2025 in Croatian (Hrvatski). Last updated on 24 October 2025.

Digitalni ortofoto Gornja Rijeka 2017 na TMS i TM serveru

Alt DOF area

Nastavljamo sa Cadcom DOF objavama. Do sad objavljene snimke su već od prije u obradi: Igrane, Božava, Kali, Sali. Sad je na redu Gornja Rijeka snimana 2017.

Za korištenje potrebno je ručno upisati TMS adresu u željeni editor.

Kao i za prethodne snimke kreiran je i projekt na našem Tasking Manager servisu koji olakšava grupno uređivanje određenog područja. Uključite se i provjerite sve kuće, prometnice, staze.

Kad koristite TM servis za odabir zadatka automatski se učitava gore navedena podloga.

Sretno mapiranje!

Location: Đuriničko Selo, Gornja Rijeka, Općina Gornja Rijeka, Koprivničko-križevačka županija, 48268, Hrvatska
Posted by joost schouppe on 20 October 2025 in English. Last updated on 21 October 2025.

When processing places of worship for the National Crisis Center (Belgium), I run into the problem that it’s quite hard to filter just “significant” places of worship from OSM. We’re interested in places where it’s likely that regular services take place, or that get regular crowds (e.g. weddings & funerals). But it’s hard to remove all the little wayside crosses or chapels that are just not relevant because their tagging is too limited.

Map with all the places of worship that could not be classified uMap with all the places of worship that could not be classified

To do so, we start from all places with https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:amenity=place_of_worship. For our search area (Belgium + areas we have projects in + a buffer), that give us about 45.000 locations.

My initial strategy was to then exclude “obviously small places”. There’s three tags we can use for that:

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Some people are confused about neis-one “Type?” badge below “Discussed changesets” section. So what It’s actualy mean?

There are simple and easy criteria for both secions. First one how many changesets user have and secound is how many mapping days contributor have collected.

Chngesets (left section)

  • Fewer than 25: Hit-and-Run
  • 25 to 99: Newbie
  • 100 to 1,499: Casual Mapper
  • 1,500 to 2,999: Great Mapper
  • 3,000 to 5,999: Heavy Mapper
  • 6,000 to 9,999: Super Mapper
  • 10,000 to 14,999: Legendary Mapper
  • 15,000 to 59,999: Fantastic Mapper
  • 60,000 to 99,999: Mega Mapper
  • 100,000 or more: Epic Mapper

Activity categories by number of active days:

  • Fewer than 15: Rarely Active
  • 15 to 39: Regularly Active
  • 40 to 79: Active
  • 80 to 169: Very Active
  • 170 to 269: Highly Active
  • 270 or more: Mega Active
Posted by Haz_94 on 20 October 2025 in English.

I had the incredible opportunity to represent Vriddhi Project – UNOPS Sri Lanka at the State of the Map 2025 Conference, where I presented a talk on “Mapping for Impact: Introducing Open Mapping to Civil Society in Sri Lanka.”

During this session, I shared how Vriddhi Project empowers civil society organizations (CSOs) across Sri Lanka to harness data and geospatial technologies for better advocacy, planning, and community engagement. Civil society often faces challenges in visualizing, analyzing, and applying data effectively. Geospatial tools allow CSOs to map resources, identify gaps, track progress, and communicate evidence-based solutions, amplifying their impact at the grassroots level.

The session resonated strongly with the audience because it highlighted real-life applications, measurable results, and the transformative power of open mapping. Participants were inspired to see how geospatial tools can turn abstract data into actionable insights that drive social change.

Thanks to State Of The Map and Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific for creating opportunities

Location: UP Campus, Diliman, 4th District, Quezon City, Eastern Manila District, Metro Manila, 1101, Philippines
Posted by Haz_94 on 20 October 2025 in English.

I had the incredible opportunity to represent Vriddhi Project – UNOPS Sri Lanka at the State of the Map 2025, held in Manila, Philippines from October 3rd to 5th, 2025.

As part of this global gathering of open mapping enthusiasts, I conducted a hands-on workshop titled “Getting Started with QGIS: Beginner’s Guide to Mapping with Open Source Tools.” The session introduced participants to the exciting world of open geospatial technology and its potential to create positive impact at community level.

During the workshop, we explored: - OpenStreetMap (OSM) and the HOT Tasking Manager for collaborative and humanitarian mapping. - Open data sources such as Planet OSM, Geofabrik, BBBike, and Overpass Turbo. - How to select the right data type, perform data cleaning, and integrate datasets into QGIS effectively. - Practical mapping exercises that turned open data into meaningful stories and insights.

The energy in the room was inspiring — participants from different backgrounds came together to learn, question, and create. The conversations around open data, inclusivity, and sustainable development reaffirmed my belief that maps are more than visuals — they’re bridges that connect people, places, and purpose.

Heartfelt thanks to the State Of The Map 2025 organizers, Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific and the passionate mapping community for this enriching experience!

Location: UP Campus, Diliman, 4th District, Quezon City, Eastern Manila District, Metro Manila, 1101, Philippines