I have already forgotten how I first came across StreetComplete, but what I do remember is that I immediately fell in love with the concept of the app.

I like wandering around and exploring. When travelling, the things that attract me the most are actually very “normal”. Maybe there is a neighbourhood, maybe a lovely park, maybe a path along the river… I just follow the direction of the road and take a turn at a junction if I feel like it.

I don’t know. I just really don’t like those crowded and buzzing tourist attractions. On the contrary, it is in the nooks and crannies of everyday life that I can feel the vibe of a neighbourhood, a town, or a city.

This convenience store has some good samosas. This small community park offers the best shade during the scorching summer. This path along the canal has ducks and geese to guide your walk…

From these small and seemingly negligible things, I feel a city comes alive.

And that’s why StreetComplete is my best travel companion. It pulls up a bunch of quests for me to explore. The surface of the pavement, the sound signal at a crossing, the bin at a bus stop, the name of a store… It simply guides me to dive deeper into an area, and I can explore while completing the quests along the way.

Gamification is a good way to encourage contributions to OSM, but for me, StreetComplete is far more than just a game. It lets me immerse myself into a city and teaches me how to look at it from a new perspective.

Is You Now We Started Adding A Lot Of New Stuff And Changes To R 8 Side And R 16 Side. R 8 Side Will Be Done At Aug 29th And R 16 Side Will Be Done On Last Day Of Sep.

··· I didn’t start contributing to OSM because of any grand philosophy or ideology. I simply began editing because I needed to. But as I became more involved, I learned more about what I believed OSM stood for—openness, decentralization, freedom to collaborate, and a community built around shared stewardship rather than commercial ownership. At least, that was how I came to understand OSM.

That understanding was what motivated me to continue contributing. I chose to spend my time improving OSM instead of Google Maps or the dominant commercial map used in my country. I even spent time studying OSM’s principles and community practices because I wanted to contribute in a way that respected those values.

If utility had been my only motivation, I probably wouldn’t have contributed to OSM at all. In the region where I live, almost nobody actually uses OSM. From a purely practical perspective, my efforts have very little visible impact. Yet I kept contributing because I believed OSM represented something fundamentally different from commercial mapping platforms. That belief—not efficiency or popularity—was what made my contributions meaningful.

For that reason, I don’t believe corporate participation is inherently a problem. OSM is open to everyone, and companies should absolutely be free to use the data and contribute to improving it.

My concern is not that companies participate. My concern is whether, over time, the priorities of the project could gradually shift toward the interests of organizations that naturally have business objectives and far greater resources than individual volunteers. Simply saying that “companies are part of the community” doesn’t fully address that concern. To me, the more important question is not whether companies belong here, but how the community ensures that the values and priorities shaped by volunteers remain just as influential as corporate interests.

Perhaps this is the source of my confusion.

… See full entry

Mapping

Over the past year, our OpenStreetMap Pakistan community has been actively working to map high-risk flood zones across the country—both areas historically affected by extreme flooding and regions facing critical vulnerability during upcoming monsoon seasons.

Shifting from Reactive Response to Proactive Preparedness

During last year’s monsoon floods, our mapping response began after the disaster had already struck. While those post-disaster edits were vital for ongoing emergency response, we recognised the need to get ahead of the curve.

This year, we shifted our strategy completely: we initiated pre-disaster mapping well before the monsoon season arrived.

By leveraging flood projections and high-risk zone data from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and prominent emergency monitoring sources, we identified priority regions across Pakistan. We began our efforts by focusing heavily on areas categorised as the highest risk of severe flooding, ensuring that digital infrastructure is in place before rising waters cut off communities.

Community Coordination & HOT Tasking Manager

Together with two fellow community members, I took charge of creating, organizing, and managing dedicated projects on the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) Tasking Manager.

To drive contributions and sustain momentum, we have been organising community mapping parties and mapathons. Local mappers and volunteers across Pakistan came together to trace the following:

*Missing road networks and bridge connections

*Remote village footprints and building clusters

*Key natural landmarks and waterways

These precise layers are already empowering ground rescue teams, military logistics, and international aid agencies to plan evacuation routes, calculate population exposure, and navigate flood-affected corridors.

Global Recognition

Our community’s proactive mapping drive was recently highlighted in a feature article by the UK newspaper Oxford Herald:

… See full entry

This afternoon, I noticed that several of my colleagues were visiting a recently opened school in the far south.

They took several photos, which is quite a rarity on the internet, since not many people actually go there and upload pictures of the newly built buildings.

I wanted to upload those photos, hoping they might be useful for anyone trying to find information about the place.

Then I remembered that OpenStreetMap has this image=* tag.

I could associate an image with the place by adding an image URL there. So I opened Vespucci on my Android phone and added the image URL to the object.

---

Now I’m back at my PC, and I wanted to make a simple app (or maybe just a script) to browse every image=* tag that exists in OpenStreetMap.

At first, I thought of doing it the usual way : build a Leaflet web map, query the Overpass API, then display the images in popups.

But then I remembered that the Overpass API has recently been under heavy load.

From what I’ve heard, it’s because of a barrage of AI scrapers… or maybe just a flood of quick-and-dirty, vibe-coded OSM apps being produced en masse.

Whatever the exact reason, it has noticeably affected the service.

Knowing that, I was discouraged from making the situation any worse. So I scrapped that idea.

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Then I remembered something else:

Overpass Ultra.

I don’t know exactly how it works internally, but I assume it uses a different Overpass API endpoint than the ones I would normally query directly.

If that’s the case, perhaps using Ultra wouldn’t add to the current strain on the public Overpass servers.

I also realized that Overpass Ultra’s advanced styling syntax lets me solve the whole problem directly within the query itself, without having to build my own Leaflet-based web app.

So here it is: a quickly put-together Ultra query that displays every OpenStreetMap object containing an image=* tag and shows the referenced image in a simple popup.

… See full entry

I’m on my mobile phone, and l find it the most useful tool. If l must work on OSM from the laptop, l’d have to do it offline. For that, l’d have to download the josm offline map, after locating the coordinates.

05/08/’26 01:18

On a silver post on the NE corner of Hwy 64 and 285

Life in a multi-million population City can be tough on Introverted minds. For me, mapping in OpenStreetMap is first and foremost an activity to improve publicly accessible geodata around my local and known places, though it has also recently become a way for me to virtually travel to far away places. Exploring remote corners of the earth that are not quite as bustling with activity, where not every square-meter has already been meticulously mapped to the nth degree. Theres even a subreddit for this kind of exploration: /r/GoogleEarthFinds !

Zooming in on a random patch of rainforest, a tiny island in the pacific or one of the thousands of meandering arms off the Amazonas shows a mostly untouched view of nature. Panning around looking for interesting landmarks, it only takes a few minutes to stumble upon a secluded village whose roads are not even connected to the world-wide network, or a lonely farm in the middle of nowhere. These are the places that fascinate me the most. I get lost in imagining what life is like there, who lives there, what untold stories do these places hold? While daydreaming of this, i map the buildings I see, paths and roads, things that can safely be confirmed from aerial imagery. Switching to different imagery providers can show how these places evolved, has the village grown or shrunk? Have Roads been extended or left to be reclaimed by mother nature? A handy website for viewing satellite imagery with different timestamps is https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/wayback

Usually I just zoom into random places and see where it takes me. With the power of Overpass Turbo, one can find places in a slightly organized fashion. Below is a prompt which shows islands that have residential areas on them, within the current view of the map:

[out:json][timeout:25];
(
nwr["place"="island"]({{bbox}});
  );

nwr["landuse"="residential"]({{bbox}});

// print results
out geom;

Or simply highlighting villages in the current map view:

… See full entry

August 2–8

August 2

• Fixed Reynoldsburg borders; borders now up-to-date as of most recent annexation on May 24, 2026.
• Updated Reynoldsburg population; increased to 43,350 according to U.S. Census Bureau.
• Added intermittent stream called Little Jordan Run.
• Modified Jackson Avenue; changed “one way” value to “no” and added note that signage by the Street Department is incorrect. Correct name is Jackson Avenue not Jackson Street.
• Modifed Burkey Avenue; changed “one way” value to “no” and added note that signage by the Street Department is incorrect. Correct name is Burkey Avenue, not Burkey Drive.
• Modified Burkey Court; switches from Burkey Avenue to Burkey Court at the intersection with Southwood Avenue, not in the middle of the road.
• Fixed name of Taylor Park Drive (originally shown as just “Taylor Park”).
• Fixed differentiation between Taylor Road and Taylor Road Southwest.
• Added info to Raider Stadium (Reynoldsburg High School football stadium).
• Removed Smokey Bones brand from building at 2200 Baltimore-Reynoldsburg Road (closed permanently after bankruptcy).
• Added info to Reynoldsburg High School’s Livingston Campus.

August 3

• Fixed name of Taylor Road.
• Added 5 ponds near Lakeland Hills neighborhood.

August 5

• Added name of TS Tech Drive as indicated by street signs in the area.
• Added name to the remaining portion of Wilma Drive.

To-do: Add bus route 42 stops through Highton and Belmont. Will be referring to McHarry’s route map and ensuring match with Transport Victoria resources.

I am currently focusing my mapping work on the Taiping Heritage Zone. Most of the shoplot footprints and major buildings have been completed, and I am now working on detailed micromapping for schools, museums, and government buildings.

Please feel free to contribute by adding any missing information, such as shop or stall names, building levels, address numbers, or other relevant details that I may have missed.

Let’s work together to make Taiping one of the most complete and detailed small-town maps in Malaysia on OpenStreetMap.

As explained in this french diary entry I left a bunch of notes, took a bunch of traces while visiting Mongolia in July. The main reason, was that I was playing with StreetComplete and firing Vespucci would have annoyed my wife adding notes was easier. So I left notes, for later. Today I decided to start editing based on my memory and some of the notes. While editing, I saw a very high number of these in the center of UB.

Many are old, and the imagery is old. Is there a process to clean up notes? Are there people willing to spend time taking these notes and making the edits that for some are probably needed?

Upgraded from the Max to the Max2. Going to publish my settings here so it’s easier for me to find.

Walking

• Same settings as Bicycle Settings below, except set the Interval to 1 or 2 seconds depending on walking speed. 2 if casually walking, 1 if brisk.
• Very important: Use a selfie stick and hold camera at least 6 inches above head to capture better images. The higher the better.

Bicycle, My main method of capturing imagery. Most tested.

• Time Lapse 360 Video
• Resolution 8K
• Interval 0.5 Seconds
• Bit Depth 10-Bit
• EV Comp 0
• ISO Min 100
• ISO Max 800
• Color Natural
• Sharpness Low
• Denoise Low
• Bit Rate Max

Car

Still need to test and figure out the settings. I currently use a dash cam for a car and I don’t have an exterior mount for my GoPro. Dash cam I use is an AZDOME GS63H. Very simple to use and great quality images. And one of the few dash cams that work with Mapillary for less than $100. I got mine on Ebay for about $50.

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, there are over three million lakes in Alaska with a surface area larger than five acres!

Currently, in OpenStreetMap, there are roughly two hundred and forty two thousand elements in Alaska tagged with natural=water, which is a generic tag for an area filled with water.

So, I have decided to embark on mapping natural areas filled with water!

I use the USGS elevation data for alignment, as it seems to have the best alignment to where things actually are on the ground. The USGS imagery is sometimes aligned with the elevation data, but sometimes is not, so the Mapbox and ESRI Clarity imagery is instrumental in areas where it is more accurate to the elevation data.

The National Map Topographic is extremely useful for some lakes, for those where it matches the elevation data well. Often though, it does not match the elevation data.

I posted about this in the OpenStreetMap Slack, and have received help from Watmildon, who has been very kind and extremely helpful! He is helping with the technical aspects of this, and has brought the 3DHP program to my attention, a hydrology program from USGS that is based on elevation data and thus much more accurate than the older NHP data. He is helping to setup a website where one can view the differences between OpenStreetMap, NHP, and the 3DHP, and eventually I hope to be able to overlay the 3DHP data onto an OpenStreetMap editor so I can use it to assist the mapping.

Thanks for reading and happy mapping!

Sources:

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=rivers.main

https://taginfo.geofabrik.de/north-america:us:alaska/search?q=natural%3Dwater

https://www.usgs.gov/3dhp

One day, in a certain neighborhood, there was a heated discussion about naming an unnamed road.

At first, the discussion was about deciding what name they should choose for the road.

But can you guess the final consensus of that discussion?

They preferred not to be mapped.

The status quo was good enough, they said. The road looked like a maze, with little or no clue on how to properly navigate it. They argued that if they named the unnamed road, it would give “outsiders” a clue on how to navigate it, which was “bad” for the internal security of the people who lived there.

This made me think about the ethical grounds of conducting large-scale mapathon campaigns remotely.

We generally work under the assumption that “the more mapped places, the better.” But what if the locals don’t consent to being mapped?

What if they prefer not to be mapped?

Querying OpenStreetMap Data with the Overpass Turbo Wizard

If you’re new to OpenStreetMap (OSM), writing Overpass queries from scratch can seem intimidating. Fortunately, Overpass Turbo provides a built-in Wizard that generates queries automatically based on simple search phrases. This makes it easy to retrieve geographic data without learning the full Overpass Query Language (Overpass QL).

What is the Overpass Turbo Wizard?

The Wizard is a feature in Overpass Turbo that converts plain-language search terms into valid Overpass queries. Instead of manually writing code, you can describe the data you want and let the Wizard generate the query for you.

For example, if you want to find schools in the current map area, you can simply enter:

text amenity=school

The Wizard will create the corresponding Overpass query automatically.

How to Use the Wizard

1. Open Overpass Turbo.
2. Zoom the map to your area of interest.
3. Click Wizard in the toolbar.
4. Enter a search expression such as:

amenity=hospital

or

shop=supermarket

1. Click Build and Run Query.
2. The matching features will appear on the map.

The generated query can also be viewed and edited if needed.

Example

Suppose you want to locate restaurants in the visible map area. Enter:

amenity=restaurant

The Wizard generates an Overpass query and displays all matching restaurants from OpenStreetMap within the current map view.

Exporting the Results

After the query runs successfully, you can export the results for use in GIS software or other applications.

1. Click Export.

2. Choose a format such as:

   • GeoJSON for web mapping and GIS tools.
   • KML for Google Earth.
   • GPX for GPS applications.
   • Raw OSM Data for OpenStreetMap-based workflows.
3. Save the file to your computer.

GeoJSON is the most commonly used format because it works well with tools like QGIS, Leaflet, and Mapbox.

Conclusion

… See full entry

Pola Keyword SEO Spam Judi Online di Indonesia

Hasil pengamatan menunjukkan bahwa changeset SEO spam judi online di OpenStreetMap memiliki pola yang relatif konsisten. Brand umumnya menggunakan akhiran “88”, sedangkan komentar changeset berisi kumpulan kata kunci promosi yang diulang untuk kepentingan optimasi mesin pencari (SEO), bukan untuk mendeskripsikan perubahan data OpenStreetMap.

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Observations indicate that SEO spam changesets related to online gambling in OpenStreetMap follow a relatively consistent pattern. Brand names commonly use the “88” suffix, while changeset comments consist of collections of promotional keywords repeated for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes rather than describing the actual OpenStreetMap data edits.

Keywords are ordered by descending frequency

Very High / Dominant Frequency

–88 (brand suffix)
slot
gacor
judi
casino
terpercaya
terbaik

High Frequency

login
daftar
link alternatif
RTP
maxwin
jackpot
bonus
deposit
withdraw
mahjong
zeus
Pragmatic Play
PG Soft
togel
toto
–77 (suffix)
–99 (suffix)
–138 (suffix)
–168 (suffix)
–188 (suffix)
–303 (suffix)
–777 (suffix)

Moderate Frequency

pola
cashback
free spin
scatter
wild
multiplier
cuan
menang
sabung ayam
SV388
poker
domino
QQ
Habanero
Joker
Spadegaming
Microgaming
Playtech

Unique Study: Trojan Horse Spam

Pada teknik ini, komentar changeset tampak sepenuhnya normal dan tidak mengandung kata kunci yang berkaitan dengan perjudian. Sebaliknya, konten spam disembunyikan di dalam tag objek OSM, sehingga deteksi yang hanya mengandalkan kata kunci pada komentar changeset menjadi kurang efektif.

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In this technique, the changeset comment appears completely legitimate and contains no gambling-related keywords. Instead, the spam is concealed within the OSM object’s tags, making keyword-based changeset detection less effective.

Contoh / Example:

… See full entry

I’ve been mapping out every building I can that is visible from satellite imagery and Bing Streetside throughout Mount Pleasant. I’m currently focused on finishing up the neighborhoods and businesses that are on Chuck Dawley and Coleman Blvd, and I have almost finished filling in that large area made up from those major arteries.

I really wish I could use Charleston County’s GIS viewer for addresses and building shapes (especially for newer buildings, since people keep moving here ):< ), but of course the county puts all of their GIS data under copyright. That would be fine, but I tried contacting the GIS office to see if I could get permission to use their data, specifically their address data, but they never even responded. There are a few other ways that I could “request” address data but I don’t know if those requests would even be useful for mapping purposes. Best thing to do is to go to these neighborhoods myself and mark down any addresses that I couldn’t have gathered from Streetside. I’m not sure how I will do that without looking like a creep stopping at people’s houses and marking their address down. Guess I’ll have to grow a pair and do it anyway!

I do wish Bing Streetside had better image quality. The best images are from 8 years ago, and some houses have been demolished and replaced in that time according to Esri imagery (the most up to date imagery here, probably around only a year off). There are some spots with 2020 imagery but it just looks so awful. Even with the higher quality 2014 imagery you can barely make out small details like addresses at all. It really makes you appreciate what Google Street View provides, but we can’t use that at all. No wonder Bing Streetside completely shut down.

… See full entry

Note that this is an update of a previous diary entry. This version uses updated Overpass software from a fork.

Many people have noticed that publicly available Overpass servers have been suffering from overuse (a typical “tragedy of the commons”). OSM usage policies generally contain the line “OpenStreetMap (OSM) data is free for everyone to use. Our tile servers are not”. Unfortunately, there have been problems with overuse of the public Overpass servers, despite the usage policy. “Just blocking cloud providers” isn’t an option, because (see here - use the translate button below) lots of different sorts of IP addresses, including residential proxy addresses, are the problem.

… See full entry

Hi! For the last few years I’ve been building a service that exports OSM data into formats that live outside the GIS world: CorelDRAW (CDR), AutoCAD (DWG/DXF), SVG for illustrators, STL for 3D printing. It turns out the most grateful audience for OSM data isn’t cartographers at all: it’s signage designers who need a neighbourhood map as curves, civil engineers who need a DWG base plan, laser-engraving makers cutting city maps from DXF.

The main pain I had to solve was keeping LAYERS: roads, buildings and water should arrive in CorelDRAW as separate editable layers, not as one pile of curves. Every export is assembled from the same thematic groups OSM itself thinks in — roads, buildings, water, greenery, land use, POIs — and each group becomes a named layer of the target application: you can hide, recolour or delete it in one move instead of picking objects one by one. Street labels live on their own layer too — a signage designer usually wants them, a laser engraver almost never does.

The second pain is the boundary. A rectangle around a city inevitably drags in pieces of neighbouring areas, and cleaning them up by hand is painful. So exports can be clipped strictly to an administrative boundary: pick a city or district from the catalog (about 2.9 million admin areas across 179 countries) and every layer is trimmed to the outline, with cut polygons properly closed along the border.

The service: https://osm2cdr.com. All data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL — attribution is embedded in every export. I’d love feedback from the community: what’s missing, and what feels un-OSM-ish?