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pietervdvn

611 karma · joined October 25, 2020

Involved with OpenStreetMap, creator of https://mapcomplete.org

Find me on mastodon: https://en.osm.town/@pietervdvn

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pietervdvn··on Updated Google Maps shows destruction of the city of Rafah
This wasn't done with strikes, but with (remote controlled) bulldozers. https://idfclub.org/remote-controlled-warfare-how-israels-ro...
pietervdvn··on How much of F-Droid is LLM generated?
Perhaps cause OP used "recently updated" apps? Vibecoded apps tend to have a higher update speed, thus skewing those results?
pietervdvn··on Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap
Be very careful with "automated edits". We have a bit of a collective trauma and doing it completely right takes a ton of work. See https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Import/Guidelines
pietervdvn··on Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap
Perhaps we should start working together and start reusing the questions from mapcomplete into cartes.app
pietervdvn··on Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap
I made this: mapcomplete.org/shops
pietervdvn··on Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap
I make https://mapcomplete.org which also serves as easy-to-use data consumer and editor. I sidestep most of the complexity by having a lot of thematic maps, each focussing on just a single topic (e.g. mapcomplete.org/shops, https://mapcomplete.org/toilets, ...)
pietervdvn··on How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads
Or you can use https://mapcomplete.org/charging_stations.html to add charging stations as well; data goes to OpenStreetMap too. Disclaimer: I make this
pietervdvn··on U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective
They host blogs and email used by many activists.
pietervdvn··on CoMaps: The Offline App That Guided Rescuers Without a Signal in Venezuela
OpenStreetMap is a great ecosystem - I'm a long term contributor.

Some pointers:

- CoMaps is a fork of Organic Maps, which forked long time ago from Maps.me - OsmAnd is similar. It has more features but is slower and clunkier - If you see errors/missing stuff on OpenStreetMap, fix them. You need a free account for this. There are various tools to help out, such as the editor on Osm.org. Beginner-friendly editors are https://MapComplete.org (which has thematic maps; disclaimer: I'm the main dev) and https://streetcomplete.app

pietervdvn··on Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap
I try to create such a thing with https://mapcomplete.org ; StreetComplete.app is also beginner friendly (but a different approach)

Yes, you'll always need a user account

pietervdvn··on Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap
First of all, I assume you are from the Netherlands (based on the .nl)

The Dutch OSM-community indeed is very conservative, a bit too much IMHO. We Belgians are more relaxed :)

Such a dataset would still be useful, but perhaps in a quality assurance tool, not as map notes that would clog the map. Can you link more information?

pietervdvn··on Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap
Because you need to pay "Little Free Library Corp." to become an official LFL and to get onto that map: https://littlefreelibrary.org/stewards/registration/

Getting an official "charter sign" will cost you 50 bucks.

pietervdvn··on Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap
How would you feel about integrating https://mapcomplete.org/bookcases.html? (which I make) as means of contribution?

This one sends data straight to OSM. I don't have my own database to "moderate", pictures are saved into a Panoramax-instance.

As users authenticate by logging in with OSM, the boring, risky legal stuff is handled by OpenStreetMap. Uploading images has a small print that says that their images will be reshared under CC-BY-SA.

The part where I suck is in creating a nice, polished website with extra pages, SEO, ...

pietervdvn··on Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap
Such as what I make: https://mapcomplete.org/bookcases.html?
pietervdvn··on Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap does not and cannot offer permanent IDs. An entity might be mapped in more detail, resulting in something being split in two parts, or change from node to way, with wildly different IDs.

At the same time, a point might be repurposed as something else entirely.

pietervdvn··on Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap
What makes a stream navigable and what hinders it? Is it water depth? Is it width? Can those be mapped? Are there edge cases that some people might be able to navigate those waters and others not? Or during certain times?

If you work this out, you'll get there

pietervdvn··on Book Corners: Community map of neighborhood book exchange spots
You can also contribute to OpenStreetMap instead - they have bookcases too
pietervdvn··on Book Corners: Community map of neighborhood book exchange spots
I think they have their own database. TBH, we'd better all contribute to OpenStreetMap, it's why I made https://mapcomplete.org/bookcases.html?
pietervdvn··on Book Corners: Community map of neighborhood book exchange spots
And they have a restrictive license. Not gonna happen
pietervdvn··on Goodbye, and Thanks for All the Bikesheds
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypt_(C)#MD5-based_scheme
pietervdvn··on EU Commission: addictive design Instagram and Facebook in breach of the DSA
I'd say: the fediverse. Everyone can "broadcast" and discuss freely without having a central power that can censor or subtly manipulate the broader discussion.
pietervdvn··on StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time
Hi! <3
pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
Don't download all the tiles, that is useless.

Look into protomaps instead. One ~100GB archive for the entire world

pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
This is correct. Tools might however display them slightly different, have different update schedules or make different cartographic choices (e.g. not showing node networks or something)
pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
This is all OSM-based. OSM is one big pile of data - we don't do layers.

It is also best to add it directly into OSM, importing data afterwards is tricky.

My talk at Why25 should be a good intro (https://media.ccc.de/v/why2025-198-openstreetmap-for-beginne...), but the OSM-wiki also contains some valuable sources: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tags , https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Map_features

There are also various libraries to show OSM as background map on a website and allow you to draw features on top. Those support various formats (GPX, GeoJSON, ...) Leaflet and MapLibre are the biggest here, with leaflet being the easiest and MapLibre being very flexible and performant

pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
The big difference is visibility and scale.

Sure, a 'description' or 'name' tag can contain something inappropriate (like a slur of defamation). If it has high impact, it'll be reverted quickly. If it has little impact, not a big deal. Many tools don't even show the 'description' tag

Pictures are a whole other level. You need to blur faces and license plates. What if someones house is photographed? How to detect inappropriate images? Should one study the laws of all countries? Even the freedom of panorama contains many differences between European countries, let alone privacy rights, ...

pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
The OSM foundation strictly keeps it with 'map data'. There are however many other, small projects that fill in the gap; for example 'Panoramax' for streetview imagery or lib.reviews for reviews. I've made a webapp that ties those services together (https://mapcomplete.org)

Keep in mind that Google Maps has a >1 billion yearly budget (citation needed, but other global maps have similar budgets)

pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
Not involved in OM or CoMaps at all; but involved in OpenStreetMap.

> What do you mean, leaked? Isn't this a FOSS project?

The client-app (CoMaps/Organic Maps) indeed is fully FLOSS. It uses OSM data, but that data is packaged into a specific and optimized format. The code _generating_ this optimized data (and serving it to the clients) was kept proprietary.

pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
You can use a different, webbased one: https://mapcomplete.org
pietervdvn··on CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps
If you want to do more advanced accessibility mapping, also have a look at https://mapcomplete.org/onwheels - same concept, but different implementation. Also OpenStreetMap based, so data you add there is shared amongst CoMaps, StreetComplete, ...

Disclaimer: I make this

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