It is both weird and cool to see the map of my community change in apps I use regularly. Before I started actively updating things in OSM I didn’t recognize all the places OSM is used.

Last November, I [Re]Introduced Ultra v3 which introduced a bunch of new features. Today, I’m happy to share what’s changed in Ultra over the past year.

Since my last update, I’ve implemented the following features in Ultra:

• Many new styling features enabled by continued MapLibre updates
• Sprite support updates
• A new Overpass/OSM XML&JSON-to-GeoJSON conversion library
• More basemap styles & style previews
• More export options
• Transforms
• More providers
• An “Open with Ultra” bookmarklet

🌍 MapLibre updates

In January of 2025, Ultra updated to the freshly released MapLibre v5, introducing globe support! View Example

Since then, further MapLibre changes have enabled a host of new styling features including:

• color-relief styling from raster DEM sources
• Data-driven line-dasharray support
• Improved font support
• New hillshade methods

📍 Sprites

I’ve added two sprite-related features to facilitate map styling:

SVG Support

… See full entry

As a principle, I’ve always tried to use open-source software over proprietary software for any of my digital needs. I’ve personally found open source to be both more accurate and more sensible to use than proprietary alternatives.

One of the very few aspects of my life that had still not adopted open source was maps. I always used both Waze and Google Maps for everything. But whenever I looked at the maps, it felt like something was missing. I looked around, checked the environment, and realized how much of my surroundings simply wasn’t reflected on the screen.

I wanted to fix it, but… Google Maps doesn’t allow you to just add things. And while Waze does have an editor, it’s extremely locked down for the average user. So, I looked up online alternatives.

I discovered OpenStreetMap two months ago, and I found myself in awe of the sheer amount of detail… Far more than Google Maps or Waze could offer. It just so happened that I was on a trip to Barcelona, and I was using CoMaps to navigate. Using CoMaps proved extremely reliable, especially for public transportation. I never missed a metro, I found all my destinations quickly, and it was very easy to get around.

Still riding the Barcelona high, I opened CoMaps back at home and was fairly shocked to see that my neighborhood didn’t exist at all… Where the heck is it?!

So, I got on my computer, logged into OpenStreetMap for the first time, and started using the iD editor. In just a few hours, the rough outline of my neighborhood was there.

Soon enough, I found myself mapping for hours. Even during lectures, I’d have an OSM tab open for casual mapping. Then it escalated. I started bringing my laptop everywhere I traveled to map things on the go. I began using StreetComplete to add missing metadata. I took pictures and videos. Then I started recording GPS traces. And now I’m even considering setting up a full LiDAR mapping mount for my car…

… See full entry

OSMWrapped is a fun tool that visualizes your personal OpenStreetMap (OSM) mapping statistics — including edits made, countries mapped, and active mapping days.

Today I’m celebrating one full year of mapping every single day! 🎉🥳

Grateful for the OSM community and the joy of contributing, one edit at a time.

Cheers!

93/93

So, as it turns out, Mapmas is best-effort. ;)

I came down with something Thursday night, and I’m just now starting to feel sufficiently decent. I housed 3/8 of a pizza last night, which means my appetite is back. I mostly took it easy, but I did have a little energy to start tracing out a lot of Mechanicsburg, Virginia, United States, which was posted a few days ago on the Unmapped Small Town USA Mastodon account.

Appalachia is beautiful: rolling mountains, verdant woods, small houses and farms dotting the countryside. I’ve had the privilege of traveling through Virginia and West Virginia in the past, and it’s even more gorgeous in person. Lush tree coverage, though, does make it a little challenging to trace buildings when imagery is from spring/summer, so that was tough at times. I’ve noticed the houses in the region are also more likely to have tight corners, or a roof line that turns and then juts out a half meter or so, which can look like slight distortion on imagery, but is actually part of the geometry. I took some liberties, but I did my best!

I also struggled with finding independent sources for things like street names. It looks like Virginia state highways use the same numbers across the state, but are disjoint, and correspond to different local roads in different areas. So State Route 653 in Bland County, for example, is Osborne Drive in Mechanicsburg. This particular fact shows up in a VDOT report from 2017, I think (I’d need to source it again), which I believe is okay to use? I’m not entirely sure, though, so I left it for now. Copyright law is obnoxious.

Anyway, it’s nice to be able to sit and map from home when you can’t go outside. It was fun to spend some time in Mechanicsburg and get to know the area a bit.

Onward and mapward!

One OSM-related activity I spend lots of time on is micromapping recreational areas, such as parks. Manually detailing out areas is satisfying, but I’ve also been on the lookout for ways to put my programming skills to use.

A common pattern I noticed in these areas is representing a block of pitches or courts (such as tennis courts) as a single, abnormally large “tennis court”.

It’s a start, but obviously could use some refining. Each individual court could be represented by a separate area. While this probably needs no justifications, I’ll provide a few since I’d like to convince myself I’m working on improvements that might mean something to someone, rather than just creating data because it gives me dopamine:

• Independent courts allow for better querying: we can ask questions like “how many tennis courts are in my city?” and get an accurate answer.
• Some renderers (like openstreetmap.fr) render various courts with appropriate marking lines, allowing quick identification.

… See full entry

(Writing a short stub in case i forget it again)

Estonian mappers may have already noticed how this year Land Board’s imagery is still missing. Previously new orthophotos were captured in March-April, preliminary release was in May-June and TMS layers were available in OSM editors by around September, then this year there are no images.

Turns out on 31st of March 2025 someone filed a complaint to Chancellor of Justice, that their garden hose can be identified on the imagery. On 27th of November chancellor’s response was published and public broadcaster published few small news:

• EST: https://www.err.ee/1609869541/oiguskantsler-palub-kaaluda-kaardirakenduste-eraelulist-detailsust
• EST: https://www.err.ee/1609870686/maa-ja-ruumiamet-plaanib-geoportaali-andmeid-uldisemaks-muuta
• ENG: https://news.err.ee/1609869930/land-and-spatial-board-to-make-publicly-available-map-data-less-detailed
• Original source documents:
  • EST PDF: https://www.oiguskantsler.ee/sites/default/files/2025-11/Orto-%20ja%20kaldaerofotode%20avalikustamine.pdf
  • Sample images: https://adr.rik.ee/okk/dokument/18175002 (asice is basically zip file, you’d need digidoc4 to open it).
    • Mirror at Land Board’s registry: https://adr.envir.ee/et/document.html?id=8c7c0dd4-17c5-463b-a00c-57c6019ea8d8
  • Original complaint (restricted access): https://adr.rik.ee/okk/dokument/16914665
  • § 26 of constitution which according to chancellor prohibits aerial images: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/ee/521052015001/consolide/current#para26

Why this matters to OSM?

At least 90% of OSM’s data originates from Land Board’s imagery, either through imports or via usual imagery tracing. Esri and Bing are also using using Land Board’s data for Estonia.

… See full entry

Today, i wear a T-shirt printed with Medan’s road network, based on OpenStreetMap data.

Every time i glanced down at those tangled lines, a quiet curiosity crept in. I kept wondering who mapped this exact line segment I’m looking at right now, which contributor traced it, corrected it, or patiently aligned it to reality. It’s a strange and comforting thought, carrying a small piece of someone else’s mapping work on fabric, a reminder that this map is made of countless individual moments of care.

Irpavi 2 South Route

The city of La Paz, Bolivia, has the Puma Katari public transportation service, which covers the 9 macro districts and is currently deployed through 10 routes. Since its launch, this service has been a great promise, offering benefits such as preferential treatment for people with disabilities, children and the elderly, in addition to allowing the transport of bicycles in the front compartments of the buses, thus encouraging the use of this means of transportation. ecological. We are often traveling to different places in the city to carry out our field work. We know that some visitors or even people who know about this transportation service face difficulties because they do not know which route to take or where the stops are, especially when trying to reach peripheral areas.

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Over the past year, I made a lot of contributions to Regina’s OSM. Since snow has made surveying difficult, I felt a retrospective on those contributions were a good idea. Many edits came through the StreetComplete app, though more intensive projects have called for desktop editing. Creating a separate network for sidewalks and starting to make indoor maps for a couple buildings are the items I’m most excited about. The changes made to the Regina Wiki page on OSM were pretty large but hopefully will give a good overview of where active mapping projects are at. Creating a wiki page for Regina Transit will hopefully help to make updates to it easier to coordinate.

You can read more on my blog post here: https://www.malleyeno.com/Blog/Winter-Retrospective-2025—OpenStreetMap-for-Regina

In the ancient days, OSM was much simpler. You had the streets and roads. A crossing was considered a barrier along the way for road users (i.e. cars), so one would place a node with highway=crossing where the crosswalk is located. The routeplanner would apply a time penalty, the rendering engine shows a little icon, and done.

With an extra attribute (namely crossing_ref) a more precise type and the type of markings was indicated.

Then, someone figured out they could also shove in information about the traffic signals. This kind of works for simple crossings, but breaks down for bigger intersections. crossing=unmarked, crossing=uncontrolled and crossing=controlled were added. And crossing=zebra, cause zebra crossings are so common. And crossing=marked, which was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike ~~tea~~ crossing=uncontrolled.

In the mean time, people started mapping cycleways and sidewalks/footways separately, giving rise to a second way of tagging crossings: along the way; as highway=footway with footway=crossing.

Some ported over the traffic signal metadata over on the way, as they were used to doing on a node. Others starting mapping the traffic lights separately, often as barrier at the precise location where the pedestrian/cyclist/car driver has to wait.

This gives the potential of having the traffic light metadata on three separate locations:

1) Once on the point where the road and the footway meet 2) Once on the footway, marked with crossing 3) Once on the traffic light node on the footway

In other words, the current tagging is a clusterfuck.

Why do I care?

… See full entry

Place: Nor Yungas, Yolosa, Bolivia – Senda Verde Animal Shelter

Senda Verde is a refuge dedicated to the rehabilitation and protection of wildlife in the Amazon rainforest of Bolivia. Unlike a conventional tourist destination, its main mission is to provide care and rehabilitation to rescued animals, many of which have been victims of illegal wildlife trafficking, mistreatment in captivity, or have been affected by the burning of their habitats. Although it welcomes visitors to support its operations, educate, and raise awareness about conservation, Senda Verde primarily focuses on animal welfare and promoting responsible wildlife practices.

Illegal wildlife trafficking consists of the illicit commercialization of wild species that are stolen from their natural habitats. In Bolivia, alarming cases of illegal wildlife trafficking have begun to occupy a prominent place on the media agenda.

Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary is a charity dedicated to improving the lives of rescued native Bolivian wildlife by providing medical care, food, and housing. Their mission is to save and protect rescued wild animals from cruelty and suffering, as well as to inspire people to care for wildlife.

… See full entry

Last night, I added Arbela, MO, and some geometry in the immediate vicinity. It’s the next village west of Granger, MO.

Today, I did a quick walk for a GPS trace, and then I came home and added some more geometry around Arbela. Unfortunately, I managed to get JOSM into a bad state before uploading, and I decided to start this evening’s changes over again. Alas. It’s almost bedtime, but I was able to redo the buildings and the driveways I’d done before. The water will have to wait until tomorrow.

Merry Mapmas!

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We haven’t had a London pub meet-up in a while. I probably could’ve organised something, but got waylaid by Dundee, and preparing a talk for Dundee, and recovering from all the excitement of Dundee. But of course we need to squeeze a pub meet-up before Christmas…

The Xmas OSMLondon pub meet-up is TONIGHT!

Dundee? I mean State Of The Map EU in Dundee of course. Great fun was had by me.

Here’s me at the kick off session, not quite managing to do my usual mega-cheerful grin, because I had to get up a bit too early off the sleeper train. More of a normal smile. And I’ve slapped some photos on instagram.

• Day 1 fun
• Day 1 sessions
• Day 2 fun
• Day 2 sessions

Instagram isn’t a proper way to do these things, but they’re not really proper photos. Just my crappy snaps. The official photographer shots will appear somewhere better I hope. Maybe the wikimedia commons category. OK I’ll photobomb that with one of mine :-)

Update: The official photos are appearing on the offical website

… See full entry

I’m kicking myself for not celebrating Mapmas, since I apparently signed up on December 1st. :) Alas.

Well, I’m retconning it, so Merry Mapmas 2025! I know, the staunch Anglicans in the crowd would (rightfully) say: “But shouldn’t it be Mapvent?” And they would be right! But I’ve already typed the title and these two paragraphs, so on we go!

Remote work

I added Granger, MO last night and this morning. It’s the next village to the west after Luray, MO, which the delightful UnmappedSmallTownUSA bot posted the other day. Someone had already done Luray, but there are several municipalities nearby that are unmapped, and Granger was the first one I saw.

This was my first time adding an entire place, and from imagery, too. Some of the buildings were skewed, so I had to trace roof outlines and then position them correctly to correspond to where they ought to actually be. Granger is also quite wooded, and there were areas where I wasn’t sure if it should count as natural=wood or not. I used my best judgement there.

There might be one or two structures or ponds outside of the official Granger boundary that I’ve missed, so I’m going to check on that tonight or tomorrow. Then, I’ll map Arbela, another village directly west of Granger.

I’ve really enjoyed getting out in the sun and mapping stuff in my own community, but it was nice and zen to hang out with a friend late last night and trace buildings and ponds in Granger.

In-office

I took a couple GPS traces today. Old Towne Orange in particular is missing most of its sidewalks, it seems. Once I convince myself that I’m not going to misplace a bunch of them, I plan to add them in, with appropriate crossings and such. While still doing doorbells. And I should add some more fire hydrants soon… There really aren’t enough hours in the day heh. If only I could get paid to wander around town all day mapping things. That might actually be the dream.

Merry Mapmas!

Bell Island, Newfoundland has now been practically fully mapped. There were some features that I was not able to fully map since it would have required local knowledge, however I’m happy with the extent of what was able to be mapped based off of satellite imagery alone.

With some reflection I think the scope of this project was quite large but still manageable since I didn’t put any strict timelines on myself. In the future I’ll likely choose slightly smaller scale projects where the whole thing can be wrapped up within a couple of months. In the interim I’ll probably map some of the smaller islets around Conception Bay.

Recently, I started adding a large number of roof:colour tags to buildings that had previously lacked this information. I started in Colorado Springs for no particular reason, but I plan to expand this activity further. For reasons I will explain later, starting and then continuing with American suburbia is easier than mapping other regions, but in theory, my approach would work world wide. For this mapping activity, I developed my own processes along with some little software helpers, that people on the OSM World Discord were interested in when I mentioned them. So without further ado, here is everything you need to know about my roof colour related activities.

Motivation

So why am I doing this to myself? The most honest answer would probably be “more data, more better”, which is mostly why I do any of the things I do on OSM, but there are two more concrete possible applications for the data I add: Art and science.

… See full entry

Today is the first day of the AFRIGIST Alumni OSM TRAINING program. I serve as the assistance surveyor of the Redeemed Christiane Church of God

The AFRIGIST Alumni International Network Online Training Workshop on “OpenStreetMap: From Global Action to Local Impact – Leveraging Open Map Data for the SDGs” was successfully delivered, with over 30 participants and trainees joining from different AFRIGIST alumni beneficiary countries across Africa. It was a 2-days workshop held on 15th and 16th December,2025.

The training was facilitated by Dr. Victor Ndubuisi Sunday, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Geography & Environmental Management, University of Port Harcourt, and National Coordinator, Unique Mappers Network, who served as the Resource Person for the programme.

🔹 Training Highlights

Day 1 focused on core concepts and foundational skills, introducing participants to OpenStreetMap (OSM) as a global, open, community-driven geospatial platform and its relevance to local development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Sessions covered OSM account creation, OSM Diary use, hands-on mapping with the iD Editor (roads, buildings, POIs), the Map My Village / Map My Community campaign, the HOT Tasking Manager, and best practices in data quality and validation.

Day 2 emphasized advanced and applied workflows, exposing participants to:

Downloading OSM data using Geofabrik and QuickOSM

Loading and managing OSM layers in QGIS

Map visualization and styling

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