Thanks for your diary entry; it sounds like you’re progressing well.

To help the mapping of Moldova, have you considered using MapRoulette https://maproulette.org/ and StreetComplete (Android app)?

Thanks,

Chris chris_debian

Hi, Fizzie.

Thanks for commenting, and apologies for my delay in replying…..work…

Q. Nice idea, but what do you call “quality”?

A. This was what my first question was meant to ponder: How do we gather metrics, to assess the quality of mapping in a given country, so that quality can be improved?

I agree with your points about out of date imagery, and that local knowledge is superior to ‘well intentioned’ foreigners. Conversely, these foreigners often help locals get on to the next rung of the ladder. Obviously, a plethora of exceptions exist. I agree that engaging the locals should be a high priority; the reason it wasn’t number 1 was that it’s probably best to establish what to talk about, before engaging, even if just initial thoughts.

For clarity, my idea of League Tables, wasn’t aimed at African countries, it was aimed at all countries, where map usefulness is welcomed/ encouraged. I’m certainly not ascerting that African countries are ‘backward’ with mapping, it just seemed sensible to try to measure things, so we can work out how to improve them.

Again, thanks for responding, Fizzie.

Chris.

I agree, Vincent.

Chris

Hi, Xvtn.

That’s an interesting idea. At the moment, it looks like accelerometer data would be more easily captured, than LIDAR.

Looking at the two existing options I can see, SmartRoadSense looks like it is open source, but the EU/ University programme seems to have been funded for 3 years, and now looks like it is abandoned. I installed the Android app on my Pixel 6, and gathered data, but I can’t upload it. I’m guessing the target server is no longer accepting uploads. Bit of a shame, as the app has potential.

Roadroid seems to be closed source. The app is available in the Play store, can capture pictures or video, with the option to forward these to Mapillary (Facebook). For some reason, the user needs to submit the devices IMEI number, in order to contribute. This seems to be a failing, and could get confusing, when moving to a new device. I have privacy/ GDPR concerns, too. I’ve contributed a LOT of imagery to Mapillary (pre- Facebook acquisition) and Kartaview and my IMEI was never needed. It’s a shame this app is closed source, as I suspect it could be slightly enhanced to make a good tool for anyone who wanted to gather data to improve our knowledge of roads/ surfaces.

The main requirement for Roadroid, would be to add a map, so the driver can choose to drive along routes that need data. This functionality could easily be forked from Kartaview (was OpenStreetCam). It looks like Lars from Roadroid has done some good technical work.

@Lars Don’t forget that you are allowed to make money from open source software, you just need to share the code.

Chris

Thank you, Tobias.

You’re work has been exceptional, and has made OSM map contributions much more accessible, which has increased the ‘currency’ of the map data.

Looking forward to seeing you in the community, in the future.

Cheers,

Chris, chris_debian 2E0FRU