Category: OSM
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Beyond Mapping with the OSM Activity Calendar
In 2010, I started “How did you contribute to OpenStreetMap?” (HDYC) as a fun side project. Even after more than 15 years, it is still great to see that this website is being used by so many people from the OSM community and even in academic research. Some features were implemented based on community feedback.…
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From Planet File to Vector Tiles: Benchmarking My OpenStreetMap Processing Pipeline
TL;DR: I benchmarked my OpenStreetMap processing pipeline (Osmosis → Osmium → Tilemaker) across four machines. Updating the planet takes ~16–21 minutes, while generating worldwide vector tiles (z14) takes between 1h45 and 6h18 depending on hardware and parameters. With tuned Tilemaker parameters and sufficient RAM I was able to reduce tile generation to ~1h45. The Full…
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Who and Where? Analyzing the New Company and Location Fields in OpenStreetMap Profiles
In May 2025, the OpenStreetMap (OSM) website introduced two optional fields in public user profiles: company and location (see Github). Both fields accept unstructured free text and are not validated in any way. Since these fields are publicly visible, I wondered whether they could be useful for my “How Did You Contribute to OpenStreetMap?” (HDYC)…