[OSM-dev] GSoC 2017

[Paul Norman]

On 2/1/2017 10:34 PM, Ronak Jain wrote:
> After going through the list of possible idea's for this summer, I 
> would like to consider
> Full cgimap write support
> Full cgimap read-only support
> I have chosen these as I have good experience with the languages being 
> used in the project also I have worked with Postgres earlier. I will 
> choose the idea after speaking with the mentor and deciding what could 
> be additionally added to the project.
>
> I would like to know,
> how can I get started with the project?

I would start by reading 
http://www.asklater.com/matt/blog/2015/11/18/the-road-to-api-07/. This 
places the GSoC work in the context of the problems and other work needed.

Then, as you've mentioned, map a bit. All the editors interact with the 
API. I would start with iD, the default web-based editor, but then try 
JOSM, which is a java-based desktop editor. It is much easier to 
investigate the API calls with JOSM.

After mapping normally a bit, look over 
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/API_v0.6, in particular the Elements 
part (2.4) and Changesets (2.2). Then start JOSM from the command line 
so that there's a java console and map some more, looking at the API 
calls JOSM makes, and how they related to what you're doing.

> are there any bite-sized project or bugs that could be fixed?

https://github.com/zerebubuth/openstreetmap-cgimap is the repository for 
cgimap, and it's issue tracker is on GitHub. #90 and #84 seem like easy 
ones where most of the work will be getting familiar with the project.

https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website is the other 
project to be familiar with (It's called "The Rails Port"). It powers 
the website, and for various reasons, all the API calls cgimap does are 
also implemented in it. cgimap-ruby aims to end this duplication.

> what are the steps I could take to increase my acceptance rate?

Asking in advance is good, as many students don't ;)

Working on a plan would be good. I recommend giving some consideration to

- Which API calls you will work on
- How you will test the cgimap part
- How you will test that cgimap and the rails port have the same behavior

None of these need to be complete, but having given some thought to what 
to do puts you well ahead of most potential students.