[Osmf-talk] Funding of three infrastructure projects : Nominatim, osm2pgsql, Potlatch 2

[Lukasz Kruk]

Hello All,

Thank you Guillaume for the message, thank you to the OSMF and the Board
for considering funding useful initiatives, but most of all thank you in
advance to all the people who would end up doing the work.

I am not sure if this is the right place to make this comment, but from the
perspective of a user of osm.org, I think an extremely valuable upgrade to
Nominatim would be to make the engine more "forgiving." Searching for
placenames in Latin script usually requires that the query is typed
perfectly (though not always, I'm not sure what rules govern this: "Londn"
does find the capital of the UK, but "Warszaw" does not find the capital of
Poland...?), which is only a little inconvenient when compared to the
second-best online map. It is however more problematic when working in
places where spellings are inconsistent, using other scripts, Latin
transliterations, and so on. Given that the stated objective is to 'make
software more user-friendly' I was wondering if there was any chance for
development to improve this? I think this ticket
https://github.com/osm-search/Nominatim/issues/759 points to the issue I'm
talking about.

Thanks again to all, and sorry if that's not relevant,
Lukasz


On Sat, 1 Aug 2020 at 02:30, Guillaume Rischard <openstreetmap at stereo.lu>
wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> The OSMF Board wants to facilitate and support improving infrastructure.
> During the Microgrants process, there were proposals that didn’t make it,
> but would together be a good pilot for a “OSM infrastructure” process, to
> learn how supporting osm infrastructure projects works well.
>
> The OSMF Board wants to fund a limited number of projects proposed by
> trusted long-term volunteers whose work we know and enjoy. We have selected
> the osm2pgsql and Potlatch microgrant proposals, and have a new proposal
> from Nominatim.
>
> In the long term, we want to re-activate the Engineering Working Group
> (EWG) by making it a place for decision making, project guidance and budget
> management for such projects.
>
> The Board would like your feedback on these three specific infrastructure
> projects:
> Nominatim
>
> Nominatim is the geocoding software that powers openstreetmap.org and
> many other apps and websites. Sarah wants to work on:
> <http://openstreetmap.org/>
>
>    -
>
>    finishing the localization efforts (improve address computation for
>    different countries, localized address output)
>    -
>
>    making the software more user-friendly (reduce the number of
>    programming languages by at least two, move side-projects into separate
>    repos, reorganise the code so that Nominatim can become an Ubuntu package,
>    docs, docs, docs)
>
> The full proposal is at https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Nominatim_project_2020-07
>
> Potlatch 2
>
> Potlatch 2 used to be the default editor before iD took the relay. While
> usage is declining, it’s still used by 2500 (1.4%) users who did 10
> million (1.2%) changes in 2020.
> <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Editor_usage_stats>
>
> Potlatch is built in Flash, which browsers will retire by the end of the
> year. Richard wants to adapt Potlatch 2 to the AIR platform so users who
> still rely on it can continue to use it.
>
> The full proposal is at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Microgrants/Microgrants_2020/Proposal/Potlatch_2_for_desktop
>
> osm2pgsql
>
> osm2pgsql loads OpenStreetMap data into databases suitable for
> applications like rendering into maps, geocoding with Nominatim, or general
> analysis. It is used on openstreetmap.org and in many other places.
> <http://openstreetmap.org/>
>
> While there has been constant paid and volunteer work on osm2pgsql, large
> scale architecture changes to pay off historical technical debt are needed
> to tackle long term challenges, and make future changes easier.
>
> Jochen wants to work on:
>
>    -
>
>    Hosting documentation on osm2pgsql.org
>    -
>
>    Rethinking the output of the program to make it more concise and
>    useful
>    -
>
>    Tackling the refactoring and cleanup of the “middle” code.
>    -
>
>    Ongoing maintenance as needed
>    -
>
>    Other work from the road map as time permits
>
> The original budget and scope were limited by the microgrant framework.
> The current project goes beyond that, and addresses open issues and
> potential improvements further and better.
>
> The proposal is at
> https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Osm2pgsql_project_2020-07
>
>
>
> Thank you and happy mapping
>
> Guillaume, for the OSMF board
> _______________________________________________
> osmf-talk mailing list
> osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk
>


-- 
pozdrawiam - kind regards - cumprimentos - mfg
Łukasz Kruk
http://lukaszkruk.com
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