[OSM-talk] Smartphone mapping in Africa

Thu Aug 19 21:06:26 UTC 2021

Perhaps we just need a wiki page with what has found to work.

Something that tells you how to add a business simply using a smartphone.

Cheerio John

On Thu, Aug 19, 2021, 12:00 Rebecca Firth <rebecca.m.firth at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey John,
>
> I think others have mentioned the communications channels for OSM Africa
> are mainly outside of this mailing list (WhatsApp, Telegram), so I guess
> having this discussion in places where OSM Africa engagement is already
> vibrant would be a first start!
>
> In terms of local perspectives on mapping tools & needs, GeOsm is a great
> initiative (homepage: https://geo.sm/ & webinar:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqcWL5b9r9Y). Maybe Willy might be
> reading this and interested to add his thoughts. Also the HOT Tech Team has
> developed this list of problem statements based on user research with OSM
> communities and partners in many countries
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPWpvfBmodbbJMK8hnV4BNBSVLnAuw1FN94NwD4Rm6I/edit
> (caveat: I work for HOT - not specifically promoting this research or HOT,
> just sharing some of the problem statements that have been developed based
> on user research!)
>
> In terms of a map maturity model, I like the concept of a way to
> demonstrate and measure increasing map detail, but disagree with local
> engagement happening at Level 4. Much OSM mapping in Africa is driven by
> local individuals or local communities. I'd suggest we focus on creating
> the enabling conditions for communities to grow and do their own mapping.
> In case you're interested I created this example in the past which shows
> increasing map quality over time:
> https://twitter.com/RebeccaFirthy/status/1202952838722342912 (another
> caveat: this was developed really quickly, and there are huge and glaring
> errors with it, I'm not arguing for it or defending it's content at all -
> it's just an example of a communications tool to show increasing map data)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rebecca
>
> On Thu, Aug 19, 2021 at 3:38 PM john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> So how do we tap the local perspectives?  There should be a few ideas
>> floating around.
>>
>> I get the impression that capability and resources vary enormously.  I
>> note that
>> https://opencitiesproject.org/ is trying to use open data.  Locally
>> having open data with the correct licence has been very useful.
>>
>> Perhaps we need a maturity model along the lines of:
>>
>> Level 0 blank map.
>>
>> Level 1 most towns and major villages are mapped.
>>
>> Level 2 most settlements have names.
>>
>> Level 3 they have connecting highways.
>>
>> Level 4 the locals complain about the quality of mapping.  This is
>> interesting as it shows an interest and some knowledge of mapping.
>>
>> Cheerio John
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 19, 2021, 10:06 Rebecca Firth <rebecca.m.firth at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I just wanted to add some perspective on some of the statements in this
>>> thread
>>>
>>> > There are some smartphones in Africa but often internet access is
>>> expensive and poor.
>>>
>>> The phrase "some smartphones" is somewhat of an underestimation -
>>> organisations like GSMA estimated 477 million mobile internet users in Sub
>>> Saharan Africa alone at the end of 2019 (
>>> https://www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/sub-saharan-africa/). Additionally
>>> many countries have 'leapfrogged' (
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leapfrogging) fixed line & dated
>>> technology solutions, moving directly to much more advanced mobile
>>> solutions. Internet access cost and quality is also hugely variable across
>>> the whole world. Growth in OSM local editing requires local perspective &
>>> with that, acknowledgement of the specific context of a particular place,
>>> rather than generalisations.
>>>
>>> > I don't think the ability to draw in highways is essential but being
>>> able to paste a preset building outline might be nice. If possible it needs
>>> to display the local region and by local I mean say twenty kilometre square.
>>>
>>> I absolutely agree that we need more frictionless ways to contribute to
>>> OpenStreetMap on mobile in order to increase local edits (quantity &
>>> quality). We should focus on listening to the objectives of local
>>> communities before jumping to technology solutions,
>>>
>>> Thanks, and interested in others perspectives on this,
>>>
>>> Rebecca
>>>
>>> On Wed, Aug 18, 2021 at 6:10 PM john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think I hadn't looked at Vespucci for a while but looking at it now
>>>> it looks much improved.  I like the fact you can vary the amount of map you
>>>> download.
>>>>
>>>> Complexity I think is just a matter of documentation.  I ran a session
>>>> with new mappers and JOSM once with the buildings_tool.  I just taught them
>>>> what they needed to be able to add buildings.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks John
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Aug 18, 2021, 12:45 Mateusz Konieczny via talk <
>>>> talk at openstreetmap.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Aug 18, 2021, 17:31 by jwhelan0112 at gmail.com:
>>>>>
>>>>> We can do a fair bit of remote mapping but at the end of the day it
>>>>> works better with local input.
>>>>>
>>>>> There are some smartphones in Africa but often internet access is
>>>>> expensive and poor.
>>>>>
>>>>> What is available?
>>>>>
>>>>> Osmand is not too bad but I note it's power demands are growing on the
>>>>> OSMand mailing list.
>>>>>
>>>>> See https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Editors
>>>>>
>>>>> Android:
>>>>> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vespucci
>>>>> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete
>>>>> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Osm_Go!
>>>>>
>>>>> iOS:
>>>>> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Go_Map!!
>>>>>
>>>>> I think we need some way to make small areas of Africa available in a
>>>>> compressed format that can be unpacked on a smartphone with limited
>>>>> storage.  We need software that is lightweight or can be side loaded to
>>>>> avoid overloading an internet connection and the software needs some basic
>>>>> functionality such as being able to add or edit tags on nodes or ways.  It
>>>>> needs to be able to work offline and we need to get those changes home.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't think the ability to draw in highways is essential but being
>>>>> able to paste a preset building outline might be nice.
>>>>>
>>>>> If possible it needs to display the local region and by local I mean
>>>>> say twenty kilometre square.
>>>>>
>>>>> Local language support would be nice.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thoughts on what is available or what could be built?
>>>>>
>>>>> Vespucci fulfills your requirements from what I see.
>>>>> Not sure about OSM Go!
>>>>>
>>>>> StreetComplete has offline capability but not via file unpacked on a
>>>>> smartphone.
>>>>>
>>>>> Both Vespucci and StreetComplete have limitations - in short with
>>>>> Vespuuci
>>>>> people complain about too complex interface, with StreetComplete it
>>>>> is extremely limiting (detail can be added to existing objects, no
>>>>> mapping
>>>>> of new objects).
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> talk mailing list
>>>>> talk at openstreetmap.org
>>>>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> talk mailing list
>>>> talk at openstreetmap.org
>>>> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
>>>>
>>>
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