Next week, we will be mapping the road network of the historic province of Cavite. You can check out the Planning page on the OpenStreetMap wiki, this pic on Flickr that shows roads that need to be mapped/verified and the Facebook event page.
By the way, you can join us since it will happen on a long weekend.
You added the local names of nearby streets, added buildings and various points of interest, got busted for trespassing or attempting robbery (for mapping a “secret path” or a bunch of housenumbers, and stayed in the hospital for a while because you got mauled by stray cats or jejemons. Or got hit by a car while tracing a path that locals know. And after months of walking, driving, tracking and running, you decided that there is nothing to map. But is there something that you missed out?
Sure, you already added shops, streets and even your previous girlfriend’s house on the map but that shouldn’t stop you from mapping more areas. But they are too far or someone in authority won’t let you. So, what are you going to do?
From my two years of experience, I have realized that the typical OSMer needs to have some sort of obsessive-compulsive tendency for him not to lose interest. He or she must look for tags in the OpenStreetMap Wiki and check if that person used it while editing in Potlatch, JOSM, Merkaartor or Mapzen. If you realize that your city is the only city that doesn’t have maxspeed, lit or postal_code tags, then you should go outside, check out the area and take down notes, then make edits. He or she should look out for new shops and construction sites, places that have closed down, new roads, barricaded roads, and all that. A planned month-long road closure? Put it on the map. A place that burned down and collapsed? “landuse=brownfield” and “description=place was gutted by fire last June 23”. Found a quaint place were you can plant root crops, vegetables and herbs? Go ahead, no one’s stopping you. Fire hydrants? The Germans are doing it and you gotta keep up with them. Street names in Na’vi? If you really know the language, then go. Otherwise, concentrate on roads that are lit at night, speed limits, fire hydrants and the occasional paths.
So, there. You have some reasons why you need to stick around – to keep the map fresh, detailed and more comprehensive than those maps. Oh, and get yourself some anti-rabies shots and enroll in self-defense classes – not for your sake, but for the rest of them map fiends.
The 25 Cities Pilipinas concept is based from the 250 US Cities concept, which is the source of a similar project called Brasil 250 Cidades [Brazil 250 Cities (in Portuguese)]. And yes, this is another way to improve OpenStreetMap data (and “routability”) in the Philippines, since navigation devices are going to be as popular as mobile phone in the foreseeable future, which means that 2012 won’t happen.
It’s simple. Find a list of cities in the Philippines, get the 25 most populous, don’t forget the reference points for each city (Kilometer Zero for Manila, the Quezon memorial Circle for QC, the intersection of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in Makati, etc.) and see if they’re “connected” to each other.
Here are the top 25 most populous Philippine Cities (according to the ever-reliable information bodega):
Note: following format below is Name of City [Name of Province] (Starting point)
Eventually, this project will cover 50, then 75, then 100, then most, if not all cities of the Philippines.
Why 25 cities? First, have you ever heard of the “Snowball Effect“? (Clue: start small, then get big.)
Any why are you that ambitious? Because I have the audacity.
First, let’s try Cebu (Fuente Osmeña) to Davao (intersection of Bolton and San Pedro streets). (Since CloudMade’s routing machine doesn’t “pass over” ferry routes, I’ll use YourNavigation.) Result: Routing was a bit “stuttered” (see here) How about Cebu (same reference point) to the Samar end of San Juanico Bridge? It should have passed through Ormoc, that’s for sure. So, we need some improvements when it comes to routing.
The other goal of this scheme is add, then complete the Pan-Philippine Highway and the Strong Republic Nautical Highway networks on OpenStreetMap. The only portions that need to be “connected” for the former are in Ilocos to Nueva Ecija (via Cagayan Valley), between Albay and Samar, Southern Leyte to Surigao City, and Davao City to Zamboanga City. For the Strong Republic Nautical Highway, this would be extremely difficult, as the said highway has three routes (Eastern, from Batangas City to Dipolog/Dapitan, via Mindoro, Panay, and Negros islands; Central, from Sorsogon to Cagayan de Oro, via Masbate, Cebu, Bohol and Camiguin islands; and Western, from Masbate to Surigao City, via Biliran Leyte and Panaon islands.).
I believe that this project will be done in nine months, if we have more contributors in the Philippines. A big shoutout to all our loyal and faithful OpenStreetMappers – both within and beyond the Philippines.
UPDATE 1: Made some minor tweaks to OSM data in Camiguin, Leyte (Ormoc area) and along the Davao-Bukidnon/Sayre Highway)
Minutes ago, I just found out that a news website uses OpenStreetMap to locate a certain news article. Found here, (and I can’t understand a word from the article, since it’s in German), and I believe that this should be emulated in the Philippines.
How? You can just place it at the end of the article, with the correct caption (for the former: location of Barangay Silangan, Cubao, Quezon City, where…; for the latter: location of Pandi, Bulacan, where…):
This article = somewhere here
Another article = Another location
Also, OSM is now having a transition period: changing its license from CC-BY-SA 2.0 to ODbL 1.0, and it will be in effect by this summer (if you’re talking about the Philippines, for everyone else it’s by April 2009). For as long as my contributions in OSM are (or can be) dual licensed (CC-BY-SA & ODbL), it’s good news for me.
Another month survived, ten more to go. Since the life story of a fellow San Pableño will be shown tonight, I do hope that she can have a more dignified life than her current condition. (Clue: popular actress Angel Locsin wil star in it)
See you next month!
IAN LOPEZ 