23/10/2025-29/10/2025
[1] New OSM file format: 30% smaller than PBF, 5x faster to import | map data © by OpenStreetMap Contributors.
Mapping campaigns
- With the development of the Bliesgau region as a ‘Quality Region for Hiking in Germany’, the hiking trail network has been completely revamped in recent years. Due to the removal and replacement of signs, there is a lot of data in OSM that is no longer up to date. Together with Thomas Froitzheim, who co-developed the nationwide, OSM-compliant ‘Route 3.0’ project, some people have spent
the past few months analysing the actual status, looking at which routes need to be deleted and which need to be added. This data is now available in a standardised format, including route logos, and can be maintained in OSM with immediate effect.
the past few months analysing the actual status, looking at which routes need to be deleted and which need to be added. This data is now available in a standardised format, including route logos, and can be maintained in OSM with immediate effect.Community
- Boramalper has opened a discussion on the OSM Community forum to consider founding a new free and open-source service for crowdsourced user reviews of Places of Interest in OpenStreetMap.
Local chapter news
- Lars Lingner has reported ► on the October 2025 Hackweekend in Berlin, which gathered together 22 members of the OpenStreetMap community for a weekend of idea exchange, collaborative development, and creative experimentation. The next Hackweekend is scheduled to take place in Karlsruhe this November, with registration and event details available on the OSM Wiki.
- The OpenStreetMap US October 2025 newsletter has been published.
Events
- The programme for State of the Map Africa 2025 is now available. The event will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 28 to 30 November.
Education
- On Thursday 30 October IVIDES DATA was invited to give a training session for members of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and the external community, with guidance on mapping features related to mining and toponymy, two important topics for this university community. Guides for mapping mining and toponymy are available on Zenodo. The recording of the live session is available on the IVIDES YouTube channel.
- In a blog post titled È un nodo, perché ha una direzione? (Is it a node because it has a direction?), Mannivu gave ► a brief tutorial explaining how to view direction information within OpenStreetMap editing applications, which he considers a simple but non-intuitive subject for those new to mapping with OSM.
and 
►OSM research
- Building footprints automatically derived from earth observation are generally of lower quality than the ones found in OpenStreetMap, which is one of the reasons why we do not add them to the map. Nevertheless, they may still prove useful in many scenarios, such as risk assessment or sustainability analysis, especially if enriched with semantic information coming from land use and points of interest in OpenStreetMap itself. Oostwegel and others have combined building footprints from OpenStreetMap, Open Buildings, and Global ML Building Footprints and added information about occupancy type, height, and floorspace.
Maps
- The Climate Action Navigator built by HeiGIT allows you to calculate and visualise the remaining CO₂ budget for several German cities (Berlin, Bonn, Hamburg, Heidelberg, and Karlsruhe) to stay within certain global warming limits (e.g. +1.5°C according the Paris Climate Agreement). The CO₂ Budget Assessment Tool also tracks if the city is on the right track to stay within their budget.
OSM in action
- Pieter Vander Vennet has written a diary entry detailing his role in the Bruges’ cycling association, collecting data on the cycling network by using StreetComplete and MapComplete and lobbying to get a cycling zone. Five years after measuring all the street widths, they actually got their cycling zone!
- Sun course, a website by Torsten Hoffmann, shows sunrise, sunset, shadow length, solar eclipse, sun position, sun phase, sun altitude, sun calculator, and elevation – all on an OSM map.
Software
- [1] The GeoDesk team have developed a new OSM file format that they call GOB (Geo-Object Bundle) designed for smaller file sizes and faster processing.
- Omar Alnyme has built POI-Manager, a web app for managing point-of-interest data. On top of an OpenStreetMap basemap, users can add point-of-interest coordinates and then export them in CSV or GeoJSON format.
- In order to generate an efficient route for collecting street-level imagery along OSM street segments that require a new set of Mapillary images, Tobias Jordans asked whether there is a routing algorithm that could solve this problem. seen-one has found a software library containing a Chinese Postman Problem solver and has developed a web-based routing application based on that library.
Releases
- Martin Raifer has released version 2.37.0 of iD, which now features a dark mode theme.
- The latest update of osmpie, a visualisation tool that helps map intersection data on OpenStreetMap, now includes support for countries with left-hand traffic and support for
connectivityrelations. - Version 1.19.0 of Baba has been released. Baba is an Android and iOS app for contributing to the Panoramax project, developed in Kotlin Multiplatform.
Did you know that …
- … you can chat with fellow contributors using JOSM mapping within a 20 km radius using the GeoChat plugin? This feature can be useful during mapping parties and for novices interested in learning about regional mapping practices.
Other “geo” things
- Switzerland and France have signed ► three agreements in Bern to adjust the national border between Geneva Canton and France’s Haute-Savoie Department. The changes were prompted by renaturation projects along the Hermance and Foron rivers, which have altered the landscape in several areas. The Swiss Federal Council approved the border rectifications on 27 September 2024. The agreements will take effect once both countries complete their respective internal approval processes.
- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has produced a tutorial about the Humanitarian Exchange Language, a standard using hashtags to track certain demographic, humanitarian, or geolocation-related parameters for humanitarian data. It also provides some tools to calculate sets of statistics automatically.
- Andy Boxall has written ‘I love Google Maps, but its obsession with saving time will ruin my car’ on Android Police, criticising Google Maps for the limitations of its location-based service, which often suggests routes that may be faster but include poorly maintained or dangerous roads.
►Upcoming Events
| Country | Where | Venue | What | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Château-ferme de Courrière | OSM-stand @ International Day Les Scouts  | 2025-11-01 | |
 | Imola | Mapping al Cimitero del Piratello | 2025-11-01 | |
 | Braunschweig | Stratum0 | Braunschweiger Mappertreffen im Stratum0 Hackerspace | 2025-11-01 |
 | नई दिल्ली | Jitsi Meet (online) | OSM India – Monthly Online Mapathon | 2025-11-02 |
 | Grenoble | La Turbine | Atelier de novembre 2025 du groupe local de Grenoble | 2025-11-03 |
 | Oslo | Mesh Nationaltheatret | Mapathon – Monthly Missing Maps w/ EWB Norway | 2025-11-04 |
 | Salzburg | Bewohnerservice Elisabeth-Vorstadt | OSM Treffen Salzburg | 2025-11-04 |
| Missing Maps London: (Online) Mapathon [eng] | 2025-11-04 | |||
 | Derby | The Brunswick, Railway Terrace, Derby | East Midlands pub meet-up | 2025-11-04 |
 | Matehuala | Instituto Tecnológico de Matehuala | Taller “Mapeo Básico con OpenStreetMap” | 2025-11-05 |
| iD Community Chat | 2025-11-05 | |||
| Stuttgart | Stuttgart | Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen | 2025-11-05 |
 | Madrid | Online | Mappy Hour OSM España | 2025-11-06 |
| Catania | Isola Coworking Catania | itWikiCon | 2025-11-07 – 2025-11-09 |
| UN Mappers #ValidationFriday Mappy Hour | 2025-11-07 | |||
| Karlsruhe | Geofabrik, Amalienstraße 44, 76133 Karlsruhe | Karlsruhe Hack Weekend November 2025 | 2025-11-08 – 2025-11-09 |
| Salzburg | TriBühne Lehen | Maker Faire Salzburg | 2025-11-08 |
 | Cafe Bella Rosa | Social Mapping Saturday: Long Park | 2025-11-08 | |
| Bolzano – Bozen | Mapping NOI Techpark in OpenStreetMap | 2025-11-08 | |
 | København | Cafe Bevar’s | OSMmapperCPH | 2025-11-09 |
| Kolkata | Phoolbagan Metro Station | 8th OpenStreetMap West Bengal Mapping Party (Kolkata) | 2025-11-09 |
| Missing Maps : Mapathon en ligne – CartONG [fr] | 2025-11-10 | |||
 | 臺北市 | MozSpace Taipei | OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #82 | 2025-11-10 |
 | Zürich | Bitwäscherei Zürich | 181. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich | 2025-11-11 |
| Hamburg | Voraussichtlich: “Variable”, Karolinenstraße 23 | Hamburger Mappertreffen | 2025-11-11 |
| Transmission Grid Mapping Together (Online) | 2025-11-12 | |||
| München | Echardinger Einkehr | Münchner OSM-Treffen | 2025-11-12 |
| Madrid | Online | Mappy Hour OSM España | 2025-11-13 |
 | Online | OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup | 2025-11-13 | |
| Bochum | Das Labor, Alleestraße 50, Bochum | OSM-Treffen in Bochum | 2025-11-13 |
| Dundee | Abertay University, Dundee, UK | State of the Map Europe 2025 | 2025-11-14 – 2025-11-15 |
| LaNum – Bidart Izarbel | Rencontre Mapadour | 2025-11-14 | |
| Meerut | Suraj Kund/Gandhi Nagar, Meerut | 25th OSM Delhi MapWalk (Meerut) | 2025-11-16 |
 | Waitematā | Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand | FOSS4G International Conference 2025 – Auckland | 2025-11-17 – 2025-11-21 |
| Internationale GeoWeek – Online Mapathon von ÄRZTE OHNE GRENZEN (AT/CH/DE) | 2025-11-17 |
Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.
This weeklyOSM was produced by MatthiasMatthias, PierZen, Raquel Dezidério Souto, Strubbl, Andrew Davidson, barefootstache, derFred.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.