JOSM Plugin receives DINAcon 2020 Award!

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Die Pokale der DINAcon 2020 Awards
(Source: DINAcon.ch 2020)

Last Friday, October 23, 2020, DINacon 2020 took place – unfortunately only virtually like all conferences during this time. DINAcon stands for “Digital Sustainability Conference” and is under the patronage of the CH Open association. At this event future-oriented projects and approaches from the Open Source and Open Data Communities, from public administration and the economy are presented, discussed and awarded.

The program also included a session on the “Public OSM Partnership” (POP Study) by Stefan Keller.

And again the DINAcon Awards were presented. The shortlist included the “Defikarte der Schweiz” (www.defikarte.ch) in the category “Community Award” and a JOSM Plugin in the category “Best Newcomer Award”.

DINAcon 2020 Best Newcomer
Trailer – DINAcon 2020 Best Newcomer Project – Shortlist. (Quelle: DINAcon.ch 2020)

And the winner is…

Finally the JOSM Plugin won in the category “Best Newcomer”! This category honors “Open Source projects that are not older than three years and offer exciting new approaches”.

The JOSM Plugin NeTEx Converter

The JOSM plugin “NeTEx Converter”, is a project for the JOSM editor, which collects and exports information about public transport – i.e. the infrastructure of stations – from OSM into this standardized XML structure. The NeTEx/XML file can then be further processed in various applications. Main developer is the student Labian Gashi who studies Computer Science in the masters program at HSR Rapperswil (now OST Campus Rapperswil). The work was supervised by Prof. Stefan Keller and specialists from the SBB.

It’s nice that another OpenStreetMap technology was awarded by this Open Source/Open Data conference. Already in 2019 the project OpenSchoolMaps won the trophy in the category “Best Open Education Project” (we reported here on SOSM.ch).

Weblinks

Swiss Castles and Fortresses Day, Sunday, October 4, 2020

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On Sunday, October 4, 2020, 25 Swiss castles invite you to the 5th National Castles Day. Their gates and drawbridges will then be open from 10 am to 5 pm for a varied program. So – come on in!

The association Wikimedia CH and the Swiss OpenStreetMap association (SOSM) will complement the event with a Swiss Fortresses Day 2020 (Burgentag 2020). Young and old medieval enthusiasts alike are invited to discover a castle ruin on their own. You decide the program yourself. Every castle has a history and many have something mystical about them. And there is often a fireplace nearby. Find out more with the following tips:

  • Map with selected castle ruins sites (see picture below),
  • A photo challenge to upload missing photos of castles.

Illustration: Interactive online map of selected castle ruins (realized with uMap and with OpenStreetMap data). [Large map]

The photo challenge is simple: Work through this list of castle objects without pictures and upload the photos to Wikimedia Commons! For each uploaded photo there is a tweet (from @trending_places) with the hashtag #CastleProject. The photo is then usually immediately visible on the Castles project map.

The interactive online map of selected castle ruins shows a hand-picked selection of castles in Switzerland that are freely accessible and easy to reach. Depending on the castle, it can be up to one kilometer (i.e. approx. 20 min.) or more away from the nearest public transport stop or parking lot. Please follow the signs and treat nature with respect (e.g. make sure that there is no danger of forest fires in the area, watch out for ticks, don’t leave litter).

The map contains only a small part of the castles and palaces as they are managed in the Castles Project Switzerland. The Castles project links open data directly from the four open data projects OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (photos).

The Swiss Burgentag 2020 was initiated by the SOSM association and Wikimedia CH. The event is also kindly supported by the Swiss Castle Association. We thank the association ‘Die Schweizer Schlösser’ for agreeing to link the two action days Swiss Castles Day and Burgentag 2020.

Inquiries and contacts:
Verein SOSM, Stefan Keller
Wikimedia CH, Kerstin Sonnekalb

AGM online May 16th 2020 11:00

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Participation and voting (BigBlueButton, link was sent by mail to all members)

  1. Opening and Welcome
  2. Election of the minute taker and vote counters
  3. Adoption of minutes of the 2019 AGM
  4. Activity report 2019
  5. Financial results 2019
    • Presentation by the treasurer
    • Auditors report
  6. Discharge of the Board
  7. Membership fees 2021
  8. Budget 2020
  9. Amendment of the articles of association
    • Introduction of honorary members
  10. Appointment of honorary members
  11. Elections
    • Board
      Candidates for all positions are welcome. All existing board members are standing
      for re-election.
    • Auditors
  12. Any other business

«Bleibtoffen» («It stays open») now showing hotels

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One of the differences between Switzerland and other countries during the pandemic is that hotels have been permitted to stay open. Not all have done so, but there are around 400 that have kept their doors open.

“Bleibtoffen” now has support for displaying both open and closed hotels, and if your establishment is open, or you know of one that is open, please update this information on bleibtoffen.ch.

«It stays open» – The map of shops that are still open #COVID19

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The map service bleibtoffen.ch allows everyone to find open shops and share information about open locations with a few clicks. The new service is based on the community project OpenStreetMap. Anyone can also report changes at bleibtoffen.ch. This information is then directly integrated into OpenStreetMap – in addition to the many volunteers who already add to OpenStreetMap on a daily basis.

A communication instrument for authorities and location promoters

In France, there are already some cities like Lyon and municipalities like Montrouge that are using “It stays open” (in French “ça reste ouvert”) as a means of communication in dealing with the Covid19 crisis.

Therefore, dear authorities and location promoters: inform your citizens and companies about this useful tool in dealing with and containing Covid19!

You can read more about this in the blog post of bleibtoffen.org (in german). Here you can go directly to bleibtoffen.ch. If you have any questions please contact us at SOSM (see contact).

OpenSchoolMaps wins a DINAcon Award 2019

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The DINAcon Awards were presented at the Swiss Conference for Digital Sustainability (DINAcon) in mid-October 2019. And the winner in the category Best Open Education Project is “OpenSchoolMaps”.

OpenSchoolMaps is a small project to promote open maps and map data for schools and self-learners. It is mainly a collection of teaching materials and information about outdoor mapping events, OpenStreetMap and Open Source software.

The idea and concept for OpenSchoolMaps came from Stefan Keller, professor at Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) and member of the board of the Swiss OpenStreetMap Association. The decisive factor for the jury’s decision was that OpenSchoolMaps offers different possibilities for feedback and the open repository.

Browse the teaching materials yourself! Currently there are about 29 work and information sheets on the website. Here are some titles:

  • Using the OSM.org website in everyday life
  • Edit and use OpenStreetMap
  • Mapping the surroundings of yourself (outdoor mapping event)
  • Create a map with uMap
  • Introduction to QGIS and Geographic Information Systems

Logo OpenSchoolMaps.org
Click here for the OpenSchoolMaps website (see zip download in English).
Further information on the DINAcon Awards can be found on the DINAcon website (german).