#AfricaGap - #Wikidata localisation is about location, location, location

Beitbridge is both a town, a ward and a district in Zimbabwe. Particularly for Wikidata they are distinct; the town is together with other human settlements part of the ward and it is with other wards part of the district.

In Wikidata it is best practice to associate buildings, monuments, bridges whatever with the lowest local authority.

It is obvious that when you cannot find the associated item for an authority, or associated structures on maps such associations will not happen. Human settlements in Lesotho for instance will not be found because at this time they only exist as "black links".. eg here for the community council of Likhutloaneng in Lesotho.

In order to find any and all of the African local authorities in a language, there has to be a label in that language. For us, in any and all of the Wikimedia projects we rely on our own labels, titles whatever. When we want to show them on a map, the best maps available will be more and more the OpenStreetMap maps. Thanks to a very important project just finished by Wikimedia developers, we can show localised labels. Our labels. To do this properly our and the OSM data needs to be linked on the object level. This provides us with map functionality in our 280+ languages and makes it obvious that the location for localisation is at Wikidata not OSM.
Thanks,
        GerardM

#Wikidata, #maps and #sprites

Maps are static but many maps define something that is very much alive. Take the "raid on the Medway". It shows two flotillas, it indicates how they move. It does not show anything happening of the other side of this battle. It does not show positions.

A sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene. It can be put on a map. Picture this, the same map of the raid on the Medway and two little sprites moving in time along the indicated lines.

Technically it is not much of a challenge. It becomes interesting when it starts moving on a real map, an OpenStreetMap for instance. Add the moments when we have images that show scenes of a battle, an occurrence and we get something that becomes relevant.

Technically it seems doable. It seems like a challenge that brings together the parts that already exist. It will be really exciting when it brings Wikidata, Commons, OpenStreetMap together. It will help us explain about events. It is part of sharing the sum of all knowledge.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#Reasonator - #Cambridge revisited IV

Reasonator is very much user-centred; you are in the driving seat. You decide in what language you want to see the information. You decide if you want to look at any of the sources provided. You decide if you want to look at a map.

The latest improvement to Reasonator includes an icon for a map in the "hover boxes". Hover boxes are everywhere in Reasonator and maps are now one click closer.

The logo we use for a map is the best we could find. Our current choice is the only one at Commons that does not have a black background. An alternative would have been the OpenStreetMap logo, we use OSM to project our Wikidata items on. If you have a suggestion, it has to be recognizable as a globe/map at 16px height.
Thanks,
      GerardM

Translating:Waymarked Trails

When hiking, cycling, mountain biking or skating is your passion, you are always in for another great route. The Waymarked Trails application may provide you with the inspiration to go where you never went before.

The maps shows sign-posted cycling routes around the world. It is based on data from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project. OSM is a freely editable world map where anybody can participate. That means that the maps are by no means complete, but it also means that you can contribute by adding new routes and correcting mistakes in existing ones. To find out more about OpenStreetMap, see the Beginner's guide.

The Waymarked Trails application has recently found localisation support at translatewiki.net. As these things go, it is with 48 messages a small project and consequently the software has already been localised in several languages.
Thanks,
     GerardM

Taking the measure of the catastrophe in #Japan

There is satellite data available created after the earthquakes and tsunamis. People can help with mapping the new reality on the ground.

Google is making its data available to response organisations and is also really busy to make a difference on the ground.

Thanks,
      GerardM

The need for up to date maps

Once disasters impact on island countries like Haiti or Japan, existing maps no longer reflect the reality on the ground. You hear of whole towns swept away by a tsunami but there will be hope for survivors. Survivors who need care as soon as possible if they are to survive.

Getting that care in place and on time depends on many factors and one puzzle that needs solving is how to get there. After the earth quake in Haiti, satellite pictures were made available and people from all over the world helped by creating up to date maps in OpenStreetMap for the disaster relief effort.

The value of such maps is raised when local people can use the maps. The good news is that for Japanese the localisation is already quite good. It is gratifying to see people volunteer now to work on the Japanese localisation of OpenStreetMap.

When you compare this with the localisation status for Haitian Creole, you will find that the disaster maps are still not usable in the local language. This while the effects of an earth quake in Haiti have proven to be so much more destructive. Disaster can happen again, so we would love to be prepared for wherever a disaster will strike next.
Thanks,
      GerardM

The amazing progress for the Gheg language

The #localisation for #OpenStreetMap is done. It has been done in a record time and, with the initial work done they are ready for the second phase of such a project; proofreading.

The good news is that as the user-interface is now ready for inclusion in the live software, it will be easier for the people in Albania and Kosovo to perfect the OSM maps that are relevant to them.

As OSM is used when disaster strikes, it will save a lot of grief when quality maps are available. This is helped when people appreciate that OSM can be localised at translatewiki.net. But it starts with providing OSM in the logical language for a location. Even when there is no localisation yet, providing the message that we welcome localisations in their language is extremely powerful.
Thanks,
      GerardM

PS Remember the boy scout motto.. "be prepared" ??

Albanian languages make the #OpenStreetMap cut

Having blogged about the flooding in Albania, it is really satisfying to learn that both the Gheg and the Tosk localisations have localised the necessary 30% of the messages at translatewiki.net. Tosk and Gheg will now become available as a language that can be selected for its interface.

These Albanian languages will become available at the next update of the OSM software when new localisations are included. Let us hope that this example of what can be done will inspire the people who can localise in Haitian.
Thanks,
     GerardM

A special offer from #Wikia for the Gheg localisation community

When 750 new core messages are localised at #translatewiki.net , Wikia will import them into their system. There is more to this story. There has been major flooding in Albania, and as a consequence many open source applications are in use to provide disaster relief.

MediaWiki is used for disaster relief. There is a Wikia Wiki that will benefit from support for the Gheg language so we hope that this will entice people to work on the MediaWiki core messages.

This is a great and welcome offer, however the biggest need at this moment in time is localising OpenStreetMap when it is ready, it will stimulate even more people to put their place, their streets, their infrastructure on the map. This will help the people of Albania most at this time.
Thanks,
     GerardM

The 2010 #flooding of #Albania

The January flooding in Albania was massive. Torrential rains, melting snow and overflowing artificial lakes resulted in a disaster for a country that is the poorest of Europe.

This map shows the extend of the disaster, the text explains that the road infrastructure is not complete as data from OpenStreetMap has been used. This lack of available information did hamper the relief effort. Maps were made available for the relief effort in Haiti, not in Albania. This has probably everything to do that the Albanian flooding did not get major news attention; even Wikipedia does not know about it.

I had a word with someone involved in the OSM project for Albanian relief, I informed him about translatewiki.net and I am happy with the first localisations in the Gheg Albanian language. It seems so obvious that maps are useful and needed and available when everything is back to normal. The people for whom these maps are important do not necessarily speak English..
Thanks,
      GerardM

Mündung der Lauchert in den Lauchertsee

I was happily surprised when I learned that Geograph has a German sister project. The British project covers some 76.3%, the new German project already 1%.

Both projects advertise their CC-by-sa credentials and, both projects inform the world that their material is available for use in Wikipedia. The British images can be found on Commons, and the German images as well.

© Copyright Hansjörg Lipp and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

All the Geograph pictures come with geo-tagging. They are another large collection that provides provenance to this type of data.. Another example that the existing absolute lack of discussion with OpenStreetMap is plain silly.
Thanks,
       GerardM

The #location of the Ruïnekerk is 52°40'10"N, 4°42'1"O

The Ruïnekerk is one on a list of monuments in Bergen (NH). This list is available on the Dutch Wikipedia and, this list was provided to the Dutch chapter by what can be considered the "copyright holder" for this data.

This is a well defined subset of clean data that exists in a Wikipedia. The problem that we face is that we do not know for many data-items who the copyright holder is. This is not only a problem in the free content world, it is no less a problem in the commercial world.

In Techcrunch there was an article proposing an open database with the kind of data we want to express in OpenStreetMap format. The funny thing is that almost all these commercial organisations have much of their data because of the cooperation of the public. That is in and of itself not enough of a reason to make such an open database freely licensed. What should be convincing is the ability of mashing data .. particularly with Wikipedia.
Thanks,
     GerardM

60.000 monuments looking for pictures and a map

The Dutch #Wikimedia chapter is planning a #photography #contest. The subject of this contest are the Dutch monumental buildings that are recognised as such. There are some 60.000 such monuments and, only one of them is the ruinekerk in Bergen and is is clear that there are many possible ways to illustrate it.

Koppelpoort Amersfoort

What people see in monumental buildings is very individual, having many such expressions provides a more complete impression. In order to get the best result for 60.000 monuments, we need to tell people where to go what and what to do.

The contest will be running for the whole month of September, there will be prizes for many categories, and we hope to work with many partners to get as many people as possible involved.

These people will want to know where to go, of what objects we have already illustrations for and, where they are. This needs a superb map that is continuously updated. At this stage OpenStreetMap is missing as a technology.. we do not have the necessary expertise yet. For those interested in helping, we have superb geo data with provenance.
Thanks,
      GerardM

The unhelpful #Wikimedia #OpenStreetMap discussion

The ongoing discussion on the Foundation-l mailing list is totally unhelpful. It starts with the observation that maps are not attributed in the same way as texts. It then asserts that all geo data in Wikipedia is unusable in OpenStreetMap. The discussion is unlikely to lead to a result as many fixed positions have not been opened for discussion.

There are several nits to pick:

• these are amateurs lawyers killing cooperation between two major open content projects
• no credible sources have been provided to support such broad statements
• no lawyers support any of the positions taken by either side
• my impression that FUD is the basis of much of this copyright / licensing paranoia

For a long time there have been moves towards integrating OpenStreetMap in our Wikipedias. Several developers have spend a lot of time making this happen, servers to host maps were bought by the German chapter. We are at a stage where we should talk about what we can do, not a stage where we find that we cannot work together after all.

What we need is to learn the real situation. We need to learn what we can do. When maps cannot be used because they should not be available under a free license in Wikipedia, we have a process of dealing with this.

It is not acceptable for this sorry situation to continue. It is not only in the interest of the Wikimedia Foundation and the OpenStreetMap Foundation but in the interest of the open content world that this storm in a tea cup ends. Both projects provide their data under the CC-by-sa license and we are stronger when we are seen to work together.

In previous blog posts (1, 2, 3) I called for a project manager to make the integration of WMF projects with OpenStreetMap happen. This whole sorry saga provides additional arguments why we should give this project more visibility.

NB I am really happy that this issue surfaced now and not later.
Thanks,
     GerardM

#Wikipedia articles without #illustration

On the Spanish Wikipedia there are articles without an illustration. Usuario:Emijrp did embark on a project to put them on a list. This list called the "Imágenes_requeridas_por_zona" contains the geo codes necessary to find the subjects of these articles.

The list that Emijrp created with a bot represents our current technology. It represent a lot of hard work but sadly there is little chance of Dutch Wikipedians on a holiday in Spain taking the requested pictures. When we have a map of the world with all the articles in need of (more) illustrations, we would leverage existing technology. Existing technology like OpenStreetMap..

We need a project manager for map integration. It is not only about illustrating articles with maps, maps have other uses as well.
Thanks,
      GerardM

The integration of #OpenStreetMap and #MediaWiki needs project management

One of the most eagerly awaited software projects is the integration of OSM in Wikipedia. Having support for high quality maps will provide such an obvious improvement it is actually a no-brainer. When you consider how much effort has gone into bringing maps to Wikipedia; the German chapter investing in it, the time of at least two developers over the years and maps integration as Google Summer of Code projects ...

नीरज अग्रवाल

This year, another student wants to make his mark on the map of the Google Summer of Code. Neeraj Agarwal. Neeraj is from India and if there is one country that will poses a challenge to get all its villages, towns and cities on the Wikipedia map, it is India. Not only because of there being so many of them but also because of there being so many Wikipedias in the languages of the Indian subcontinent.

I had a word with several people interested and involved in the Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap integration and for me it is clear that many people want this but that all the effort is not managed into one cohesive effort. An effort that brings the many interested parties together, an effort that priorities what needs to be done. An effort that coordinates what it takes to get a product out.

At this stage we need the effort of Neeraj, we need our bugmeister to assess the existing code, we need to get an initial product out. Once we have it out, we can make it pretty.
Thanks,
      GerardM

An earthquake and a tsunami in Chile

The English #wikipedia article about the earth quake is being written as the situation develops.

As you can imagine, depending on the size of the waves, the Tsunami can create havoc in the many countries that border on the pacific. The recent earth quake and tsunami in Haiti proved to be a disaster because it was not expected and, the buildings proved to be too fragile resulting in too many fatalities.

As there was no infrastructure and a lack of decent information after the quake, people turned to OpenStreetMap to create the much needed maps. The BBC has a great photo presentation about this ..

OSM 2008: A Year of Edits from ItoWorld on Vimeo.

This video shows "a year of edits" and indeed it shows how awesome OpenStreetMap is. One of the lessons of Haiti is that it is important to have such maps and, that it is best to have those maps when disaster strikes.

The current tsunami may do a lot of damage in the pacific. I hope that OSM maps will not be necessary and I certainly hope that they need not be created. What I do know is that you can localise OpenStreetmap at translatewiki.net. I am sure that great useful maps are needed by local people everywhere even when there is no disaster.
Thanks,
GerardM

#MediaWiki is used for the Haiti relief effort

#Crisiswiki.org is a MediaWiki wiki building a "yellow pages" with everything that is relevant for the Haiti disaster response. This project is organised by Crisis Commons, an organisation that not only aims to provide relief when needed, but also stimulate people all over the world to prepare for an un-hoped for disaster. There is a wiki for that as well.

On their website, you find many geek organisations that have involved themselves in the relief effort. Translatewiki is not that geeky, then again I am biased, but we have already identified two applications that are used for the Haiti relief effort, MediaWiki and OpenStreetMap. Both can do with a massive effort to localise these applications in Haitian Creole

We welcome Open Source applications that are used for disaster management and disaster relief.. When many applications are supported at translatewiki, our community will be strengthened by the people that come specifically to lcoalise this software but equally important, it gives us something real to do, something other then giving money and hoping for the best.
Thanks,
     GerardM

More on the Haitian relief effort

#OpenStreetMap is used extensively in Haiti, more then the other geo locations. There is a great article in the Guardian that extols the virtues of OpenStreetMap in Haiti. What makes this article so interesting is that it talks about the many relief support applications that are currently in use.

Software like Sahana that helps people find people, managing aid, managing volunteers, tracking camps and liase among the many people and organisations involved. It is the kind of software that should be ready for wherever it is needed.

There is more software that is used, read the article for that.. My point is, that when disaster strikes, you want to be ready. Disaster can and will strike anywhere. When you are prepared, when your software is ready for deployment in the whole world, when it is localised for the people that are there, they can actually use it.

I am happy to learn that we may get people localising OSM at translatewiki.net. I would love it when all the software mentioned is ready to be used when disaster strikes in my backyard,
Thanks,
GerardM

#OpenStreetMap is used in Haiti

When a disaster strikes, good information helps understand the situation, it helps the planning and execution of the relief work needed to bring some normalcy back.

On OpenGeoData there is an article that explains how the Fairfax County Urban Search & Rescue Team uses OSM maps on their Garmin units. It is a happy situation that these maps are there for everyone to use.

When you look at the localisation statistics for OSM, you find that Haitian Creole is missing. There is a Haitian Wikipedia so there is support for this language at translatewiki.net. It would be good if we find people willing to work on the OSM localisation as well; this will make the maps useful to the people of Haiti as they are rebuilding their country.
Thanks,
GerardM