layout: true class: center, middle, inverse --- # Construction Ahead - SotM 2026 Paris ## Recent and planned changes to the OSM website ---- ## Minh Nguyễn & Pablo Brasero Moreno ??? - **TODO throughout:** pictures, layout, styles. - **TODO:** no AI used in this presentation. - **TODO:** provide short URL to presentation, for accessibility, etc? Slides powered by https://remarkjs.com ## Set up 1. Clone (C) 2. Fullscreen (F) on cloned window. Show this one to the audience. 3. Presentation (P) mode on initial window. Leave it on the presenter's screen. -- --- name: personal-intros layout: false class: inverse .avatar.avatar-1[ ## Minh  Core Software<br>Development Facilitator ] .avatar.avatar-2[ ## Pablo  Core Software<br>Engineer ] .avatar.avatar-3[ ## Rubén  TODO: provide title ] ??? Hello everyone! I am Minh, Core Software Development Facilitator for the OpenStreetMap Foundation. And I am Pablo, Core Software Engineer for the OpenStreetMap Foundation. Also our colleague Rubén couldn't join us today but hopefully many of you saw him present with Minh/me yesterday about OpenHistoricalMap. **TODO:** Minh plz tweak the descriptions below. Now, you may be thinking that those are long titles, and wondering what they even mean. Minh: what this means is that I work for the OSMF, learning the needs of the OSM community, compiling a Roadmap of features to build and issues to address, nurturing a welcoming environment for new contributors, and generally carrying out many other important tasks for the health of the software platform that typically go unseen. Pablo: and I work with Minh triaging issues, prioritising work, reviewing code contributions, improving the onboarding experience for new contributors, and sometimes even fixing bugs and building new features! Meanwhile, Rubén is working specifically on one project that we'll get to about 57 slides from now. Strap up! - **TODO:** number of slides until we mention GPX uploads. --- layout: true class: center, middle, inverse --- name: sta background-image: url(assets/images/sta-splash.png) ??? Importantly, we must credit the Sovereign Tech Agency for funding our work. The OSMF is able to pay us thanks to a grant of this organization. --- layout: false class: left, middle, inverse, quote <blockquote> [The STA] program aims to promote and secure open-source foundational technologies. It intends to make the open-source ecosystem more resilient against external attacks, thereby enhancing cybersecurity and resilience across the German economy. <footer> <cite>From Wikipedia: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_Tech_Agency">Sovereign Tech Agency</a></cite> </footer> </blockquote> ??? This is an agency within the German government that funds Open Source projects that are critical for the country's infrastructure, which invariably are also important for global infrastructure. --- background-image: url(assets/images/core--pexels-vome-10601308.jpg) name: core-software ## Core Software ??? But OSM is a big project. Are we working on all of it? What is "Core Software" anyway? "Core Software", or the "OSM Platform", is basically the OSM website at `www.openstreetmap.org`. **TODO:** image credit https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-a-tree-stump-10601308/ --- background-image: url(assets/images/osm.png) ??? But, of the functionality that the website provides, what does _actually_ come from the website itself? Perhaps it'll be easier if we start with the services it does NOT provide: -- name: highlight-query background-image: url(assets/images/osm-hl-query.png) ??? So for example, the website does not provide the backend for the functionality to query for map features. --- background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query.png) ??? OK, so let's remove that. Next... --- name: highlight-routing background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query.png) ??? The routing is also external, provided by three different tools that are selectable. We just had three talks before us covering several aspects of these. - https://2026.stateofthemap.org/sessions/LT3DRY/ - https://2026.stateofthemap.org/sessions/3WLKJ9/ - https://2026.stateofthemap.org/sessions/ZR8RTX/ --- background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing.png) ??? Out of the picture too. Next... --- name: highlight-search background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing.png) ??? The search is powered by Nominatim. By the way, if you want to know more about how it works, check out Sarah Hoffman's presentation in the _La Réunion_ room at the end of the day. https://2026.stateofthemap.org/sessions/NHDJM3/ But for now, Nominatim handles the search. We just query it and show you the results. --- background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing-no-search.png) ??? Removed. --- name: highlight-editor background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing-no-search.png) ??? The default editor, iD, is also a separate OSM project. The website integrates it so that it's easy for anyone to get started and contributing. --- background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing-no-search-no-editor.png) ??? Begone! --- name: highlight-controls background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing-no-search-no-editor.png) ??? The software that we use to render the tiles and allow moving around, zooming, etc, is not ours. Stay for the next talk after this one, where Frank Elsinga will give more detail on that front. https://2026.stateofthemap.org/sessions/EFTDVX/ --- background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing-no-search-no-editor-no-controls.png) ??? Controls out. -- ??? And finally... --- background-image: url(assets/images/osm-no-query-no-routing-no-search-no-editor-no-controls-no-map.png) ??? No map either. We don't render it! The tiles (the actual map!) are generated and made available by other projects, developed independently. The website puts them where you can see them easily and allows you to select among several available sets, but doesn't generate them. --- ## What's in scope then? ??? But that's a lot! Is there anything else to the website? Yes, there's a lot that is less glamorous, but important for anything to actually work: -- ### The Database ??? - The database that holds all the data; -- ### The XML/JSON API ??? - The XML/JSON API that powers all other OSM-related software; -- #### (Except for the parts served by cgimap) ??? - Note that some particularly tricky endpoints are served by cgimap, which is written in C++ and can deliver better performance than Ruby (which powers the rest of the application). -- ### Tools to browse and inspect the data ??? - Tools to browse and inspect the data; -- ### Communication tools ??? - Tools to facilitate ~~flamewars~~ communication between mappers: user profiles, notes, changeset discussions, direct messages, diaries; -- ### Management of GPS traces ??? - Management of GPS traces; -- ### Moderation tools ??? - Moderation tools to help the Data Working Group fight vandalism, and generally keep bad data out of OSM; -- ### Glue! ??? - The glue that integrates all those external projects, together in a single place, to offer a seamless experience where mappers can get on mapping, while at the same time we can present a showcase of everything that is possible with OSM. --- ## Maintainers and contributors ??? To be clear, we are not "The Developers" of the OSM Platform. This is a complex and long-running project with a long list of contributors. We just happen to be some guys that someone (the OSMF with funding from the STA) hired to help with this. --- ## Tom, Andy, Marwin, Anton ??? Currently the project has 4 permanent maintainers: Tom, Andy, Marwin, and Anton (currently in hiatus). They are unpaid volunteers who, quite honestly, do a lot of work, not only writing code, but also reviewing every contribution. --- ## **TODO:** long list of contributors in the last 12mo ??? In the last 12 months, all these people have had contributions accepted in the codebase. --- ## **TODO:** long list of participants in the last 12mo ??? But contributions don't just happen. They are based on actual needs, often from the issue tracker. They also need reviewing. This many people participated on issues or PRs (code contributions) in the last 12 months. --- ## **TODO:** long list of translators added in the last 12mo ??? Plus remember that the website is available in more than 100 (~112) languages. This is only possible thanks all the contributors who provide translations. These are just the people who provided their first translation in the last 12 months. (As it's not possible for us to tell who provided translations after their first one). --- layout: false class: middle, inverse ## So what exactly have we been doing? ??? `[EDITORIAL]` I started with stuff done specifically by us, but should be expanded to include anything that happened since SotM EU in Dundee. Include both eye-candy and things that are less obvious. Convert points below to visuals. Show video or sequence of screenshots showing hidden features such as moderation. `[/EDITORIAL]` At this point you might be thinking: that's great but what exactly have y'all been doing? There haven't been many changes to the website, have there? We are going to avoid covering anything that was already mentioned by Andy Allan in SotM EU, in Dundee last November. Check his talk online for more! -- This is an attempt at a coherent list and groups. To turn into slides. Slippy map: - Progressive move to MapLibre. - This will require WebGL - [Switch from Versatiles Colorful to SVWD03 #7157](https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/7157) - From the November 2025 recap, I don't entirely understand how this works, so dropping it here while figuring it out: "We also applied a MapLibre update [enabling italics for CJK text](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-gl-js/pull/4564). This can be seen on the MapTiler OMT layer (specifically, park labels in that layer)." - [Bootstrap contextmenu #6410](https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/6410) Data and communications: - Smart linkification (eg: `note 12345`) in comments, etc. - Improvements in linking to the wiki from the data browser - https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/6470 - There are others. See what makes sense in a slide. User preferences: - Hiding the heatmap. - Notification preferences; - Web notifications; Moderation: - Moderation Zones, improving facilities for detecting and suspending malicious users; - Anecdote: we broke anonymous notes by accident. Some moderators thought (and celebrated) that we had disabled them on purpose (https://github.com/openstreetmap/operations/issues/1362#issuecomment-4399127826)... Andy Townsend after the fix: Boo! GPS uploads: - Modernizing the facility to upload and store GPS traces Developer experience: - AI policy - Dev Container, documentation, stability of test suite... - Improvements to CI Everyday work: - Dependency upgrades (includes iD) - Triaging and fixing bugs - Helping with reviews and providing feedback from our own experiences with the community and the technologies involved. - Monthly-ish updates about changes to the website, on the community forum. --- layout: true class: center, middle, inverse ## So you want to contribute... ### (Yes, please!) ??? Some of you with knowledge of software development, or wanting to learn, may want to contribute to the website. Yes! We want you helping! So what do you need? --- ## A history lesson ### From Java to "the Rails port" ??? The very first version of the website, back in 2004, was built in Java. In Summer 2006 a project started that, at the time, was known as "the Rails port". This was a new version of the site built with the Ruby on Rails framework. Eventually this replaced the Java application and became the website that we all know now. You may still see references to "the Rails port" in places, despite it now being of voting age in most countries. `[EDITORIAL]` Potential tidbits to include: - "Hopefully the site will move to php soon." -- [Steve Coast, 2004-12-11](https://web.archive.org/web/20050129052917/http://www.openstreetmap.org/) - Earlier version of the Slippy Map that I can find is from [2005-12-04](https://web.archive.org/web/20051204025519/http://www.openstreetmap.org/) `[/EDITORIAL]` -- ### The current website is now 20 years old! 🎊 ??? Since about a month ago. --- ## The codebase ??? So the website is built with Ruby on Rails. This is a mature web framework, written in the Ruby programming language, which not follows current best practices in the web development industry, but also has inspired many of accepted best practices that other frameworks take for granted these days. -- ### Convention over configuration ??? In a project like this one, it's very important to reduce surprises. New contributors need to be able to learn the ropes quickly. Regular contributors might take a break from contributing and, when they return, they should not need to re-learn new ways of doing things, different from how they might be done elsewhere. For this, we rely on the principle of "Convention over configuration". We do things, as much as possible, the way that the framework intended. It's perfectly possible to deviate from the suggestions of framework, and it might make sense from a technical aspect in many contexts, but it makes contributions more difficult. This is not the maintainers' full-time job. We can't assume that maintainers and contributors will hold a model of how everything is put together in their heads. We try to make things so that, if you know the framework, you will know where you need to go in order to contribute. -- ### Delegate to other people's code ??? Similarly, the less code there is, the less code we have to worry about. We rely on many third-party libraries to build the site. For every third-party library we add, we make some part of the codebase someone else's problem! Less work for us. -- ### Use well-known tools ??? In general, the fewer surprises the better, even with tools outside of the database proper. The database? It's just standard Postgres! Even the little PostGIS there is is only recent and used for secondary features. (Perhaps mention Grant's talk after Frank's https://2026.stateofthemap.org/sessions/7ED7WQ/) --- ## How to help. Realistic expectations ??? So we come to the part where we say: we want help. We need help. However, we must be realistic here and manage expectations. At the time taking this screenshot, there were X open issues and Y open PRs. That's a lot. And most of them are not trivial. Many discussions have been going on for years. The oldest open issue has been there since 2013, and it's not an easy one to solve. That's the unfortunate reality of this sort of project, everywhere in the Open Source world. It's very common for Open Source projects to ask for contributors, but then failing to support these contributors. In the end, projects are left with the usual 2-3 regulars and a revolving rooster of people who arrive with the best intentions and leave disappointed. We are wrestling with the question of: what can we do to do better? (Attempt at contributor profiles). Are you experienced with Ruby on Rails? We can use your help. Some specific topics include: - Getting rid of Sprockets in favour of Propshaft. - Replacing our custom JavaScript with Rails's preferred Hotwire facilities. - Introduce some sort of machine-readable API documentation, like Swagger (or whatever it's called these days). Are you experienced with GIS, proprietary map platforms, Overture, etc? Can you write guides for people coming from those backgrounds? (Lifted this from the Software Roadmap). Are you new to web development, or Ruby on Rails? We still want you to have an opportunity: - If you know web development, Rails should not be a huge surprise. We have made an effort to make onboarding as smooth as possible, with thorough documentation, a Docker setup, etc. Give it a go! - If you are new to web development, have you considered Ruby? At the end of the day, web development is web development, software engineering is software engineering. Languages and frameworks come and go, but the foundations remain. Give it a go. We do have some issues labeled as "new contributor opportunity". Have a look at those. Or have a look at any others. Ask questions before you jump in to write code. Contact us directly (Pablo's email address is in his Git commits). We'll be around and happy to talk to anyone who is interested. We... (insert details of our Office Hours). OpenStreetMap is many people and many projects. All of them can use your help. So, have you considered us? ;-) --- ## Thank you!