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I am attempting to find a way to set up a map that I can enter readings from testing for acid rain for my local area. I am part of a local environmental group, C.A.R.E.,and we have a project to find out what level of acidity is in our rain water throughout our area. We are attempting to get 70 - 80 volunteers to collect rain water on specific days and check the PH. I would then like to be able to create a map for each date that would have the locations of the participants and the PH levels found at each location. Is there a method to accomplish this using this system? We are hoping to be able to discern if a dispersion pattern could be attributable to a local pollution source.

asked 25 Jul '13, 23:49

Tymlaird's gravatar image

Tymlaird
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edited 26 Jul '13, 00:30

aseerel4c26's gravatar image

aseerel4c26 ♦
32.6k18248554

Do you want to use a (web-based?) "map" (that is: a OpenStreetMap base map and a facility to click on a location and then enter the measurement data) to record the data or do you want to produce a map made of a set of recordings? Please edit (link below if you are logged in) your question to make this more clear.

(26 Jul '13, 00:32) aseerel4c26 ♦

I think the web based map would be superior, in that we could link to it from the CARE web site. Ideally we would like to be able to update the map with the locations of volunteer testers and show findings for different test dates, but still refer to the earlier test dates. We are hoping to be able to identify pollutant dispersion patterns from local polluters, and determine the severity of the pollution. We are setting up a spreadsheet to record the findings with a code for each test site. We would like to be able to enter the information on the map for each test location along with the test findings for each testing at that location. This would be a simple number, as the PH is ranged from 0 - 6 with the 0 being most acid and 6 being least acid. These would be mainly residential locations. We would like to geocode these locations and as efficiently as possible enter the information onto a map. We would probably have to print the maps too, but having them online would be a plus.

(26 Jul '13, 17:03) Tymlaird

I really feel this has relatively little to do with OSM per se : the type of data you mention is unsuitable for storage in OSM and therefore for the most part any use of OSM would be as a name lookup service and background map. Presumably the data would need to be stored in a different database.

There are examples of people doing something like this: the most comprehensive service with which I am familiar is Waarneming/observado which is used for recording sightings of wildlife around the world. Unfortunately the developers have an open data/closed source development model, so it is not possible to piggy-back off their code base. They have a number of features which are simply not present in OSM: protection of individual user data, ability to add observations, reporting and apps. Their main use of OSM data is for off-line recording on Android devices.

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answered 27 Jul '13, 19:42

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SK53 ♦
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accept rate: 22%

Have a look at http://www.indicia.org.uk/ It's not trivial to set up and is tailored to wildlife recording but it may be adaptable for your needs. For non-web based get QGIS perhaps.

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answered 23 Aug '13, 12:33

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lostmike
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edited 23 Aug '13, 12:35

I never managed to set it up as it was completely unclear which php package versions had been used in the code base.

(23 Aug '13, 13:29) SK53 ♦

Hi I was just browsing the related questions and yours came up. Though this is not specifically related to osm, I thought you may be interested anyway.

If you are familiar with R R project, as you may be be considering your interest, I stumbled across this article which I think holds a lot of promise if you have skills in R anyway and probably using databases, etc.

making-maps-with-r certainly points to a range of options.

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answered 19 Oct '13, 13:06

nevw's gravatar image

nevw
9.8k2690178
accept rate: 9%

QGIS is way easier to use than R for map making & has very rich functionality. That blog post looks like 'if your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail'.

(19 Oct '13, 13:17) SK53 ♦

Just another map showing third party data on OSM:
http://tom.acrewoods.net/2013/09/12/mapping-dirty-london/

hth somehow
malenki

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answered 19 Oct '13, 15:21

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malenki
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accept rate: 6%

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question asked: 25 Jul '13, 23:49

question was seen: 9,794 times

last updated: 19 Oct '13, 15:21

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