NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum

i am new to openstreetmap. Basically, I am working on a project where i am collecting dynamic road conditions from users. Once they submit, it will be rendered in the osm. Also, we will use it in our algorithms such as shortest path avoiding those nodes and edges. My question is how do i add these extra dynamic road conditions coming from the user? If i want to add a new column such as number of lanes, or dynamic attributes such as an accident has happened in a certain node? I appreciate your kind response.

This question is marked "community wiki".

asked 27 Dec '13, 06:03

mdrahman's gravatar image

mdrahman
11223
accept rate: 0%


Static data like number of lanes etc. is fine to keep in OSM (it is very welcome, even); note that when letting your users edit OSM data through an app, those users will need to have personal accounts with OSM (you cannot create one single account in OSM and upload all your user edits under that one single account).

Dynamic data like traffic flow or accident information has no room in OSM and you will have to add that to a separate table in your local database, possibly keyed against OSM IDs so that you can merge OSM and your dynamic data with appropriate queries.

Note that there may be license implications - if your dynamic data is in any way "derived" from OSM, perhaps in that the user used an OSM map as a reference when they identified the traffic condition, then your dynamic data would have to be made available under the ODbL (see our Legal FAQ).

permanent link

answered 27 Dec '13, 10:37

Frederik%20Ramm's gravatar image

Frederik Ramm ♦
82.5k927201273
accept rate: 23%

As malenki has told that we don't map highly dynamic thing features on osm website but if you are having your own setup (like OSM) to collect data required for you, you are free to do so. However your requirement can be fulfilled as mashup application where you can use no. of layers from different sources visualising it at common platform.

permanent link

answered 27 Dec '13, 09:34

GoldenCompass's gravatar image

GoldenCompass
40336
accept rate: 0%

It is an agreement that on OSM we do not map temporary nor highly dynamic features like gasoline[1] prices[2], accidents, minor short lived construction sites, produce on farmland and such.
But of course you are free to use the OSM map/data with an extra layer on it to display the data you collect - be it traffic jams, air pollution, flash mobs or a live railway map.
Other people luckily think straightforward about using an external service for what you want to try.

Good luck! :)

permanent link

answered 27 Dec '13, 09:28

malenki's gravatar image

malenki
4.7k24683
accept rate: 6%

edited 27 Dec '13, 09:33

Are you collecting the information using OSM editors (Potlatch/JOSM/iD)? If so, you can add another attribute fields in the category type. For example when name of the road is being updated, similarly condition of the road, number of lanes etc also can be collected.

permanent link

answered 27 Dec '13, 06:12

GoldenCompass's gravatar image

GoldenCompass
40336
accept rate: 0%

Wao. That is too fast. Thanks GoldenCompass. To clarify my question here is what i am planning to do:

OSM editors (Potlatch/JOSM/iD) I am using your beautiful openstreetmap web editor to add nodes, lines and areas.

  1. Imagine that i want users on the street to tell me that there is an accident/flood/lane closure...
  2. A user on the spot will tap an app developed by us such as checkbox to give us feedback in real-time
  3. we want to store this dynamic road conditions in OSM postGIS db so that
  4. in our shortest path algorithm I can find which node(s) and edge this has happened and is it within my shortest route
  5. I will recalculate the path from road network in OSM database using shortest path algorithm avoiding these routes

I appreciate your kind reply.

(27 Dec '13, 06:22) mdrahman

Are you maintaining your own servers and editors like OSM to store the data with required attributes? If you are editing on OSM website, it may not be available to you and you may also not get the customized attribute information as per your requirement.

If you are using OSM editors to add the data and then downloading the data for your usage, you may have to think differently like take road network information from OSM data as a layer while accident points etc as another layer and display it in your application.

(27 Dec '13, 08:39) GoldenCompass
1

Actually, I am just starting to collect the OSM part. I already expressed my scenario. We will provide an app (desktop + smartphone) that will allow them to add POIs, road names, intersections, speed limit... so that these are added to the openstreetmap database and can be visible to your openstreemap website. However, we need to run algorithms to find shortest paths. Hence, we need to maintain a nightly build of the latest OSM database of our city. The only hurdle here is we have to add some dynamic constraints that will be used in our query language. I am not sure how to proceed. In summary, doing processing on local database but everything else in openstreetmap website/database. I hope I could express you. Thanks ahead

(27 Dec '13, 08:48) mdrahman
Your answer
toggle preview

Follow this question

By Email:

Once you sign in you will be able to subscribe for any updates here

By RSS:

Answers

Answers and Comments

Markdown Basics

  • *italic* or _italic_
  • **bold** or __bold__
  • link:[text](http://url.com/ "title")
  • image?![alt text](/path/img.jpg "title")
  • numbered list: 1. Foo 2. Bar
  • to add a line break simply add two spaces to where you would like the new line to be.
  • basic HTML tags are also supported

Question tags:

×223
×6
×3

question asked: 27 Dec '13, 06:03

question was seen: 8,815 times

last updated: 27 Dec '13, 10:37

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum