Version 2: Beta

Overview

The new HOT OSM Export Tool was released for its Beta phase on the 18th August. Please help us iron out any bugs or oversights by testing out the new site and logging any issues on the dedicated GitHub repository.

The Beta phase runs from the 18th till the 28th of September. The development site will be migrated to the HOT servers during this time and goes Live on the 28th September. Please note that we are currently only holding data for the region of Africa due to disk constraints on the development server.

Thank you to the community for their feedback and the Hewlett Foundation, who’s generous grant made it possible to create a better tool to meet all your OSM data exporting needs. A special shout out goes to to Blake Girardot who has tested the site relentlessly, adding issues and providing invaluable feedback towards the development.

Version Changes

There are some key changes that have been made between the original Export Tool and the redevelopment in the aim to make the tool easier to use, more efficient and provide the user with the main functionality to export their required OSM data in a number of requested file formats. The changes were made based on the results of a user survey and are listed below:

Login

Added:

• Login with OSM username
• Register email when first sign up (a download link is sent when export is complete)

Create Export

Added:

• Select area - Search area by place name or coordinates - Zoom to selection - Reset map - Map scale bar

• Export details - Coordinates of selected area (double check the right location and can line up a following export easier) - Size of area exported - List of feature tags selected (to check before re-running)

• Export Options - Publish loaded preset publicly - Save feature selection privately - Publish feature selection publicly - Publish export publicly

File Formats

Added:

• Esri .SHP (Thematic Layers - splits data into individual point, polyline and polygon feature tables)
• Garmin .MAP
• OsmAnd .OBF

Feature Selection

Added:

• Tree Tag Structure - Option of HDM and OSM data model - Expand branches and select individual feature tags - Save selection as XML preset file

Removed:

• Visual Tag Chooser

Configuration Files

Removed:

• Schema Transform
• Language Translation

Exports

Added:

• Filtering Options - Keyword - Start and End Date - Private versus Public - Interactive Map

Presets

Added:

• Filtering Options - Keyword - Start and End Date - Private versus Public

Testing Areas

Being open source, we would greatly appreciate the communities input into testing the site during its Beta release. Overall testing of the site will be extremely beneficial, but there are some key areas we would like to request your assistance on:

Browsers Compatibility

Thorough testing is required to ensure that the new site works well with multiple browsers, devices and platforms.

• Chrome
• Mozilla
• Safari
• Explorer
• Opera

Platform Compatibility

• Desktops
• Tablets
• Smart Phones

Internationalisation

The idea is to have the website translated into as many languages as possible so that the tool can be used around the world. As we are connecting the site to Transifex to enable the crowd-sourcing of translating, it would be highly beneficial for this to be tested during the Alpha phase to ensure that we have this set up correctly.

Help Documentation

Please highlight if any of the help documentation does not make sense, or you feel that we could elaborate on some areas to assist the users with navigation and use of the tool. Do note that the documentation is being finalised over the next couple of days as the site functionality is now set for the Live release. Additional screen grabs will be added to appropriate sections in the help documentation to visually guide users.

Export Creation

Finally and most importantly is the testing of creating new exports and ensuring that the data downloaded is correct. Please also check that the new export is saved correctly depending on whether you choose to save it 'Privately' or publish it 'Publicly' for everyone to use. Similarly please check this is also working for the creation of presets when using the Tree Tag Structure on the 'Select Features' tab or when uploading or selecting a preset file on the 'Select Preset' tab.

Common Questions

This is where answers to questions presented by the community during the Beta phase will be kept to ensure that everyone is up-to-date on the discussion surrounding the release. This also serves to reduce the amount of duplicated questions, as time will be limited during this period for response due to work being carried out to address GitHub issues.