Tech Articles
These are a few documents I've written recently about field mapping
for OpenStreetMap (OSM), primarily using OpenDataKit (ODK). I've
used ODK for years, and HOT is
also a very heavy user of ODK. I've been heavily into field mapping
for emergency response on my own time for many years, so often
test my tech ideas with my own mapping projects. My presentation at SOTM-US 2022 on
"OSM For Firefighting" dicusses this project, but only briefly
mentions the tech behind it. These documents are more about the tech
details that support the project. Luckily HOT pays me to make the
tech part work better.
The ODK to OSM conversion software I'm working on, and the slowly
growing library of XLSForms is here: https://github.com/hotosm/osm-fieldwork. This
is a work in progress, everyone is welcome to contribute.
- California and Back (PDF),
- A recent long road trip (Nov 2024) from Colorado to
California and back all on remote back roads.
- Desert Mapping Trip (PDF,
HTML)
- A recent (June 2024) trip mapping in the Utah desert.
- Trip Preparations (PDF,
HTML)
- How I prepare to be able to work fully offline.
- Camping With ODK (PDF,
HTML)
- A field mapping trip, Fall 2022, focused on testing some XLSXForm
design ideas. Photos from this trip are here.
- Highway Mapping With ODK (PDF,
HTML)
- A field trip collecting data on remote highways using
ODK, Fall 2021. Photos from this trip are here.
- Mapping Offline (PDF,
HTML)
- How I work fully offline for extended periods.
- Improve XLSForms (PDF,
HTML)
- This is a doc on creating XLSForms with better mapper data
flow and other advanced functionality.
- External Datasets (PDF,
HTML)
- This is a document on how to use OpenStreetMap data in ODK
Collect. Here's a really simple Example
project that uses this functionality.
- Mapping Amenities
(PDF),
(HTML)
- Preparations for another field mapping trips to a remote
part of Colorado with close to zero data in
OpenStreetMap. Camping and offline of course.
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