Google Summer of Code/2009/Project Ideas

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This is our old project ideas page for Google Summer of Code 2009. The student application deadline (April 3) has passed.
We are no longer interested in gathering project ideas for GSoC 2009.

For more lists of project ideas see the Google Summer of Code page, the Student projects page, and Things To Do page. Worthwhile ideas listed on this page should be copied onto one of those.

If you're interested in what actually got submitted as student applications, and how things are progressing, see Google Summer of Code. Unlike last year we dont seem to be listing the actual received applications. GSoC Student Applications 2009 page is just some drafts.

Application Name

Details

People

Submitter: --Submitter name--

Possible Mentors: --Mentor name(s)--

OSM Comments

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Roll your own OSM derivative

Make it easy to set up a Slippy Map with your own layer information on top

Details

Make it easy/easier to set-up a slippy map web site with your own information layered on top. As a bonus, make it easy to edit just this layer with Potlatch/the applet/etc. so people can for example encourage people to add park benches, nice views, local meeting places, etc. a bit like Google Maps The idea here it to enable things like mashups, local maps, and specialized maps like the Cycle map, but in an easy to use and friendly to deploy manner.

People

Submitter: Historybuff 16:22, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors: --Mentor name(s)--

OSM Comments

  • I already have got something that does roughly this, although it doesn't use much of the OSM stack. See [1] for details. --Thomas Wood 15:02, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Easy-to-use OSM to SVG converter

Details

When looking on wikipedia's provinces of some-country or districts of some-country pages I always think it would be nice to have a tool which lets me select a certain subset of osm-data and create a nice looking svg-image which could be added to wikipedia articles to illustrate geographic data. Lets say I'd like to show the russian river Lena in all it's length from spring to delta - maybe even with her tributaries. I can *not* do this with potlatch's export function.

Since there is not yet a web-interface that lets me select the River Lena as a whole it could be a sort of Save as... svg-File JOSM plugin which does the job. If JOSM can save osm-data as gpx-file (a xml dialect) it shouldn't be too complicated to generate svg-files (a xml dialect) too. But if someone develops a web-interface that would be even better.

You can use Osmarender to do this. It could certainly be made more convenient and easier to use, but it is possible. Andrewpmk 22:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

People

Submitter: --katpatuka 18:46, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors:

OSM Comments

  • We have such a thing on the website "export->SVG". But indeed, nothing for local, filtered osm-data.

Easy relation presets in OSM Editors (JOSM/Potlatch/Merkaartor)

Details

It is currently difficult and inconvenient to edit relations with the OpenStreetMap editors. As a result, relations are not very widely used in OpenStreetMap. There ought to be presets for commonly-used types of relations, e.g. multipolygon, turn restriction, route relations, and others proposed on the Relations wiki page. This will help greatly in making OpenStreetMap more "newbie-friendly".

People

Submitter: --Andrewpmk 22:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors:

OSM Comments

  • Sounds good to me. Since JOSM and Potlatch/Merkaartor are written in different languages validation-rules and filtering of possible elements to be assigned a given role in the GUI would need to be in a script-language understood by all of them and evaluated against a common object-model. ...complex enough a task for a GSoc-project.

User-friendly Web Application to browse map content

Details

I'm working on an application for quite some time which let's you 'browse' through the content of the displayed part of the map. You can even click on an object on the map and get information for this object. Depending on the information you are looking for, different overlays can be displayed. A lot of pre-processing is done to improve handling of data (e.g. collecting streets with same name and their house numbers, grouping routes of public transportation on the same way, ...), and the style has been heavily improved. I call it the 'OpenStreetBrowser'. You can take a look on http://pitr.cg.tuwien.ac.at, currently only data of Europe is available. But please be a little patient, rendering speed still has to be improved :)

I'd planned it to publish it later in spring, but as the GSoC deadline is approaching soon ...

People

Submitter: Skunk 07:08, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors: --Mentor name(s)--

OSM Comments

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  • It would be useful in applications that help to make decisions in critical situations like natural disasters. Layer will show schools, roads, farmland and houses affected by natural disasters. --Allan Avendaño
  • Another application could be in the tourist field, by showing places of interest. --Allan Avendaño

Android navigation application using OSM data

Details

The application will not need a data connection as it will use data in it's own binary format. The data will be split into countries the can be load separately as needed. To convert data from OSM format to internal application format a separate app will be written. the graphics will be limited to 2D for now, but as it will use Android OpenGL ES libraries the implementation of 3D graphics will be possible in the future.

People

Submitter: Cipt2001 09:04, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors: Ciprian Talaba Cipt2001

Possible Parttime-Mentors: Matthias Brandt Mattelacchiato

OSM Comments

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  • The OSMbin(file format) has existing tool-support as one possible data-format. --MarcusWolschon 09:42, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
  • There is Java-code for rendering, routing, gps-handling,... that can be used in Traveling Salesman. --MarcusWolschon 09:42, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
  • Another application, also java-based (J2ME) that can do map display, gps support and navigation is GpsMid. Perhaps it can be used as source of ideas or code. --Bilbo 15:50, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
  • The parts of AndNav2 are opensource (although not the core) and might be rolled into this project --Matt 11:24, 25 March 2009 (UTC)
  • Vespucci Is an existin OSM Editor for Android. It has Android-Optimized Datastructure and a lot more. --Matthias Brandt 21:05, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Advanced file-format for OSM data

Details

Create a new or optimize an existing file-format that can be shared by applications working with OSM-data. This may be routers/navigators, map-editors ro moving maps. Current file formats are not indexed or immutable like XML or uncompressed with indexes may be improved like the OSMbin(file format). No current format is compressed.

Commercial applications fit maps of europe or the planet on an SD-card and are fast. Our formats are not that space-efficient and have the added requirement that OSM-data changes all the time and thus local maps in devices may need constant updating.

This touches the fields of spacial data-structures, spacial and non-spacial indexing, compression and complexity-analysis.

The resulting format must be implementable in more then one language and have full documentation and a reference-implementation in a language in use in OSM.

People

Submitter: --MarcusWolschon 10:02, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors: Marcus Wolschon Marcus (part time)

OSM Comments

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I think it is a good idea, I may use results in one application I intend to develop. Though the format arise some questions:

  • Is it intended as a "final" format that any app can use directly (perhaps only add few specific indexes aside to it) or format from which other formats can be derivet easier than from the XML? Since most apps would want to convert tags like highway=residential (or combination of tags like highway=residential + railway=tram) to one or more "graphics" or "navigation" objects or alike, maybe the format could be made so that parameters (tags) could be relatively easily replaced with application-specific data (possibly tossing away tags the application does not understand) without having to touch/invalidate the indexes (so it could be converted in one single (and simple) quick pass over the data)
    • Definately as a final on-disk format. Your idea of support for application-specific blobs and tags (but not indexes as they would need to be kept uptodate) sounds very usefull. (However I have proven that the osm data-model is adequate to be used directly even for navigation given 2-way references.)
  • I guess probably the most often "queries" that should be as fast as possible is "return all objects withing bbox" (needed for anything that displays part of maps: either some mapviewer or something like a tileserver) and "return ways connected to node X" (this would be needed for building routing graph or for routing in general)
    • Actually while profiling I found that this is only second to "get all ways this node is a part of" and "get all relations this object is a part of". But such details of a format are of concern only later. If and only if someone is found to do this.
  • Different means of transport (by foot, bicycle, by car, by public transport, by combination (foot+public transport...)) would mean different routing restriction/different ways included into routing.
    • So...what does this have to do with a file-format? You can filter however you like before saving to or while loading data from it.
  • String/fulltext search: searching for text within the data -> maybe the format could allow it too? (where is street "Xyz"?)
  • Level of detail -> once the bbox grows large (viewing of large chunks of globe, like zooming over entire country, basically when the mapviewer is zoomed far out), returning ALL objects would mean huge amount of data and to keep things fast, some level-of-detail would need to be used. And since different apps would like to omit/make simpler different objects, would such LOD settings be possible to specify at build-time (easier) or at query time (harder)? Or solve this problem differently?

Hmmm ... making all this editable would probably make the problem much harder ...

  • Not really. While doing the Osmbin -specification, its reference-implementation and the LODDataSer of Traveling Salesman, I found it to be of little concern. You just have to think harder for keeping your indexes balanced. I think a read-only format would be of limited use and rob the applications that use it of some of the most important edges OSM has over commercial maps.

--Bilbo 22:23, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

I think such a project would be very useful. Ojw 13:21, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Easy Data Extraction

Details

An application or website to make a data extract of OpenStreetMap data based on user-configurable search criteria. Receive the output data in various formats (including OSM, ESRI Shapefile, Adobe Illustrator).

People

Submitter: Yellowbkpk 21:33, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors: Yellowbkpk 21:33, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

OSM Comments

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Static Maps API

Details

Static Maps API similar to Google Static Maps API. It would be extremely useful for mobile web applications and was poping up in several discussion in mailing lists and twitter. Many options can be considered:

  • plotting of markers, lines, etc.;
  • caching of images, and force redrawing of tiles;
  • using key to limit number requests;
  • different formats (PNG, JPG ...);
  • ...

As a platform for such a service I would suggest Python's framework Django, so that the code could be deployed on stand-alone servers as well as Google App Engine.

People

Submitter: Artem Dudarev 13 March 2009

Possible Mentors: Artem Dudarev 13 March 2009

Takers: Looks like Paweł Niechoda is submitting a static maps proposal

OSM Comments

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  • If Mapnik ends up playing a role here let me know how I can help --Dane Springmeyer 4 April 2009

Visualization of activity

Details

ITOWorld OSM Mapper does an excellent job visualizing updates in OSM database. Consider an open-source product that would also help to answer questions like:

  • what updates and by whom were done in a given region?
  • which region shows the largest activity recently?
  • ...

People

Submitter: Artem Dudarev 13 March 2009

Possible Mentors: Artem Dudarev 13 March 2009

OSM Comments

  • Improving Osmdiff could go a long way towards solving this, i.e. using its diff engine and building an RSS feed on top of that, or diffing a whole country and automatically render the areas that were active in the period being diffed at a higher zoom. --Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 23:07, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Automatic generation of file with used tags

Details

Some system to either periodically collect tags described on wiki in map features and in proposed features or some better system for voting/proposing tags, that will output results from its process to these two pages. Main output of the system would be some "validation" file in machine readable format (XML?), that could be used for:

  • Validating data in OSM (various editors/validators) - unknown tagging should often either be fixed or entered into "proposed features".
  • Help with constructing renderers (ruleset of renderers could be automatically consulted with the file, warning about tags not implemented by renderer). Diffs of the file could be also helpful with that (you'll see what was added/changed and what you need to implement)
  • Directly use as help/presets in OSM editing applications (for this would help if the file would contain also human-readable description extracted from wiki).

Software using the file should be able to tell if the tag combination is proposed, "official" (being on map features) or deprecated, either by using separate files for these or by marking tags inside the file.

People

Submitter: Bilbo 10:21, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors: ?

OSM Comments

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JOSM Audio Waypoints (an audio analysis project)

Details

One method of mapping is to make a GPX track and a continuous voice recording. A mechanism already exists to synchronize the audio with GPX waypoints/named trackpoints, so that you can click a marker and hear what you said at that point. However, this depends on pressing a button on the GPS device to mark the waypoint (sometimes many buttons). It would be very convenient if the audio markers could be generated by recognising a word or phrase within the audio track instead (then there are no buttons to press). For example say "MARKER: Wibble Street" and we can get a button at the word MARKER.

Integrating with JOSM is straightforward, so the task boils down to analysing a WAV file (specifically WAV, please, because of the limitations on the Java audio playing library and also the ability to vary speed and have easy direct access to jump to a particular timed point in the recording) and creating a list of timestamps at which the chosen phrase is present. Ideally the phrase should be determined by a sample recording or recordings (so it can be trained). It needs to work in a relatively noisy street environment (so should probably err on the side of more rather than fewer false positives) and needs to cope with recordings of several hours and hundreds of instances of the key phrase. Ideally written in Java for easy creation of a JOSM plugin at some stage. The final list could be a separate structure (e.g. an XML file) or could be appended to the WAV file as a set of labels (WAV supports this).

People

Submitter: David.earl 10:53, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Possible Mentors: David.earl

OSM Comments

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