Kevin Bullock

Satellite imagery has materially enhanced OpenStreetMap and improved editing and validation. In this talk we will talk about recent enhancements we've made to get even more information from satellite imagery.

DigitalGlobe, now known as Maxar Technologies, has been providing two sources of imagery directly for OpenStreetMap (OSM) users for tracing and validating. Over the past couple years, we’ve received a lot of excellent feedback from OSM users and we are making a few changes to better serve OSM volunteers. Part of this presentation will address some of the common questions we are asked, address some of the common feedback, and dive into the upcoming changes to the services that we provide. We want to do this to clear up any confusion or future questions the community might have. We will further demonstrate how we have integrated Maxar imagery into the OpenStreetMap ecosystem. In both iD and JOSM, we have developed a custom plugin that connects to the commercial satellite imagery service and provides a carousel view of available imagery in the visual extent of the editor. Images are arranged temporally providing opportunities to compare areas against different time periods. The plugin also applies the metadata from the image as tags on the feature, including source:imagery, source:imagery:layerName, source:imagery:sensor, and source:imagery:date. Leveraging these services and applying the metadata of the imagery enhances the mapping experience, enriches OSM data, and improves the end-user benefits.