Martijn van Exel
#Dutch expat, #SaltLakeCity #Utah. Likes to contribute to #OpenStreetMap and hang out with other people who do. My work is making #Geospatial #software and systems, currently at LiveMap.ch
My toots are pretty random: #maps, #geospatial, #opensource, #cycling, #bikes, #photography, #trains, #hiking, #bikepacking #camping, #transportation, #netherlands. Use rake and hoe to lever boulder.
One of my highlights of yesterday's Mapping USA online conference was osm.kids, a map using #OpenStreetMap that's made for #children! If you're zoomed in, it highlights things like playgrounds, fire stations, schools and ice cream shops.
When you zoom out, you see city and country names and flags so you can learn all about those!
It is so creative and I love it. osm.kids demonstrates so well that you can make maps with OSM that you cannot make with any other map tools out there.
I am bidding farewell to my days of unemp....freedom with a gift to you all: a globe you can look at!
if it breaks - fix it - I won't have time :) https://codeberg.org/mvexel/osm-mapper-globe
Hey all - I recently joined Livemap, a Swiss startup based in Zürich. I am the sole "map guy" here now, and in need of a routing algorithm / engine specialist (significantly beyond "I deployed Valhalla and got it to work). Drop me a line if you can recommend someone (including yourself)! CH / EU preferred but not required.
This doesn’t look like much, but I am running again after a year and change of hip issues! Onwards.
Hey friends - I am looking for new consulting projects.
My 20 years of experience in geospatial technology runs the gamut: product, software, data, startups to big corps. I like being open and frank, both about my own skillset (I'll find you someone else!) and about your product / software. I find that usually gets results fastest.
There's a link to set up some time to chat on my website. Looking forward to hearing from you!
A week into CachyOS / Plasma land - it's been a really good experience.
BUT
It breaks down where there's applications you don't want but need. In my case, examples are Notion and MS Teams that I need for work collab. Neither exist on Linux as native apps. Both have web apps and electron wrapper "apps" that are flaky and slow.
So where modern linux shines is really when you don't need to make these compromises and you have full agency over what applications you use.
the best part of an affogato is
1. scooping the melting gelato ouf of the still-warm espresso
2. drinking the cold creamy coffee-gelato afterwards.
I dislike flying as much as the rest person, but I love #SLC airport. Even with the rough spot TSA is in, we were through security in no time*. Then there’s the local businesses, just got a coffee at Hugo for $3.50, less than what I pay in town these days. Now we hang out in a roomy waiting area looking at the mountains.
*I read somewhere that the state of Utah guarantees (some) pay for TSA workers? I know for a fact that they do pay to keep the national parks open in case of a fed shutdown.
#OSM mapper globe was down because I abused nominatim with rev geocode requests and I was (rightfully!) blocked. I figured it wasn't worth the extra information (where approximately an edit was made in the scrolling list) so I just removed the calls and it's working like a charm again! https://globe.osm.lol/
other improvements welcome! https://codeberg.org/mvexel/osm-mapper-globe
latest phone scam, someone identifying himself as "agent Baxter" from the London Heathrow police calling me (mentioning my name) wishing to speak with me about some "ongoing investigation". Plausible British English. If there had been a +44 caller ID I would have probably picked up. Anyone encountered this? #scam
In the age of "agentic software development" I feel it's important to understand that every time you create a new public repository and commit code, you're actually adding two things to the OSS world. Code, obviously, but just as importantly, **expectation**. People will eventually stumble upon your code and think, hey that looks useful! Only to find out quickly that it is not maintained, untested and not written by a capable developer. That's wasted time for everyone.
Routing people! Is any of the OSS router ingestion tooling already adapted to work with Overture road data? I know @migurski@mastodon.social worked on adapting planetiler, just wondering if similar efforts going on for Valhalla, OTP, Graphhopper, OSRM? #OSM #OpenStreetMap #routing
@dschep@mastodon.social @osrm@en.osm.town @karussell@chaos.social
The most useful things we can do as individuals:
- Be the change you want to see. Do not use any Meta or Google platforms
- Support companies & organizations that fight for an independent, open internet. There must be a list somewhere, a few come to mind right away:
- @internetarchive
- @wikimediafoundation
- @openstreetmap
- @eff
- @kagihq
- ?? your thoughts ?? (I know that supporting Wikimedia with your individual donation is not without controversy, I think it's a net positive though.)
This is fun! I spent some time in SF in 2010-2012 so I remembered a few streets and the rest was just educated and uneducated guessing. Got to 34% of street miles named. https://carvin.github.io/sf-street-names/#
#sanfrancisco #maps #game
this is looking f***** fantastic
hard to really enjoy the too-nice weather

