MapDust
MapDust (MapDust.com) was established to provide a user friendly and intuitive interface to collect problems, missing entities or attributes that relate OpenStreetMap. It is similar to other Quality Assurance tools, particularly OpenStreetBugs. The intention is to enable the widest possible range of people to improve the OpenStreetMap database regardless of their technical skills.
Since its first release on November 23rd 2010, several extra features have been added to extend its usability. Most notable of these include the addition of interactive routing in the bug details view, and a relevance indicator/filter for bug reports based on completeness of description (changelog).
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Features
Overview
- Dedicated web site under MapDust.com
- Bug actions: View, Close, Invalidate/Reject, Reopen, Add comment
- Bug statistics
- Bug filter
- Locate bugs by address search or bug IDs
- Routing information for navigation related bugs
- Interactive routing in bug details view to verfiy routing behaviour
- Multi-language support
- Geo-RSS-feed
- Receive a report for each new bug within the selected area
- Use the filters to exclude specific bug types
- JOSM-plugin:
- View, Close, Invalidate, Reopen, Add comment, Add bug
- Filter for visible bugs
- Downloadable database of open bugs (Data Dumps)
- Full feature set availabie via API
Future Roadmap
- 2011
- Public API
- iOS-friendly web page
- Data dumps in CSV format
- Bug quality improvement measures
- User account (for monitoring system as well as for omitting CAPTCHA)
- Monitoring system for own/selected bugs
- Adjusted skobbler bug reporting interface (to improve bug quality)
- Wishlist
Usage
Adding a new bug
In order to add a new bug left click on the desired place on map. You need to provide your nickname and a short but meaningful comment for the bug. Only comments with valid nickname and description will be accepted.
Reviewing a bug report
To do
You can add a comment to bug report either by clicking the button "Add comment" or by selecting the “Add comment” option from the comments tab on the bug details page.
Closing or Invalidating a bug
Once you have reviewed a bug report and made any relevant changes to the OpenStreetMap data, you should either close the bug by selecting "Mark as fixed" or invalidate the bug by selecting “Mark as non-reproducible”. You will be asked to provide a short comment - something simple describing any changes made or in the case of an invalid bug, a request for additional information, will suffice.
Download data dumps
The data dumps are daily and they contain all open bugs from the system in that moment. The data format is SQL that includes also the commands to create/fill the tables besides. The structure of the data: two tables, one with the bugs ("osmexportbug") and another with the bug comments ("osmexportcomment"). File naming: the latest dump is always available as "latest_mapdust.sql.tar.gz". Older dumps (from the last week) are also available as "YYYYMMDD_mapdust.sql.tar.gz"
Viewing bugs in Potlatch / JOSM
To do
- JOSM-plugin
- Bug actions: View, Close, Invalidate/Reject, Reopen, Add comment, Add bug
- Bug details on four tabs: (1) Bug Details, (2) Address/Location, (3) Description, (4) Comments
- Online- & Offline-Mode
- Bugs via map selectable
- Filter for visible bugs
Bug filters
To do
Creating a custom Geo-RSS-feed
In order to establish a RSS-feed that shows new bugs in a certain area
- Create a map view on the area that is desired. Either search an address and zoom in/out or pan and zoom the map until the desired area is shown on the screen.
- Choose the filters accordingly on the three tabs "Status", "Type" and "Content"
- Click on the large Geo-RSS-feed button to get the link.
- Use the feed link in your preferred RSS-reader.
The Geo-RSS-feed will show all new bugs that belong to the selected area AND are in line with the filter settings.
FAQ
What is the intention behind MapDust?
MapDust is intended to give the widest range of users the possibility to contribute to OpenStreetMap by leaving litte reports that indicate a need for a change in the map.
Do I have to register to use MapDust?
No, you do not have to register to use MapDust. However, a nickname is requested for any change of bug report that you perform.
Where can I add bugs to MapDust?
You can add bugs via the MapDust-Homepage, the JOSM-Plug-In or the MapDust-API.
Where are the bugs stored?
The bugs are stored in a database that is operated by skobbler.
Can I download a complete set of bug reports?
Download dumps of (open) bugs are available.
Who will take care of my bug reports?
OpenStreetMap community members can use the bug reports to improve the maps. Bugs can be displayed via the web, a Geo-RSS-feed or as layer in JOSM.
Can I subscribe to bugs by RSS?
Yes. Select a map view on mapdust.com and apply the desired filters. All parameters of the current map view will be applied to the MapDust Geo-RSS-feed. Just press the large "Subscribe to Geo RSS feed" button and you get the correct feed address.
Is there an API for 3rd party software?
There is an API that is beta state currently. If you are interested in using the API request your key at info [at] skobbler.com.
What happens to invalid or irreproducible bugs?
If a bug is obviously invalid or irreproducible for whatever reason just change the bug report to "invalid". Don't hesitate to invalidate a bug.
Is there a difference between bug and bug report?
A bug report contains all available data for a reported bug (bug details, location, description and comments).
Under what licence are bug reports distributed?
Bug reports are licenced under a Public Domain licence (Public Domain Dedication and License - PDDL) - no need for attribution or any more restrictive conditions as they soley serve as input/hint where an adjustment of the map is required.
Are there statistics on creating and closing bugs?
The MapDust-Homepage cantains several statistics, which are continously extended.
Are there any user terms for using MapDust?
There are Terms of Use on the MapDust-Homepage.
Who has developed MapDust?
MapDust is developed and maintained by skobbler
Why are some bug reports of limited quality?
Many problems are reported through the feedback channel of the skobbler turn-by-turn navigation. Some of those users experience a problem during the route guidance and report the problem. However, not all users are aware of which information has to be provided in order to fix a bug. On the one hand this channels increases the volume of reports, on the other hand this channel reduces the quality of the bug reports.
What does "bug relevance" mean?
The bug relevance indicator tries to automatically evalute the completeness of the information that is required to fix the bug. "High" means that probably most information are available in the bug report to solve the problem. "Low" means that most likely additional information are required to solve the problem.
How can I test the routing behaviour around a bug?
The bug details view contains a tab called "interacting routing". You can change start and end position of the route to see how the route changes.
Please close the bug as software bug [Close as software bug].
Screenshots
Creating a new bug report.
Applying filters to the current map selection.
Detailed bug report.
MapDust Geo-RSS-feed.
Displaying bug statistics.
