Organised Editing/Activities/Solar Power Mapping

Rationale

Global Energy Monitor, in partnership with TransitionZero, is working to catalog solar power installations all over the world in the Global Solar Power Tracker. As part of this effort, we are contributing information on solar power to OpenStreetMap. Accurate, detailed open data on energy production is vital to our efforts to ensure a clean energy future.

Community consultation

The project was announced to the community forum on July 11, 2023.

Timeframe

The mapping activity took place from July to December of 2023.

Tools and data sources

The mapping team edited remotely, primarily using JOSM, with Bing and Esri as aerial imagery sources.

Participants/Contact

• Clay Smalley
  • clay_c@gem (on osm, edits, contrib, heatmap, chngset com.)
  • clay.smalley@globalenergymonitor.org

Measuring our success

See all the solar power installations we've mapped with this Overpass query.

Training/instructions

The mapping team used JOSM to map solar power installations globally. This involved identifying characteristics of the installation, including the following OSM tags:

• power=plant
  • plant:method=*
  • plant:output:electricity=*
  • plant:source=*
• power=generator
  • generator:method=*
  • generator:output:electricity=*
  • generator:source=*
  • generator:type=*
  • location=*
  • generator:solar:tracking=*