Rapid is a free and user-friendly web-based editor that combines AI-generated and authoritative datasets with OpenStreetMap data to improve accuracy and completeness.
Rapid collaborates with authoritative data providers, such as Esri, to integrate high-quality and well-mapped data into OpenStreetMap, ensuring its accuracy and reliability.
Rapid is shifting its focus towards map gardening, aiming to maintain and improve existing data in OpenStreetMap by empowering editors to review, correct errors, and personalize their editing experience.
Deep dives
Rapid: A Free and Open Source Web-based Map Editor for OpenStreetMap
Rapid is a free and easy to use web-based open source map editor for OpenStreetMap. It allows users to map faster by conflating AI and authoritative datasets with OpenStreetMap data. Rapid is designed to help users add missing data to the map, such as road and building shapes. Users can access Rapid by visiting rapideditor.org and start mapping immediately in their browser. The editor also integrates with other platforms like Mappilary, a crowdsource street view imagery company, to provide additional AI-generated predictions for features like bike parking and utility poles. The aim of Rapid is to make the map editing process more efficient and user-friendly, empowering editors to contribute high-quality data to OpenStreetMap.
Conflating AI Data and Authoritative Datasets with OpenStreetMap
Rapid is focused on combining AI-generated data with authoritative datasets to improve the accuracy and completeness of OpenStreetMap. AI-generated data, such as road and building shapes, is derived from orthographic satellite imagery using neural networks and deep learning algorithms. Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, has created a global roads dataset, while Microsoft has created a buildings dataset that is available in most countries. Rapid enables users to add this AI-generated data to OpenStreetMap by providing a web-based editing interface. However, the editor ensures that human reviewers have the final say on the data, conducting quality assurance to verify the accuracy of the AI-generated shapes before they are added to the map.
Collaboration with Authoritative Data Providers
Rapid collaborates with authoritative data providers, such as Esri, to incorporate high-quality and well-mapped data into OpenStreetMap. Through Rapid's ArcGIS data set browser, users can access Esri's data, which includes building shapes, addresses, and other relevant information. These authoritative data sets have undergone rigorous quality assurance and licensing processes to ensure their accuracy and reliability. By integrating these data sets into the rapid editor, users can access authoritative data and contribute to its improvement by reviewing, editing, and adding the data to OpenStreetMap. This collaboration between Rapid and authoritative data providers enables the community to benefit from well-mapped and up-to-date information.
Map Gardening: Focusing on Data Maintenance and Improvement
Rapid is shifting its focus towards map gardening, which involves maintaining and improving the existing data in OpenStreetMap. This approach recognizes that complete data is not only about adding missing features, but also about updating and refining existing information. Rapid aims to provide editing workflows that empower editors to review and modify the data that already exists on the map. This includes identifying outdated data, correcting errors, and adding missing metadata. Future developments in Rapid will introduce features and tools that facilitate map gardening and enable editors to personalize their editing experience, enhancing their productivity and engagement with OpenStreetMap.
The Future of Rapid: Customizable Editing Tools and Community Engagement
The future of Rapid involves giving users more control over how they see and edit the map. Plans include introducing customizable rendering options, allowing users to define their preferred visual representations of specific features, such as bike infrastructure. This customization will enable editors to focus on the data relevant to their tasks and facilitate the identification of errors, gaps, or outdated information. Additionally, Rapid aims to develop tools that support collaborative map gardening, encouraging users to take ownership of specific areas and contribute to data maintenance and improvement. The goal is to create a more user-centric, customizable, and engaging editing experience within the OpenStreetMap community.
Rapid is a free open-source web-based editor for an OpenStreetMap. In the past the focus was on conflating AI-generated datasets with OpenStreetMap data but the future for this editor is conflating authoritative datasets with OpenStreetMap.
Humans are in the loop, people reviewing data authoritative datasets and adding them to OpenStreetMap with a few clicks!
So you might be wondering, what is Authoritative data? And perhaps it doesn’t even matter what authoritative means maybe the most important thing is it correct.
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