Hacker News: pietervdvn

New comment by pietervdvn in "Updated Google Maps shows destruction of the city of Rafah"

pietervdvn — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 11:04:40 +0000

This wasn't done with strikes, but with (remote controlled) bulldozers. https://idfclub.org/remote-controlled-warfare-how-israels-ro...

New comment by pietervdvn in "How much of F-Droid is LLM generated?"

pietervdvn — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 18:57:52 +0000

Perhaps cause OP used "recently updated" apps? Vibecoded apps tend to have a higher update speed, thus skewing those results?

New comment by pietervdvn in "Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 11:10:15 +0000

Be very careful with "automated edits". We have a bit of a collective trauma and doing it completely right takes a ton of work. See https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Import/Guidelines

New comment by pietervdvn in "Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 11:09:14 +0000

Perhaps we should start working together and start reusing the questions from mapcomplete into cartes.app

New comment by pietervdvn in "Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 11:06:44 +0000

I made this: mapcomplete.org/shops

New comment by pietervdvn in "Make your first edit to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 11:05:36 +0000

I make https://mapcomplete.org which also serves as easy-to-use data consumer and editor. I sidestep most of the complexity by having a lot of thematic maps, each focussing on just a single topic (e.g. mapcomplete.org/shops, https://mapcomplete.org/toilets, ...)

New comment by pietervdvn in "How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads"

pietervdvn — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:52:46 +0000

Or you can use https://mapcomplete.org/charging_stations.html to add charging stations as well; data goes to OpenStreetMap too. Disclaimer: I make this

New comment by pietervdvn in "U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective"

pietervdvn — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 13:41:40 +0000

They host blogs and email used by many activists.

New comment by pietervdvn in "CoMaps: The Offline App That Guided Rescuers Without a Signal in Venezuela"

pietervdvn — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 20:24:58 +0000

OpenStreetMap is a great ecosystem - I'm a long term contributor.

Some pointers:

- CoMaps is a fork of Organic Maps, which forked long time ago from Maps.me - OsmAnd is similar. It has more features but is slower and clunkier - If you see errors/missing stuff on OpenStreetMap, fix them. You need a free account for this. There are various tools to help out, such as the editor on Osm.org. Beginner-friendly editors are https://MapComplete.org (which has thematic maps; disclaimer: I'm the main dev) and https://streetcomplete.app

Response to "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 20:36:42 +0000

Article URL: https://pietervdvn.me/2026/08/04/response-to-why-book-corners-wont-sync-contributions-back-to-openstreetmap/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49174734

Points: 7

# Comments: 1

New comment by pietervdvn in "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:40:50 +0000

I try to create such a thing with https://mapcomplete.org ; StreetComplete.app is also beginner friendly (but a different approach)

Yes, you'll always need a user account

New comment by pietervdvn in "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:42:00 +0000

First of all, I assume you are from the Netherlands (based on the .nl)

The Dutch OSM-community indeed is very conservative, a bit too much IMHO. We Belgians are more relaxed :)

Such a dataset would still be useful, but perhaps in a quality assurance tool, not as map notes that would clog the map. Can you link more information?

New comment by pietervdvn in "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 15:03:38 +0000

Because you need to pay "Little Free Library Corp." to become an official LFL and to get onto that map: https://littlefreelibrary.org/stewards/registration/

Getting an official "charter sign" will cost you 50 bucks.

New comment by pietervdvn in "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 15:01:24 +0000

How would you feel about integrating https://mapcomplete.org/bookcases.html? (which I make) as means of contribution?

This one sends data straight to OSM. I don't have my own database to "moderate", pictures are saved into a Panoramax-instance.

As users authenticate by logging in with OSM, the boring, risky legal stuff is handled by OpenStreetMap. Uploading images has a small print that says that their images will be reshared under CC-BY-SA.

The part where I suck is in creating a nice, polished website with extra pages, SEO, ...

New comment by pietervdvn in "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:55:12 +0000

Such as what I make: https://mapcomplete.org/bookcases.html?

New comment by pietervdvn in "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:53:26 +0000

OpenStreetMap does not and cannot offer permanent IDs. An entity might be mapped in more detail, resulting in something being split in two parts, or change from node to way, with wildly different IDs.

At the same time, a point might be repurposed as something else entirely.

New comment by pietervdvn in "Why Book Corners won't sync contributions back to OpenStreetMap"

pietervdvn — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:49:22 +0000

What makes a stream navigable and what hinders it? Is it water depth? Is it width? Can those be mapped? Are there edge cases that some people might be able to navigate those waters and others not? Or during certain times?

If you work this out, you'll get there

New comment by pietervdvn in "Book Corners: Community map of neighborhood book exchange spots"

pietervdvn — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 22:39:57 +0000

You can also contribute to OpenStreetMap instead - they have bookcases too

New comment by pietervdvn in "Book Corners: Community map of neighborhood book exchange spots"

pietervdvn — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:41:19 +0000

I think they have their own database. TBH, we'd better all contribute to OpenStreetMap, it's why I made https://mapcomplete.org/bookcases.html?

New comment by pietervdvn in "Book Corners: Community map of neighborhood book exchange spots"

pietervdvn — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:40:09 +0000

And they have a restrictive license. Not gonna happen