Version 2: Alpha

Overview

The new HOT OSM Export Tool is being released for its Alpha phase on the 31st August. Please help us iron out any bugs or oversights by testing out the new site and logging any issues on the dedicated GitHub repository.

The Alpha phase runs from the 31st August till the 18th September, when the Beta release is scheduled for the final testing phase before the new site is migrated and goes live on the 28th September. Please note that we're testing with African data only due to disk constraints on the development server.

A special thanks goes out to Brian O’Hare who has worked relentlessly on the redevelopment, Arushi Vashist for supporting the work, the community for their feedback and the Hewlett Foundation, who’s generous grant made it possible to create a better tool to meet all your OSM data exporting needs.

Version Changes

There are some key changes that have been made between the original Export Tool and the redevelopment in the aim to make the tool easier to use, more efficient and provide the user with the main functionality to export their required OSM data in a number of requested file formats. The changes were made based on the results of a user survey and are listed below:

User Login

Added:

• Login with OSM Username ~ TODO

Create Export

Added:

• Interactive Map

• Zoom to selected area
• Search by name or coordinates

File Formats

Added:

• Esri .SHP (Thematic Layers)
• Garmin .MAP
• OsmAnd .OBF

Feature Selection

Added:

• Tree Tag Structure

• Option of HDM and OSM data model
• Expand branches and select individual features
• Save selection as preset file

Removed:

• Visual Tag Chooser

Configuration Files

Removed:

• Schema Transform
• Language Translation

Exports Store

Added:

• Filtering Options

• Keyword
• Start and End Date
• Interactive Map

Presets Store

Added:

• Filtering Options

• Keyword
• Start and End Date

Testing Areas

Being open source, we would greatly appreciate the communities input into testing the site during its Alpha release. Overall testing of the site will be extremely beneficial, but there are some key areas we would like to request your assistance on:

Browsers Compatibility

Thorough testing is required to ensure that the new site works well with multiple browerse, devices and platforms.

• Chrome
• Mozilla
• Safari
• Explorer
• Opera

Platform Compatibility

• Desktops
• Tablets
• Smart Phones

Internationalisation

The idea is to have the website translated into as many languages as possible so that the tool can be used around the world. As we are connecting the site to Transifex to enable the crowd-sourcing of translating, it would be highly beneficial for this to be tested during the Alpha phase to ensure that we have this set up correctly.

Help Documentation

Please highlight if any of the help documentation does not make sense, or you feel that we could elaborate on some areas to assist the users with navigation and use of the tool. Do note that as it is still the Alpha phase, the help documentation is currently in flux and is the best time to ensure that we are capturing everything to help the users. A video tutorial on how to use the new tool will be created during the Beta release phase to visually guide users through the new system.

Export Creation

Finally and most importantly is the testing of creating new exports and ensuring that the data downloaded is correct. Please also check that the new export is saved correctly depending on whether you choose to Save it to your personal store or Publish it to the global store for everyone to use. Similarly please check this is also working for the creation of presets when using the Tree Tag Structure on the 'Select Features' tab or when uploading a preset file on the 'Select Preset' tab.

Common Questions

This is where answers to questions presented by the community during the Alpha phase will be kept to ensure that everyone is up-to-date on the discussion surrounding the release. This also serves to reduce the amount of duplicated questions, as time will be limited during this period for response due to work being carried out to address GitHub issues.