Which Bus? Such bus.

 

It started innocently when I noticed a local transit shelter had been moved to the other side of the highway but that wasn't showing up in Open Street Maps. When I looked deeper, I found OSM had 1 shelter and 3 bus stop like nodes where the bus formerly stopped.

Because I was inexperienced at using OSM for public transport routing as opposed to vehicle directions, I knew I should be careful making edits less valid data or relationships be lost or confusing to others.

It later dawned on me that this wasn't 1 stop being removed, or moved, it was 2 stops replaced by one nearby. So I chose to delete the 3 bogons, and move the leftover down the road. I think I did it right and am waiting for various map sites to get these updates and see how they look.

But like pulling a loose thread that turns into an unravel-fest, I found more "errors and omissions" on other stops beyond where I started. Primary bugs:

• Same bus stop ID number on 2 or more nodes. Should not happen.
• Some stops had a route identifier; some did not.
• Some stops had links/routes showing line numbers/names; some did not.
• Nodes were classified as "bus" "bus stop" "bus station" willy-nilly
• Multiple routes at one stop were mis-keyed as unseparated values
• A new route is not on the map; does it exist?

Whispering Woods transit stop, in the area now known as Hopkins Point.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6231632789

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6248418514

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6248418630

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/6231632792

Bus stops seem duped.

Insert oops here

@neatnit@fosstodon.org Thank you for the guidance. Seems redundant stops were added by different people over time, and I was uncertain best approach. This stop was moved to the other side of the highway, so passengers go east one stop to a loop, then go west.

[out:json][timeout:25];

// gather results

/*

community.openstreetmap.org/t/overpass-queries-finding-duplicate-values/121436/6

*/

node["highway"="bus_stop"]["ref"]({{bbox}});

for(t["ref"]) {

  if(count(nodes) > 1) {

    out tags center;

  }

}

// print results

out geom;

fix check:

https://overpass-api.de/api/sketch-line?network=BaltimoreLink&ref=59&operator=

The above is one view of the metro bus routes, showing the phantom (new) route #40.

It's ARCGIS, with Maryland State as the client/portal.

Another view:

Also ESRI-based, but with a more useful diagram of the route *and* stops. And termini.

https://www.mta.maryland.gov/schedule/stops/40

The MTA has a not-quite-current list of all bus stops, from a non-GUI menu path:

https://geodata.md.gov/imap/rest/services/Transportation/MD_Transit/FeatureServer/9/query

Simple-enough query-by-example fill-in-the boxes:

SELECT

stop_id, stop_name, Routes_Served, shelter

WHERE 

stop_id is NOT NULL

which returns columnar date in separate rows, plus coordinates.

e.g.

stop_name: OLD EASTERN AVE & SELIG AVE fs eb
Routes_Served: OR, 59, 62
Shelter: No
stop_id: 4522
Point:
X: -8511670.83
Y: 4766621.937700003

stop_name: OLD EASTERN AVE & ESSEX AVE eb
Routes_Served: OR, 59, 62, 160
Shelter: No
stop_id: 4524
Point:
X: -8511141.9511
Y: 4766737.762000002

(raw:)

/stop_name: / EASTERN BLVD & VIRGINIA AVE eb

/Routes_Served: / OR, 59, 62, 160

/Shelter: / No

/stop_id: / 7597

/Point:/

/X: / -8514337.1545

/Y: / 4765238.0484

The coordinate reference system I found worked with QGIS is "ESRI meters", also known as:

PROJCRS["WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere",
    ID["ESRI",102100]]

I used the findings of the duplicate stop search to check location and routes, as well as naming standards (which someone took care of 99.4% not too many years ago).

The zip-ties are an indicator of datum freshness. Broken signboard likewise.

Next steps:

• Add the missing 40 bus to OpenStreetMaps as a blank spot on the canvas.
• Find duplicate stops by checking how close together they are, that aren't headed in opposite directions.
• Figure out what to do about the majority of missing routes (as relations) for nodes.
• Other errors and omissions as they appear, i.e. quality assurance.
• Share timetable/schedule/interval info. See: chaos.social/@jspath55/114659131418285869
• Compare recorded comfort features (benches/shelters) with ground conditions.

Geotagging Charger Stations to see on Android Auto OsmAnd

 Searching for EV charging stations seems as much an art than a science so far. My flexible vehicle display provides searches from the manufacturer, and through Android Auto Google Maps and my installed OSMAND Android app.

What I'd like to see at a minimum I have through my own favorites shared as a KML file over Dropbox. Bit of work, and worth it so far for me.

I found when OsmAnd shows favorites, they are in alphabetical order, and no more than 10 are shown no matter how many are in the KML file. I've split my chargers list by brand in order to view all of them, even in the fractured level way. This example shows only Shell EV stations.

The map is useless, going from Hudson Bay to Venezuela, and there is no way to sort by distance, only name. Clicking on one item gets to navigation, with no map view in between.

Multiple chargers in one spot gets the worst result with OsmAnd Points of Interest for chargers.

You can see 10, but only 4 at once...

Some useful places to avoid, though, in later content.

At least on the POI view a map can appear. Not that you can zoom, pan, or otherwise affect that landscape shown behind the list while in motion. Or stopped at a light, as all of these shots were.

Only one field in the OpenStreetMap data is shown on the favorites list; thus I have refined what that should include, given space, mnemonic devices, and community standards. After I finish "just a couple more" on OSM edits I will reload my local phone map store and see what I've sown.

  

Bake-off - Mapillary and Panoramax

 Comparing 2 photo geolocation upload services, I considered dropping use of Mapillary if an equivalent portal exists beyond Google or Apple photos, first running into an incompatibility of graphic formats. The workaround was an un-edited image.

Panoramax authenticated through OpenStreetMap. 

4 strikes and out. Meanwhile the same image went into Mapillary in parallel.

After figuring out MS Paint edits mangled the GPS tags, the image stuck in Panoramax.

OpenStreetMap, local fork er spork off.

The panoramic image is off with only one in the sequence.

I uploaded an image with a license blurred, and Mapillary blurred it some more. In Panoramax, the plate was not blurred at all. 

The poll I ran heavily favored not using Mapillary. Including links to Mapillary on the main app/map page favors images on that site, though.

Other than the oddity of image-stretching, and the variation in blurring, both seem acceptable. I will try to use Panoramax with a few more EV charging stations, adding more useful details and missing stations.

Food Service Mapping

Food banks run by charitable organizations are a public service where private entities fill in where government runs short. Picking up, storing, and sharing food throws lifelines to those in need. I volunteered to create updated maps for Scouting America and decided to use QGis and related software tools.

(1) OSM

Going from the lowest level up, I added OpenStreetMaps (OSM). This is an easy drag-and-drop from the base QGIS sources into the current project. Depending on the desired result, I change the transparency from none to 50% more or less.

The standard OSM layer sources from openstreetmap.org. I've found, using tools like Viking, that variations on the main source can be used, and I prefer to try the Humanitarian one. Eventually I found the wiki page which let me set the feed, like this:

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Raster_tile_providers

https://a.tile.openstreetmap.fr/hot/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

(2) Org

The second layer is the organization table. These have street addresses in the source, so I geo-located them with a Census Bureau tool that works via command line.

Once located, the QGIS data are converted to geometry. In a PostgreSQL database, I imported organization details, which had only street addresses not geo-data. To convert from the address to a lat/lon point I found a Census page that I could script.

$ lynx -dump "https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/locations/address?street=10001%20Bird%20River%20Rd&state=md&zip=21220&benchmark=2020"  | grep Interpolate

   Interpolated Longitude (X) Coordinates: -76.432431362395

   Interpolated Latitude (Y) Coordinates: 39.356117523642

Ran the conversion steps and viewed points and polygons.  Once the latitude and longitude are set, the PostGIS function to make this into valid point(s) I used is:

UPDATE org.org SET geom = ST_SetSRID(ST_MakePoint(lng, lat), 4326);

(3) Tract shapes

Next level layer shows US Census tracts. I found a couple sources of these shape files, and used the Maryland State data.

https://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles/index.php?year=2020&layergroup=Census+Tracts

https://data.imap.maryland.gov/datasets/maryland::maryland-census-data-census-tracts/explore

[omitting how to add this layer from ZIP or shape files]

To match the boundaries of the local district I wrote a filter, first including only Baltimore County tracts and next excluding specific tracts not in scope.

QGIS lets me save and load a filter definition, more or less a SQL code snippet.

<Query>"COUNTYFP"='005' and "tractce"  NOT IN (

        '400100',

        '400200',

        '400400',

[...]

        '494201',

        '494202',

        '980000',

        '980100',

        '980200',

        '9999999999'

)

</Query>

The blank line prior to the query end lets me run a unique sort to more quickly find gaps and add or subtract tracts.

(4) Unit Tracts Coverage

The coverage mapping uses a simple table with tract and unit/organizations. In order to connect these to the tracts I created a view.

The tertiary phase: 3 Maps in One Vehicle

osm-and-auto-map

New to me EV has built-in GPS and navigation system. Android phone in car has GPS, and google map navigation routing system. Phone cannot access car GPS, to avoid duplication of effort. Car navigation map data might be aging, no updates without manual effort. Google maps keep personal placemarks, intentional or not.

Aim

Create a list of nearby charging stations with ratings, cost, owner/operator.

1. Just use Google
2. Use Google as little as possible (on an Android phone with GPS switched on)

For Option 2 I got 2 suggestions:

1. - OSMand
2. - @jspath55 Tried `Organic Maps`? @organicmaps 
1. Uses OpenStreetMaps: https://organicmaps.app/

I could not get  Organic Maps to do Android Auto, so OSMand was left to try.

https://osmand.net/docs/technical/osmand-file-formats/osmand-kml/ shows the general path I took using Google Earth and QGIS as alternate ways to produce a set of points.

Web site said $40US to connect to Android Auto. 3 tiers: free, one-time, subscription. Free version could only load a limited number of "offline" local maps (which has not been my experience so far).

Details

Use Viking and/or QGIS to record my points of interest (charging spots).

• Keep data in PostgreSQL database.
• Edit/view via LibreOffice.
• Export KML from QGIS, import to OSMand.

It has been a (rough) year since I worked on a town map, pulling in layers of county land info. Points and lines in a SQL structured database with QGIS access (R/W). First table create showed up a "non-geo". Icon was a table/sheet instead of dots, lines, or blobby GIS areas.

Second try was no better success than the first.

On the third try, I copied a table definition from an exported table that had geo-goo.

                        Table "public.chargers"

    Column    |         Type          | Collation | Nullable | Default

--------------+-----------------------+-----------+----------+---------

 station_id   | integer               |           | not null |

 address      | character varying(40) |           |          |

 zipcode      | integer               |           |          |

 brand        | character varying(40) |           |          |

 vendor_id    | integer               |           |          |

 grade        | character varying(12) |           |          |

 price        | double precision      |           |          |

 visited      | date                  |           |          |

 updated      | date                  |           |          |

 lat          | double precision      |           |          |

 lon          | double precision      |           |          |

 the_geometry | geometry(Point,4326)  |           |          |

 kwh          | double precision      |           |          |

 name         | character(40)         |           |          |

 note         | character(80)         |           |          |

Indexes:

    "chargers_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (station_id)

Check constraints:

    "chargers_geometry_point_chk" CHECK (st_geometrytype(the_geometry) = 'ST_Point'::text OR the_geometry IS NULL)

Finally able to add points and see them on the map. So far, no dice adding data points from LO that show on the map.

Next step: export map layer of points as a KML file.

First import to test on Google Earth showed every location called "noname".

Some data fields peeked through as table-like sheets in Google Earth on a PC, but less structured on a tablet:

Load into OSMand from a network drive, and yes, places show up under my favorites. Added a "name" column to the underlying table fixed the "noname" issue.

Using the OSMand app as a driving map is slightly different than the car map or the Google map. The colors and details are clearer. Startup is more complex, but does work.

Oddities:

1. Route going through driveways
2. Non-connected road shows as "take the left fork"
3. Stream flow direction

The above stream shows 2 directions, as if at the top of a hill, or mound (blue arrows on blue dashed line).

Next question(s)

Use OSM data format instead of KML.

Is location data still going off-device? Will this option change that (limit or redirect)? Seems a lot of on-device processing based on battery drain (or charge slipperiness) and heat.

Not the Top Ten Bengies List You're Looking For

 

The top ten list is traditional, though not guaranteed, as I learned this year. In prior years there were plenty of shows to see so the picking of the top 10 was challenging. I would know which movies I enjoyed and the others. 2024, though, was a challenge to find 10 movies we saw at the Drive-In. 

The list that follows is basically in chronological order, running from March to December,  practically 10 full months. We skipped the dusk-to-dawn shows, or we could have added another 8 or so to the list.

MARCH

Bob Marley One Love

JUNE

INVASION OF the body SNATCHERS. 

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

Scooby-Doo Doo and the BARCS

JULY

LION KING 1994

Inside Out 2

SEPTEMBER

Scout Drive In Camp In

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
LITTLE SHOP of HORRORS

DECEMBER

Wicked

RED one

In retrospect, One Love was a standout; Red One was better than anticipated, and Little Shop of Horrors survived the test of time. I saw BEETLEJUICE twice, almost 3 times., but missed the original when it ran. See you next year!

Third and inches

 The football expression is fourth and inches, so this is not a sport tale. Making a loom required 3 teeth per inch to get 19 across a 7 inch span conforming to the available loops. Imperial scale rules don't help, and rather than get out the metric equivalent I drew a quick sketch in LibreOffice then exported to PNG and PDF.

ODG:

And the works-in-progress at camp:

4-sided loom:

Hammering teeth

Teeth on edge

Two sided loom:

The finish line.

Lining up for pre-drilling in clamp.