News — 19 September, 2017
Export Tool 3.0 Launched
Version 3 of the Export Tool officially LAUNCHED on 18th September 2017. The new version is now hosted at export.hotosm.org, with Version 2 available at old-export.hotosm.org till mid November 2017, when it will be shut down.
Version 3 of the Export Tool officially LAUNCHED on 18th September 2017. The new version is now hosted at export.hotosm.org, with Version 2 available at old-export.hotosm.org till mid November 2017, when it will be shut down.
The Export Tool allows users to create custom OpenStreetMap (OSM) extracts anywhere in the world, by selecting an area of interest, map features and file formats. Within minutes, up-to-date OSM data is exported, filtered and converted.
The Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) and partners have been working on developing the Export Tool to address numerous bugs, incorporate feature enhancements, redesign the user-interface (UI) and extend support to other platforms such as the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX).
Major changes include opening up all regions for export, adding more ways to select the area of interest (AOI), additional file formats, enhancing the feature selection process and redesigning the UI to follow a more consistent HOT brand across its tools, as well as make it a more intuitive experience for users:
1. AOI can be selected through searching, bounding box coordinates, drawing a box, free drawing, using the view or importing a GeoJSON file
2. New file formats include Geopackage, OSM XML, Maps.me and MBTiles
3. Feature selection uses YAML in place of Presets for high level filtering
4. Summary options provided include buffering the AOI and publishing the export
A series of ‘Learn Export Tool’ blog posts will follow over the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the HOT Twitter feed each Monday, as we take users through different aspects of the tool’s key functionality:
Selecting Area of Interest (September 25th)
Data File Formats (October 2nd)
Customising Map Features (October 9th)
Applying Exported Data (October 16th)
A special thanks goes to Seth Fitzsimmons and Brandon Liu, who have worked on the tool since the beginning of the year, to develop and incorporate the changes for Version 3. They are continuing to provide support till the end of November 2017, so please add any feedback to the dedicated GitHub repository.
Other importants events and dates to keep in mind include an Export Tool workshop in October and a community webinar in November, where we hope to see many of you:
22nd October 2017
State of the Map (SOTM) US
Denver, Colorado
Export Tool Community Chat
15th November 2017
Online Webinar
Global
The improvements to the Export Tool were made possible through a USAID, Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) funded program together with the University of Hawaii: Pacific Disaster Centre (PDC) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): PetaBencana.
The program is focused on supporting the Government of Indonesia: Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB), through the development of InAWARE, a disaster management tool aimed at improving overall risk assessment, early-warning, and disaster-management decision making.
