A nationwide effort to improve point of interest information in Ghana.
Mapillary is working with the Ghana mapping community to improve the OpenStreetMap data on amenities. To do so we are creating capture and mapping tasks in 5 locations across the country. The capture tasks will require local citizens to collect imagery within the assigned grid, with the imagery being used to identify and add amenities. By linking these two efforts, we hope to greatly increase the number of mapped schools, universities, hospitals, fire stations, banks, ATMs, and restaurants in Ghana.
Read on to understand how the tasks work, and how you can participate.
Key dates
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Image capture task begins | February 21st 00:00 UTC |
| Edit task begins | February 28th 00:00 UTC |
| Tasks end | March 31st 23:59 UTC |
| Results and review | April 6th 12:00 UTC |
The Locations
Five locations in Ghana have been selected for the project. Follow the links to see the exact extent of each capture and mapping locations.
You can get a nation wide perspective of the task here with a leaderboard that tracks images and unique kilometres.
Image task
The first step of the project will be to collect street-level imagery that will enable people to add points of interest (POIs) to the map. The mapping task will open up one week into the project to give participants time to collect useful imagery.
Each of the 5 locations has an associated grid in which imagery is to be collected. As images are uploaded, the leaderboard will start to populate, showing both the number of images the contributor has uploaded and the kilometres of coverage they have added to the map. Note: the leaderboard tracks unique kilometres which is another way of saying the length of sequences captured on ways without existing imagery.
A screenshot of the Central Accra capture task
What to capture
The key objective of the project is to add POI data using Mapillary imagery. Imagery should thus be collected that helps identify certain POIs. See Mapping Task below for a full list of POIs in focus.
To get collect imagery that assists map edits, mappers should coordinate between themselves to collect images at both 0° and 45° to the direction of travel. Roads will need to be driven in both directions so that mappers can identify as many POIs as possible.
Amenities such as petrol stations, schools, and hospitals
Road names
Mapping task
Mapping attributes
In coming days we’ll be opening up a mapping task as well so that people can edit the map using collected Mapillary imagery as a source. Edits will be focused on the following types of POI data:
- Educational (amenity=school, amenity=university, amenity=college)
- Medical facility (amenity=hospital, building=hospital, amenity=clinic, amenity=doctors, amenity=dentist)
- Eating and drinking (amenity=restaurant, amenity=cafe, amenity=fast_food, amenity=pub, amenity=bar)
- Government services (amenity=police, amenity=fire_station, amenity=courthouse, amenity=post_office)
- Financial services (amenity=bank, amenity=atm, amenity=bureau_de_change, amenity=payment_centre, amenity=money_transfer)
- Street names (highway name=)
You can find the 5 mapping tasks here:
Launch Workshops
Local groups are going to be the driving force behind the mapping efforts. To ensure everyone is working together, launch workshops are going to be conducted in each of the task locations. Each workshop will cover:
- Capturing street-level imagery with Mapillary
- Understanding the task area
- Editing in OpenStreetMap (specifically adding POIs)
Stay tuned for details on dates and times.
How to take part in the task
To take part in the image capture part of the task, all you need to do is capture images in one of the task locations. Once your images have been uploaded you’ll automatically appear on the leaderboard. It’s recommended that you attend one of the launch events and communicate with other mappers to find out which areas and map features are higher priority.
If you’re located outside of the task locations and would like to take part, stay tuned for details on the mapping task. POIs will need to be added from all the collected imagery and the more hands on deck the better.
