OpenStreetMap
Can i get some help with adding these damn buildings in Montreal?
Posted by Growebis on 22 April 2023 in English. Last updated on 15 May 2024.Edit: The imagery, according to one commenter, needs permission from the governement to be able to use it, my bad for mentioning a WMS link that i though had an open license to it.
Edit 2: Someone uploaded the database of Montreal buildings. Thanks for everyone that helped.
i swear i might have a dream of me just adding buildings in OSM but can i like, get some help with adding the buildings because this is gonna take too long. if anybody is actually reading this then if you want to help me, add buildings using Geodesie Quebec satellite as its 100% accurate , you just need to add parameters for it to function as custom satellite. https://servicescarto.mern.gouv.qc.ca/pes/services/Territoire/RESEAU_GEODESIQUE_WMS/MapServer/WMSServer
Discussion
Comment from MatthiasMatthias on 22 April 2023 at 22:20
Hello. Have you tried JOSM and the building extension? https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM/Plugins/BuildingsTools
Comment from Growebis on 23 April 2023 at 02:20
No, but i don’t have any experience with josm editor, let alone the extension. Also this might be a nitpick, but i like it when the buildings are detailed rather then just rectangles, as most the buildings that I’m mapping are not exactly rectangle, like they are rectangle but they have like something sticking out most of the time.
Most of the buildings that im mapping look something like this. https://imgur.com/a/frCnBB4
Comment from andy mackey on 23 April 2023 at 09:32
Several years ago I used quite a lot of time drawing outlines after getting a help request from another mapper. I spend months on his small town. He was more precise than me. He redrew quite a lot of it and did a great job. If you want it to your standard do it your self. It is easier with good images and a big screen, and the right tools…..JOSM, plus GPXes the verity image position and surveys to check for changes and details. See his work https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/52.2168/-0.0795 Happy Mapping
Comment from MxxCon on 23 April 2023 at 17:19
Check if your government has open data portal from which buildings could be imported as a whole. Reach out to your local mapping community for help. They might know where to go for such data. Also check with RapiD, it might already have building shapes for you to import.
Comment from benoitdd on 25 April 2023 at 13:46
I used to draw buildings with iD, but like @MatthiasMatthias i highly recommend to use JOSM if you want to trace a lot of them. It is so much faster and clean! Really worth the time you’ll spend to learn it
From this page, it is possible to import opendata from Montreal in OpenStreetMap.
The data for buildings does exist and you could use (with JOSM and its plugin OpenData) to bring them into OSM https://donnees.montreal.ca/dataset/batiment-2d
Comment from benoitdd on 25 April 2023 at 14:06
If you try to import, you’ll have to discuss it with the local community before: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca
the local community of mappers in Montreal has a facebook page, I don’t know if it’s still active: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Category:Users_in_Montréal
Comment from Growebis on 26 April 2023 at 01:08
Thanks for the info provided, but wouldn’t importing the building data overlap with already existing building data?
Comment from MxxCon on 26 April 2023 at 01:52
There are various conflation processes. You could review every imported object or overwrite existing objects or probably the easiest, if there’s something already there, skip that.
Comment from rtnf on 29 April 2023 at 03:48
What parameters?
Comment from cbeddow on 30 April 2023 at 16:23
Are you using
to add buildings? Looks like the AI detected buildings from Microsoft are pretty nicely matched with the Bing Maps Aerial imagery too, but would be great to see the WMS you listed get added to the aerial sources
Comment from gtalbot on 30 April 2023 at 16:25
Hi, the provided url does not work for me. I receive “ The request not allowed. “ error message.
I would like to have a look to see if I can help.
Comment from cbeddow on 30 April 2023 at 16:26
Are you using Rapid editor to add buildings? Looks like the AI detected buildings from Microsoft are pretty nicely matched with the Bing Maps Aerial imagery too, but would be great to see the WMS you listed get added to the aerial sources.
Comment from Growebis on 1 May 2023 at 01:07
To answer you question cbeddow, no, im not using the Rapid editor, im using a special ID editor provided to me by someone, i looked at some of the AI buildings from microsoft on rapid editor, and while they are aligned according to Bing, there is an offset present in Montreal so i would need to adjust every single one of them manually. Also most of them are not detailed to my liking.
To answer your question gtalbot, I dont know if i can help since i didnt get this error at all when i was using the imagery.
Comment from MxxCon on 1 May 2023 at 01:40
Having some data everywhere is more useful than no data almost everywhere 🤷 You could add those buildings and they would be good enough and useful for most users and then you can sit around and improve them at your own pace.
Comment from CasGroenigen on 3 May 2023 at 12:28
I added some buildings close to where you were editing. You can select the building types. I hope this helps you a little.
Comment from Growebis on 4 May 2023 at 01:35
I do appreciate your effort CasGroenigen, i forgot to mention that bing imagery is not correctly aligned, so all the buildings you added are misaligned, also i think adding the buildings of the backyards of houses just makes the map messy in my opinion. Currently as of 2020, its 0.6, -1.54, or you can use Geodesie Quebec satellite because its by default aligned, and then align all the buildings
Comment from benoitdd on 4 May 2023 at 11:10
I did a test (without sending the data) to import the opendata, it works fine.
I sent a request to the local community (https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca) to work further on an import.
Comment from ChaireMobiliteKaligrafy on 5 May 2023 at 18:05
Please do not use https://servicescarto.mern.gouv.qc.ca/pes/services/Territoire/RESEAU_GEODESIQUE_WMS/MapServer/WMSServer servers without permission from the government. These are restricted access data.
Comment from gtalbot on 5 May 2023 at 19:17
That is what I suspected. Since I don’t have access to the site, I can’t help on importing the data.
Comment from AGeographer on 5 May 2023 at 20:15
Hi, Based on your diary entry there is currently a discussion on https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca. I would like to invite you to join us there.
I also would be interested to get the buildings into OSM. There is a very nice accurate buildings’ footprint data set provided by the City of Montreal since 2016, even with the expressed consent to import it into OSM. However, there is a reason why it is not yet imported: The data source doesn’t come as individual buildings for terraced houses. There is a divider layer included, however, it is not trivial to split up the data into single buildings - the way we usually enter buildings in OSM. For more see the discussion on the list.
Comment from Growebis on 5 May 2023 at 23:42
I just subscribed to the discussion. im waiting to get any email from them.
Comment from AGeographer on 6 May 2023 at 20:11
Hi Growebis, here is the link to our thread in the list’s archive: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-ca/2023-May/010758.html
We had the discussion in French, if you need English you could paste the content in https://www.deepl.com/translator