After a chat on Discord I was suggested to start this topic here:
Around 12 Years ago I started an open source project called Housetrails (with Baugeschichte being the local name).
It is based on a Semantic Mediawiki, and the goal is to get a story about the buildings or be able to view the changes through time.
It is mostly used in the city of Graz, so nearly all content is in German language but here is an example: https://www.housetrails.org/Hauptplatz_1
You can also have categories, e.g. like having a look which buildings were demolished since 2010: Kategorie:Seit 2010 abgerissene Gebäude (Graz) – Baugeschichte
It is using OSM on the category maps, while adress pages are set to Google Maps, but this can be changed.
However, I wonder which direction to go with this project and OHM is also very interesting and targetting a similar matter, so the projects could be complementary. What do you think?
Thank you for this introduction – I agree that we should explore ways to collaborate so that the two projects can complement each other. OHM’s database is more focused on geodata, so users would benefit from being able to discover sites with more photos and information, using OHM as a hub for that research.
As a first step, would it be OK for OHM to cite Housetrails as a source? Housetrails is under the GFDL, which is more restrictive than OHM’s CC0 dedication. I don’t think copyright needs to be a concern as long as we’re only citing the facts in Housetrails. But with your permission, perhaps we could organize an initiative to ensure that all the buildings in Housetrails are present in OHM.
There are several ways to embed OHM onto a MediaWiki page. You could copy the OSM Wiki’s vector map template and its supporting JavaScript gadgets, or you could embed ohm-embed-1yr as an iframe. It looks like the category pages are including maps via the SMW Maps extension. I opened an issue to request support for OHM:
That sounds interesting!
I think it should be fine citing Housetrails as a source and vice versa trying to present and link buildings in OHM.
Concerning the licence I just took the one from Mediawiki projects since I don’t have much experience with that and thought that this will be ok. Allthough I prefer a free licence and try to get as many pictures as possible under this licence, the pictures also allow more restriced licences than the Wikipedia for example.
…and Austria I hope.
Well you could use Housetrails in other languages as well but it’s not so well known there yet and the multi language feature is a bit experimental.
