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Useful Grid Mapping tools for OSM

Osmose per country

Osmose per country - This is a front end interface that allows fetching data on gaps in the OSM data through the OSMOSE API on a country level.

What is Osmose?

"Osmose-QA is a quality assurance tool that detects issues in OpenStreetMap data"

How to use the Osmose per country tool

  1. Go to the tool website or the repository to find it.
  2. Type the name of the country you want to find osmose issues for.
  3. Press Fetch Data. This will download a geojson file you can use as a hint layer in JOSM.

Tip: Certain countries have different names associated, so to fetch the data for the entire country use an asterisk (wildcard) like: France*

OSM and Global Energy Monitor comparison tool

GEM per Country Power Tracker web application - The tool allows users to preview and download GeoJSON data for global power plants in the Global Energy Monitor database filtered by country and power plant status.

How to use the GEM power plants per country tool

  1. Go to the repository and copy the line to clone (instructions can be found there)
  1. In your terminal/command prompt: 
    git clone https://github.com/open-energy-transition/gem_per_country.git

    cd gem_per_country

    open index.html   # macOS
xdg-open index.html   # Linux
start index.html   # Windows
    You can also open the index.html file.

  2. Type the name of the country you want to data for. Press preview, and download the geojson file.

OSM and Wikidata comparison tool

This repository contains a Python script compares power plant data between OpenStreetMap (OSM) and Wikidata. It fetches data from both sources using APIs, performs comparisons based on geographic proximity and name, and identifies missing power plants or coordinate mismatches.
The comparison results are saved in CSV and GeoJSON formats.

How to use the OSM-Wikidata comparison tool

  1. Paste the requirements.txt file in your current directory/folder.
  2. Install dependencies needed 
    pip install -r requirements.txt
  3. Choose the country you want in the code by changing the name and Wikidata code. Run the script 
    # ---------------------- CONFIGURATION ---------------------- #
# Specify the country you want to analyze. Adjust the 'COUNTRY_NAME' and 'country_code' accordingly.
COUNTRY_NAME = "Kenya" # Example: "Germany", "Brazil", "France"
#country_code = "Q1033"   # Country code according to Wikidata
max_distance_km = 0.7  #max_distance_km (float): The maximum distance to consider a match (in kilometers).
mismatch_threshold_km = 0.5 #mismatch_threshold_km (float): The threshold distance beyond which the coordinates are considered mismatched.

Google Maps Substations

Google Maps would be the perfect additional data source for the locations and names of substations worldwide, but so far no official authorisation has been granted for using the location of substation within OpenStreetMap. Particularly in remote areas of low- and middle-income countries, Google Maps shows many transmission and distribution substations that are difficult to locate using current mapping strategies. Knowing only the locations of these substations would greatly accelerate the progress of grid mapping and allow the discovery of smaller substations that are relevant for estimating distribution network coverage and rural electrification levels. Particularly in remote areas of low- and middle-income countries, Google Maps shows many transmission and distribution substations. Knowing only the locations of these substations would greatly accelerate the progress of grid mapping and allow the discovery of smaller substations that are relevant for estimating the coverage of the distribution network and the level of electrification of rural areas. Together with the OpenStreetMap community, the data can be integrated using officially authorised satellite images for OpenStreetMap contributors.

Google Maps has not yet granted official authorisation for the use of its data. Google would provide a significant boost to the sustainable energy transition, tackling climate change and bringing electricity to rural communities at the same time. Google would enable a significant boost to the sustainable energy transition, tackling climate change and bringing electricity to remote communities. Theirfor we are kindly are request formal permission to access and utilize the coordinates of ‘electrical substations’ displayed on Google Maps, ideally via, for the purpose of enriching OpenStreetMap and advancing global grid mapping initiatives. This task for request is currently in progress and can be found here.