GSOC 2011/OpenStreetMap/Projects

Like every year this years mentoring organizations for Google Summer of Code 2011 has been announced and OpenStreetMap is in this years list as well.

Now as a lot of cheap phones has the capability to click pictures in high resolution,make GPS traces,shoot videos and have a internet connection via WIFI/GPRS or mobile broadband connection. I would really love to see a mobile based OSM mapping application that can utilize this facility and able to do photo tag/Video tag with GPS traces,upload to OSM/Flickr/Youtube, create and edit basic maps.

The idea by Zhijie Shen is here. So in case if you are interested in developing such an application do get in touch with the OSM community.

Apart from this you can find a lot of interesting project ideas here.

Student application for GSOC 2011 starts from March 29th.

Google Summer of Code 2009

Well, like previous year  this year we are also in Google Summer of Code 2009. So if you are interested in OpenStreetMap, This is the right time to do so. You can take a look at potential project applications here.

GSoC meetup at Google R&D Bangalore office.

28th july was scheduled for the meetup about which i was very excited. Reached Bangalore on 27th and rested for the day .

On 28th reached Google’s office at old madras road . At reception me along with other GSoC students were given stickers on which our names were printed . We were recieved by Aishwarya k and were given a hearty welcome .Though photography inside was forbidden .

our meetup was scheduled in two halves . First half was mainly googlers explaining Google’s work culture and their way of work . Its so amazing . One thing i found interesting is that Google’s way of thinking is very much open source though technlogy used is little bit different.

Then we had lunch . This is a google part as we were introduced to new googler’s or nooglers and learnt from their experiences . We talked about out project with them .

One thing to notice is people be it the office head or security gaurd are all treated equally as compared to typical indian offices . I liked that .

The second half after lunch was our time to give presentations . though most were not ready with it and gave wonderful talks without it . i somehow managed to take help from the slides i created .

The last part was a round round trip within the office and saw the googlers working . it was nice .

We recieved few goodies and finally it was time to depart . I didnt managed to do good clicks but sarath managed to do so .

Bangalore visit .

Though my original intention was GSoC Meetup held at Google R&D office in bangalore on 28th July. I somehow succesfully converted it into a vacation which i needed very badly .

After a lot of fight i finally managed to get hold of two train tickets to bangalore via chennai .

my train to chennai (corromondol express ) reached chennai at 5:45 pm and my connecting train was at 11:15 pm ,so took a auto to a fast visit to Marina beach . It was ages since i did my last visit to a beach so this was soothing though hugely crowded .

On reaching bangalore on 27th  took a auto to a nearby hotel .(since first time in a bangalore auto, i was fearing something thats mostly warned by people in planet india , though nothing like that happened ).Checked in and rested for the day.

Next day was the meetup day . took a auto to google office in old madras road .(the meetup details will be posted soon) .

The day next to meetup was a conducted tour to bangalore’s famous places .Visited some of the famous tourist places like lalbagh ,popular  temples and off course VITM techological museum which i liked very much.

One thing to mention is that i liked the way museum  authority is so open to kids . kids do have fun time there and lot to learn , there no ” Dont touch” for kids ,and i guess thats what make them learn faster . I hope West Bengal goverment should learn from it and spent time on something like that rather than doing non public interest politics.

The last day was journey day . Yeshwantpur-howrah  express is one of those pathetic trains i wont board again . It took 3 days to reach home .

However reached Durgapur safely .And had a pleasent holiday .

photos will be posted soon .

[GSoC] GPSBabel Plugin For JOSM –status == complete

*phew * after a lot of silly mistakes and fight ..finally gpsbabel plug in available for josm ..that what i can say watching by JOSM firing up a nice gpsbabel gui in my machine .

Thanks a lot to my Mentor Raphael Mack . and Josm Dev people for bearing all the silly mistake and i will try to lower the rate of doing so in my next parts .

So I guess part 1 of my project is complete … is it ??? bugs ??  . Any bugs will be handled later on .. need to shift to part 2 as i am getting behind schedule .

A screenshot .

<resolved > didn’t manage to take snapshot of the menu though … any suggestions out here ????????

Bugs : Currently cancel or close buttun if pressed closed JOSM too … Will be reloved in next part when cancel and execute button will be handled properly.

<resloved> cancel button bug and exit button now works properly .

Next part will be :Direct GPX Upload from JOSM

Need a lot of work out here .. so will take time … I will be uploading the plugin soon some where ..

You can get the JAR file  from here : Do keep posting about bugs in comment section of this post .

N.B . This jar file works on linux only . For those who want to use it in Windows .Please do bear for some more time .

Happy Testing 😛

[GSoC] GPSBabel Plugin Update

My plugin is working in linux well and good . Only thing remaing is to integrate it in JOSM . Here are few screenshots .

Now just a test in windows is left ..and will be done by today .. need a place to share my code .

[GSoC] Gpsbabel plugin status report

I finally finished my exam and started coding at full power .

In the last 15 hours of work i have done the following :-

1. Redesigned the gui and  finished adding functinality to GUI .

2. Executing gpsbabel via the gui – > work on progress . Here i am stuck because i dont have a gps device and unable to test whether its functioning properly  .

Everything is working , just some random test from a real gps device is needed .Hopefully will be done in 2 days .

A screen shot showing the new look and functionalitis added .

[GSoC] GPSBabel Plugin for JOSM post 1u1

I mainly maintain my contact with my mentor Raphael Mack via email . so after some discussions and some ideas from my mentor . I finally managed to make a GUI on which I will be continuing my work .

My plugin is divided in three part .

1.  GUI itself(design with Netbeans used Metal theme as JOSM uses simmilar one

2 . Bridging with GPSBabel

3.  Integrating with JOSM (Java Open Street Map Editor )

the screenshot of GUI is here  :-

My current work is to interlink the gui parts . In the mean time as per my mentors suggestion I am working on a java class that is actually goint to call gpsbabel .

so I have

GUI —> bridge java class — > gpsbabel  call .

I will be posting codes regarding this soon coz ” no commitment no work ” is the final motto .. bleh

P.S : I am also looking for a GPS device and shortlisted Garmin Ventura HCx and Vista HCx from the same (Pradeepto has got one ) . Need Sugesstions here if anybody as any experieences with these devices .

P.P.S : exams extended due to CPI(m) and trinamul congress bandh regarding fuel price hike . ( I feel like  demolishing  these two parties ) .[:(]

[GSoC] GPSBabel Plugin for JOSM – post 1

My GSoC proposal is a three module part , of which I am posting about my first module .

GPSBabel (for who dont know ) is a utility tool to download gps data in various format from your gps device ,phone etc . Since my proposal aims at a smoother flow of gps data from GPS device to OSM (OpenStreetMap) Server ,see my proposal. My first attempt is to get a good nice GPSBabel GUI for JOSM or Java Open Street Map Editor for making openstreetmap.

After rigorous search I found that there has been several attempt in making a GUI for GPSBabel utility out of which only few succed .

Going by opensource  principle and rather than a scratch design I finally settled down to a design made some couple of years ago . A screenshot is here :-

Though in catalan , I think this with color of JOSM (default color scheme ) will look nice .Coding for the plugin is on way and will post about it sooner .

Since I am having exams from 3rd of June to 12th June , I wont be able code full time but will try as much as i can in this period . Based on above screenshot I will be posting my design within this week .

Trying to organise my work …………….

Again exams cant help much [:(] ,