OSM Francophone Libre ETL
LLg has implemented a system known as ETL (short for Extract, Transform, Load or, in French, “Extraction, Transformation, and Loading”), which allows users to download detailed OpenStreetMap thematic layers for 28 French-speaking countries in the Global South (those listed on this Wikipedia page + Haiti). The attributes (“tags”) of these layers are available not only in their original English version, but also in a French version that includes 1,400 categorized attributes derived from existing translations in the OSM wiki and the JOSM editor. These layers are constantly updated, just minutes after the main OSM database.
There are multiple ways to access data and metadata from the IFL :
- mapping contexts for viewing, querying, filtering, and downloading, each dedicated to a specific country;
- metadata records dedicated to presenting each available topic ;
- metadata records dedicated to each French-speaking country covered with an integrated download link via drop-down menus and a link to the country-specific map context;
- a parent metadata record that details the ETL and links the metadata records together.
The two datasets, in English and French, each consist of 17 layers covering:
- the 8 main themes (administrative boundaries, places, transportation, barriers, points of interest, buildings, land cover, hydrography);
- the so-called “Planet” theme, which groups all OSM objects in the area to create other themes.
The attribute table for each theme includes both a specific field for each of the most common OSM keys and a field containing all attributes of each object, even the rarest ones.
These download points contribute to LLg’s efforts to promote, support, and strengthen the OSM project, particularly the reuse of OpenStreetMap data among non-English-speaking audiences, as well as to promote the geOrchestra IDS, whose various software components are involved. The list of attributes translated into French is available here for viewing and any suggestions or contributions.