Digital Literacy Program Launch, OSM News and More: SMC Monthly Updates Feb 2021
Digital Literacy Program Inaugurated
Inauguration of SMC's Digital Literacy Program was conducted on International Mother Language Day - 21st February. Famous Malayalam writer, N.S. Madhavan inaugurated the event and followed by a panel discussion consist of Dr.B. Ekbal, Bose Krishnamachary, Anwar Sadath, Mahesh Mangalattu, Santhosh Thottingal, Anivar Aravind and Sebin Jacob. For more details about the program, please visit the Community Portal.
OSM News
100 Millions Edits to OSM
On 25th February 2021, OpenStreetMap has recorded more than 100 million edits. The 100 millionth edit was done by user Lamine Ndiaye, while adding buildings in Nianiane, Sénégal. More about this feat can be found on OSM blog.
Geospatial Data Policy of India
Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, @IndiaDST explains the objectives and salient features of guidelines for liberalizing and empowering the geospatial data sector during a media briefing. Refer to the image below for more details. pic.twitter.com/HYg6PxkvNq
— AGI (@agiindia) February 15, 2021
Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India released a set of new guidelines for geospatial data. By this policy changes, GOI deregulates map making in India. You can read the press release about the new policy here: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1698073
Sajjad Anwar and Pranesh Prakash explain why this is a giant leap for mapping and OSM in India: https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/two-experts-decode-new-mapping-policy-guidelines-explain-why-this-is-a-giant-leap-forward-for-india-3454637.html
Kerala Map Localization
OSM Kerala along with SMC kickstarted a localization program for localizing Kerala map in OSM. The program started on 21st February as a part of International Mother Language Day. More details about the intiative can be found on OSM Kerala Github page.
Ecosystem News
One Million Labels: Wikidata Label-a-thon
WikiProject Kerala conducted a label-a-thon on 21st February, International Mother Language Day. This is a part of an year long program named - One Million Labels, which aims to add more Malayalam labels in Wikidata. By January 2021, Wikidata has more than one million of Malayalam labels. To see more about the program: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Kerala/Events/One_million_labels