Create a Locate project¶

This guide goes from an image on imagery.hotosm.org to a processed project in the MapSwipe manager. Follow the steps in order. You need a manager account on stage or production (see the home page). Create and check the project on stage first, then create it again on production.

1. Copy the image link¶

1. Open https://imagery.hotosm.org/browse.
2. Find your area: click the magnifier on the map, type the city and country, for example Freetown, Sierra Leone, and click Go (observed on imagery.hotosm.org). You can also turn the mouse wheel over the map, or click + and -.
3. The list on the left shows the images in view. When the image you want isn't listed, click Load More at the bottom of the list (observed on imagery.hotosm.org). The examples in these guides use Freetown Urban with Sensitive Areas Blurred.
4. Under the image you want, click Show Details.
5. Check that the details that opened belong to the image you chose, then click Copy TMS.

2. Load the image in the area finder¶

1. Open the area finder in a new browser tab.
2. Click the field under Load an image and paste the link with Ctrl+V.
3. Click Load.
4. Wait until the side panel says The yellow area is the imagery footprint, ready to download.

The red line shows where the image has imagery. White and black edges are left out. The yellow area inside the red line is the area of interest.

3. Choose the zoom and the sub-grid¶

The Volunteer view in the side panel shows the tile under the white square in the middle of the map, with its cells. Volunteers see one tile like this on each screen of the app (observed in the web app). Volunteers tap the cells that contain the object.

1. Turn the mouse wheel over the map to zoom in until you can see the objects volunteers will look for, for example solar panels. Then drag the map so the white square sits on one of them.

   

   In the Freetown image, rooftop solar panels show as light grey rectangles with white frames, set in rows, as in the picture above.

2. Under Project zoom, click 18, 19, 20 and 21 in turn, and look at the Volunteer view each time. Choose the lowest zoom where you can still recognise the object. A red note under Project zoom means the zoom is finer than the imagery, so its tiles look blurred: choose the zoom it names or lower. Each step down in zoom covers the same area with four times fewer tiles, so volunteers finish sooner. A red note under Area of interest means the area is too large at that zoom (see step 4).

3. Under Sub-grid, click 2x2, 4x4 and 8x8 in turn. Choose the size where one object fits inside about one cell.
4. Write down the zoom and the sub-grid. You enter them in the manager in steps 8 and 9.

4. Download the area of interest¶

Check Area of interest in the side panel: it gives the size and an estimate of how many tiles MapSwipe will create. A red note appears when the area is too large for MapSwipe at the project zoom, or when the file is larger than 1 MB. Draw a smaller area or choose a lower zoom.

To use the whole image, click Download area of interest. The file area-of-interest.geojson is saved.

To use only part of the image, draw around places where you saw the object, so the tutorial has clear examples to show:

1. Click Draw area.
2. Click on the map to add the corners of a shape. Click the first corner again to close it.
3. For a separate place, draw another shape.
4. While you draw, the Draw area button reads Done. Click Done when the shapes are closed. A shape that is not closed yet is dropped.
5. Click Download area of interest.

The helper cuts the shapes to the imagery. Use footprint removes the shapes and goes back to the whole image.

5. Save a cover image and copy the tile URL¶

1. Zoom the map to a view that shows the object well.
2. Click Save map view as cover image. The file cover-image.jpg is saved.
3. Under Tile URL for the manager, click Copy tile URL. Keep the area finder tab open: you paste this URL again in step 8 and in the tutorial builder.

6. Start the project in the manager¶

1. Log in to the manager: https://managers-stage.mapswipe.org/ for stage, https://managers.mapswipe.org/ for production.
2. On the home page, click New Project.
3. Under Project Type, click Locate Objects. The type can't be changed later.

4. Under General, fill in the fields:

   Field	What to enter	Example
   Project topic	A title following the naming convention on the home page	fAIrSwipe - Sierra Leone - Solar Panels
   Project region	City and country	Freetown, Sierra Leone
   Project number	1, or the next number when the same feature and area get several projects	1
   Organization	Type fAIrSwipe and pick fAIrSwipe Grantees	fAIrSwipe Grantees
   Project description	Why the data is collected; markdown is supported	Help us to find rooftop solar panels in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Your answers help train GeoAI models created with fAIr.
   Instruction	What volunteers look for, shown above every tile	We are looking for rooftop solar panels
   Look for (legacy)	The object name. The web app shows it in the tutorial as "You are looking for: ..."	Solar panels

5. Leave Select Team and Additional info URL empty.

6. Click Save Draft. The message Project created successfully! appears and the page opens as Update project.

7. Set the task details and cover image¶

Scroll down to Additional.

1. Verification number: how many volunteers see each tile. The form says "Default is 3, but 5 or more is recommended for harder tasks." (observed in the manager). Enter 3 for objects that are easy to see, or 5 for harder ones.
2. Group size: keep 25.
3. Max tasks per user: leave it empty, so each volunteer can map any number of tasks.
4. Project cover image: click Select an image and choose cover-image.jpg from step 5.

8. Add the area and imagery¶

Scroll down to Locate Objects.

1. AOI geometry: click Select geojson and choose area-of-interest.geojson from step 4.
2. Imagery server: check that Custom is selected.
3. Custom Imagery Server URL: paste the tile URL from step 5. It starts with https://api.imagery.hotosm.org/. If you type the URL, a red note about {x}, {y} and {z} shows until the URL is complete.
4. Imagery Credits: the image provider and licence, for example OpenAerialMap, DroneTM, CC-BY-4.0. The image record lists the provider under providers and the licence under license, for example DroneTM and CC-BY-4.0 in the Freetown image record.
5. Min zoom: leave it empty. Max zoom: enter 22.
6. Zoom level: click the field and choose the zoom from step 3, for example the item that starts with 20 (Close-up View).
7. Look at the map preview on the right. Click AOI bounds to see the whole area. Check that it shows the imagery.

9. Set the grid, answers and export meta¶

1. Sub grid Size: click the size from step 3, for example 4x4.
2. Include 'Multiple Features' option: keep it ticked when one cell can hold several objects, for example trees in groups. Untick it when knowing whether a cell has the object is enough. The solar panel example unticks it.

3. Export Meta: enter a Key and a Value that describe the object, for example its OpenStreetMap tag:

   Object	Key	Value
   Solar panels	generator:source	solar (OSM wiki)
   Trees	natural	tree (OSM wiki)
   Buildings	building	yes (OSM wiki)

4. Click Save project. The message Project updated successfully! appears.

5. Reload the page and check that the tile URL, the zoom level and the area file are still there.

10. Process the project¶

1. At the top right, click Process.
2. Click Confirm. The message Project status updated successfully! appears and the left panel shows Processing Project.
3. Wait, and reload the page now and then. An area of a few hundred tiles takes under a minute (observed in the manager).
4. When Processed is highlighted in the left panel, a Publish button appears at the top right.

From now on the area and imagery settings are read-only. Before publishing, the project needs a tutorial: continue with Create the tutorial.