Notification preferences, Summer conferences, and upcoming changes to trace uploads
One more month about to go by, time to recap the latest changes to the website!
Interface
- You may remember that recently we reworked the underlying code for user notifications. Today we present the first visible result: a screen to set your notification preferences. Not a huge deal at the moment (email is still the only option), but more is on the way. (@pablobm)
- The iD editor was upgraded to v2.40.0, with changes such as a new rendering style for shared bike and foot paths, and dynamic level of detail for created circular objects. (@tyr_asd)
- Tangentially, now the current map location is preserved when you exit iD by clicking “History” on the header navigation. (@tyr_asd)
- We updated the signup form to refer to the Contributor Terms in a manner consistent with other instances. (Adi-gitX)
- We have added a few new terms for features that can result from Nominatim searches. (@Spixi)
- You can now use the website in the Cornish language 〓〓 (Wikipedia). (@Flynn, @TomH)
Data view
- We ensured that we show brand logos that match the user’s light/dark theme, even when logged out. (@hlfan)
- We updated the index that links keys and values with the appropriate pages in the Wiki. (@DaveSchweisguth)
- We expanded the list of tag keys for which we link
*:wikipediaand*:wikidatasuffixes. (@hlfan)
Community
- SotM Africa 2026 is coming up in June! You will be seeing the invitation banner on the website, and the African community invites you all to attend. (@Emmanuel_Jolaiya)
- And then you can jump on a plane and visit SotM Colombia 2026! The banner will be up too, but visible only to visitors in Colombia. (@AngocA)
Security and moderation
- We are finally dropping support for MD5-hashed passwords. If you haven’t logged in, like, in a looooong time and return now, you’ll be asked to reset your password. (@TomH)
- We have refactored some details of how iD communicates with the website, with view to properly sandboxing the editor. (@hlfan)
- We also refactored a CI workflow to follow security best practices as recommended by GitHub. (@Andy_Allan)
- And finally: we have introduced initial support for “Moderation Zones”. A new feature for moderators to mark some areas as sensitive and enact some restrictions. This is not enabled yet, but we plan to start by blocking anonymous notes in these areas, which has been a topic of discussion before with the community. (@pablobm)
- App developers please note a new API error response for the endpoint
POST /api/0.6/notes. See the API documentation for details. - This also introduces a new change through the back door: the main database now supports geospatial data via PostGIS. This is not to say that OSM will change its data model to use PostGIS, but rather that some features might take advantage of it in the future.
- App developers please note a new API error response for the endpoint
Under the bonnet
- We discovered a bug in an underlying library we use to render forms, and changed a setting to fix it. As a happy accident, this should produce slightly more accessible HTML. (@pablobm)
- We are now caching social links in user profiles, as they require processing a long list of regexps to render. (mvanhorn)
- We fixed the email notification for failed GPS trace imports, which acquired a bug when converted to use the new system. (@pablobm)
- And also fixed closing the notices banner, which wasn’t closing properly. (@hlfan)