TL;DR: 

• 🎉 Transportation is GA!
• 🗓️ Upcoming Events: Join us at CES, GeoBuiz, GeoWeek, and the Overture Member Summit.
• 🌟 Member Spotlight: HOT Telemapathon; welcome Intellias!
• 💡 Cool Projects: A new QGIS plugin and 30DayMapChallenge highlights.
• 📰 Overture News: Industry insights from ITS World Congress and FGDC’s Strategic Plan.

4 min read

Hello Peter 👋,

My name is Brad Richardson, a software engineer at Meta and co-chair of the Transportation theme at Overture Maps. Today, I’m excited to share that our Transportation theme has officially reached General Availability (GA)! This release is particularly meaningful because it’s the culmination of countless hours of effort—not just from our current team but also from those who set the stage before us. 

At Meta, I work on map data pipelines and ensure we can deliver quality, vandalism-free maps across Meta’s various platforms–including Facebook and Instagram. Within Overture, my role focuses on automating the transformation of raw road network data into easily consumable, schematized road segments. It’s been a rewarding experience to collaborate with such a talented team, and now we get to see how it’ll be used by all of you.

If you’re curious about the journey behind this release, check out our blog, where we share an open and transparent look at the challenges, complexities, and teamwork that brought Transportation to GA.

What excites me most is the possibilities this opens up—how this data can support your ideas and innovations. We’d love your feedback on the release: test it out, let us know what’s working, and share your experiences. You can start a discussion thread in our data repository on GitHub or you can reach out to the team directly at community@overturemaps.org. And if you’re as excited as we are, help spread the word on LI & X! 

Thanks for joining us on this journey.

Enjoy the data, 

Brad

🎉 What's New This Month

The final data release of 2024 is here!

• 🚦 Transportation theme goes GA, see our press release and blog for details. 
• 🌊 New bathymetry feature type in our base theme
• 🏠 400+ million addresses and growing (with updates in Czechia, Liechtenstein, Uruguay, and more)
• Read the release notes.

🙌 The Overture Explorer is now in GA, making it easier to explore and download Overture data.

• Improved Downloads: The download button now works reliably, exporting all visible layers on your screen in .geojson format.
• Feature Selection Panel: A community-requested addition! Simply click anywhere to view a list of Overture features aligned with your selection.
• Enhanced Inspector Panel: See more detailed feature information at a glance.

We’d love to hear your thoughts—click the bug icon in the map controls to report any issues or share your feedback!

🗓️ Meet Us IRL – Upcoming Events

Overture Maps Foundation is kicking off 2025 with exciting opportunities to explore open data, geospatial innovation, and climate resilience. Here’s where you can find us:

• GeoBuiz Summit 2025: Open Data Platforms – Empowering a Map Data Ecosystem
  
  • Join Overture and our members, Microsoft and Precisely, for a panel discussion on how open map data can create a collaborative platform and ecosystem for businesses and government agencies.
  • Panelists: Marc Prioleau, Jeffrey Hightower (Microsoft), Drew Breunig (Precisely), Dr. Leslie Jones (Alaska Geospatial Council)
  • 🗓️ Jan 14, 12:15 - 12:45 PM MST

• CES: The Tech Frontier in Climate Resilience
  
  • Catch our Technical Director Amy Rose as she joins a panel to discuss the intersection of geospatial intelligence, data, and engineering in adapting to climate challenges.
  • 🗓️ Jan 7, 9:00 - 9:40 AM PST
• Geo Week: What Open Data Means for Geospatial Professionals
  
  • Explore the profound implications of open data for geospatial professionals with Overture’s Amy Rose and other thought leaders from the Open Geospatial Consortium.
  • 🗓️ Feb 11, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM MT
• Overture Member Summit 2025
  
  • Become a member to attend the Overture Maps Foundation Member Summit—our annual gathering where members exchange ideas, build connections, and shape the future of Overture.
  • 🗓️ April 9-11, 2025 

🌟Member Spotlight

Our member's community is doing incredible things! Check out these highlights:

• Humanitarian OpenStreetMap hosted a 24-hour Global Telemapathon with 1,500+ participants, raising $47,860 for humanitarian mapping projects. Overture is proud to support this event. Learn more.
• We're excited to welcome Intellias to the Overture Maps community! Their expertise in digital mapping and innovation strengthens our mission to build reliable open data for the global community. 🌍