Mapillary contributors in Europe can now apply for a 360º camera thanks to a collaboration between Meta and OpenStreetMap Belgium. We’re making these cameras available to improve the availability of 360º street-level imagery. We’re particularly excited about mapping pedestrian infrastructure such as footpaths and crosswalks, so anyone with similar ambitions would be a great candidate. Read on to find out what you would receive and how you can apply.

OpenStreetMap Belgium

OpenStreetMap Belgium (as the name suggests) is the local chapter of OpenStreetMap in Belgium. Joost and I had been discussing a camera grant program for a while and he kindly took on the responsibility of getting such a program up and running. In fact, they had been running a smaller version of this for a while, so this is a chance to scale it up throughout the European Union. Belgium is a good home for the program, being centrally located in Europe which will make camera distribution easier.

What to expect

The program will start off with 20 cameras. There is almost always more demand for cameras than cameras available, so unfortunately some people will have to miss out. The application process tries to address this by identifying those with a track record of contributing to and using Mapillary, with a clear idea of how they want to use the camera. If you are interested in the program, but haven’t contributed to Mapillary before, we recommend you try our apps on iOS and Android first. If the European program is successful and the cameras widely used, we’d love to expand it down the line.

Earlier this year we launched a similar initiative in collaboration with OpenStreetMap US and we’ve been thrilled with the response there. Noel from BetaNYC has been capturing images from his bicycle to map cycle and pedestrian infrastructure and justinmeyers has been capturing imagery in Minnesota, including some of his adventures on Upper Eau Claire Lake. The imagery in New York is already proving useful for sidewalk mapping and similar imagery in Europe would be incredibly beneficial for OpenStreetMap.

Generally we send the following items. Note that contents may change slightly due to stock and supplier availability.

1. GoPro Max 360º camera
2. 128GB microSD card
3. Selfie stick with ¼” screw
4. ¼” screw to GoPro adapter
5. Dual battery charger with Enduro battery
6. Fat Gecko Triple Suction Mount
7. Vented helmet strap mount (Sent to those with a bicycle)

While we would like to support bicycle capture, the range of bicycle types makes a one-size-fits all bicycle mount hard to find. We welcome the purchase of bicycle mounts should the camera grant recipient choose to do so.

The GoPro Max was chosen for four reasons:

1. Ease of use: The GoPro Max is incredibly simple to use. Just hit record and drop the videos or images into Mapillary’s Desktop Uploader.
2. Form factor: The camera is lightweight and designed for action, which makes it suitable for a variety of capture scenarios you might have in mind. A lighter camera means lighter mounting equipment.
3. Cost: It’s affordable, allowing us to scale up the program and get more cameras to more people.
4. Image quality: While there are cameras capable of capturing a higher quality 360º image, the GoPro Max produces a great image for the form factor and price point. Mapillary is able to derive a lot of map data from GoPro Max images including the location of sidewalks.

Objectives and requirements

There will be more candidates than we have cameras, so we will be evaluating candidates based on their track record and potential. Some things to consider:

• We'd like to focus on areas that are less accessible in cars, like paths and trails or city centers. We've had good results with shooting from a bicycle, but are open to other ways of collecting images too.
• You need to provide your Mapillary username and already have uploaded at least 100,000 images. The only exception we can make is if you are part of an organization (company, local mapper group, nonprofit, etc.) that you might turn into systematic contributors.
• You need to live in a European Union country, to simplify cross border logistics/customs.
• We expect you to use the camera for a long time. We retain the right to ask you to send the camera back if it is not used for six months or longer.
• We encourage candidates from existing networks, so that the camera can be shared between community members. The original recipient needs to keep us informed about the whereabouts of the camera. Mapillary Organizations are the best way to track how the camera is being used.
• You should have access to a sufficiently strong internet connection with sufficient bandwidth to be able to upload imagery.
• We have a strong preference for people who are already contributing to OpenStreetMap and/or have plans for specific uses for the imagery or its derived data already.

Thank you for your interest in the program. We hope you consider applying and improving street-level imagery coverage in your part of Europe.

/Ed & Joost