Potlatch (software)

Potlatch is a free software editing tool for OpenStreetMap geodata using Adobe AIR. For many years embedded directly within the OpenStreetMap website using Adobe Flash, it was rebuilt as a desktop application following the end-of-lifing of Flash. It continues to be actively maintained.

Potlatch

Potlatch 2 with OpenStreetMap data
Developer(s)	Richard Fairhurst
Stable release	3.0 / December 30, 2020
Repository	github.com/systemed/potlatch3
Written in	ActionScript
Platform	Adobe AIR
Available in	94 languages
Type	GIS software
License	WTFPL
Website	www.systemed.net/potlatch/

History

Potlatch 1 was released mid 2006 and was the default editor on the main OpenStreetMap site until it was replaced by Potlatch 2 in April 2011. The name Potlatch came from the name of newsletter of the Lettrist International art collective.[1]

An alpha version of Potlatch 2, a complete reimplementation of the software, was published in summer 2010. In December 2010, Potlatch 2 was released for general use. After Microsoft had granted OpenStreetMap permission to use aerial imagery from their Bing Maps service for tracing, Potlatch 2 was extended to display these images in the background.

In 2020, the OpenStreetMap Foundation provided €2,500 funding for Potlatch to be ported to Adobe AIR, so that it could continue to run as a desktop application for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh after Flash was disabled in web browsers. The desktop version was subsequently released as Potlatch 3.

iD began as a reimplementation of Potlatch 2 architecture in JavaScript.[1][2]

References

1. Fairhurst, Richard. "It all starts with an editor". Archived from the original on 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
2. MacWright, Tom. "iD Updates". MapBox. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2012.

Further reading

• Ramm, Frederik; Topf, Jochen; Chilton, Steve (2010). OpenStreetMap: Using and Enhancing the Free Map of the World. UIT Cambridge. p. 386. ISBN 978-1-906860-11-0.