Sigh. I’m learning things again.
I couldn’t stand it. I had to play with the map data myself. I like maps and I’ve worked with them a lot over the years, but always in the context of, like, Google maps with fearsome copyright protections.
The idea of playing with free map data using free tools was just too tempting.
Of course, the tools to do this are hella complicated. At least, tools like QGIS are. The simple Java tool Java Open Street Map editor is more amenable to the casual tinkerer.
If you want to play, go to Open Street Map, pan and zoom to the place you want to map, export to an .osm file and import it to your preferred tool. Have fun!
The image is Mount Teide on the island of Tenerife, the highest point in Spain, visualized by Saber Razmjooei using QGIS.
Posted: January 22nd, 2026 under personal.
Comments: 2
Comments
Comment from QuasiModo
Time: January 22, 2026, 9:41 pm
Every few years I install QGIS to see how far it’s come along…getting pretty good these days! I used ArcGIS for years because you could output nice Adobe Illustrator files to tweak after but it costs a fortune. Glad to see all the open source stuff is catching up…Blender is pretty much on par with 3DS Max that I used to use a lot too.
My brain is also getting tired of learning technical things 🧠 …I’m convinced that Cascading Style Sheets (*.css) were invented by fallen angels 🙂
Comment from Funboxie Team
Time: January 29, 2026, 2:43 pm
Learning new things is always a journey! It reminds me of how even simple games on funboxie.com can teach pattern recognition and strategy without it feeling like ‘work’. Keep at it!
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