Implement OSM Sandbox (Research)

[spwoodcock]

OSM Sandbox

What we need

• TM projects with data not available in OSM (private / sensitive data).
• Fully integrated OSM login between TM and the underlying Sandbox - seamless for the user.
• Easy data extraction from the Sandbox.

History

• Initially HOT made it's own Sandbox implementation: https://github.com/hotosm/osm-sandbox
  • This was a simple POC and has many missing features.
  • After discussing with DevelopmentSeed, it seemed more appropriate to contribute to https://github.com/developmentseed/osm-seed instead.
• Since then, OSMUS has done some great work creating a FastAPI service that can spawn osmseed Sandbox instances on demand.
  • They also integrated into their TM form, allowing managers creating projects to either choose OSM or Sandbox for their final data.
  • The implementation relies on Kubernetes underneath, for which HOTOSM should now have a cluster available for us - making this an option.
  • Details
    • Sandbox per project
    • Seamless login via TM / OSM
    • Modified the TM UI to take OSM or Sandbox during project create
    • Includes a modified iD editor to use Sandbox instead

Links

• The FastAPI Sandbox provisioner service is here: https://github.com/osmus/osm-sandbox-dashboard/tree/main/images/dashboard/src
• The overarching deployment / k8s setup is here: https://github.com/osmus/osm-sandbox-dashboard/tree/main
• The underlying Sandbox images used are here: https://github.com/developmentseed/osm-seed
• Code related to the Sandbox implementation in TM is here: https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Aosmus%2Ftasking-manager%20sandbox&type=code

Solution / TODO

• First research the usage in OSMUS TM to see if it's suitable - discuss with the team there.
• Look into the FastAPI routes available and what they do - could we use this to provision sandboxes in our k8s cluster?
• Look at how difficult the TM integration would be.
• Attempt implementation by opening another series of related issues?

Alternatives

• The only two options are this, or our custom implementation.
• The osm-sandbox repo was only a test for a start and isn't architected to be scalable and meet all requirements.

[ramyaragupathy]

Waiting on project creation access within OSM US setup.