Lots of global companies use OpenStreetMap. Take Strava, for example:

The Strava Global Heat map shows cycling activity around the world, including Christchurch. ( https://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#12.00/172.58547/-43.50785/hot/ride ).

The road lines are based on OpenStreetMap ( https://medium.com/strava-engineering/get-on-the-map-dca5d2693c37 ).

By improving OpenStreetMap we can ensure that our fellow citizens are making decisions based on accurate information provided through 3rd-party providers.

A quick lunchtime stroll with osmTracker in hand resulted in creating bicycle parking points on Worcester Boulevard, Christchurch, New Zealand.

The gps trace wobbled around a lot as it didn’t seem to be able to get a good fix among the tall buildings but it was accurate enough to identify the points on the LINZ aerial photos.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Adam%20Heinz/traces/2514597

Adam Heinz 3 October 2017

Went for a stroll with OSM Tracker down Cambridge Terrace to check out the new path for pedestrians and cyclists, created as part of the Accessible City plan.

The GPS trace can be found here https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Adam%20Heinz/traces/2446464

My weekend adventures in editing the “Papanui Parallel / Puari ki Papanui” raised a big question: how could I demonstrate personal knowledge of this major cycleway developed by the Christchurch City Council? ( https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Adam%20Heinz/diary/41739 )

I decided to try OSMTracker to see if I could demonstrate where I had been. ( http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSMTracker_(Android) )

Within minutes of finishing work I had downloaded OSMTracker for free from the Google Play store and was on my bike. ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.guillaumin.android.osmtracker&hl=en )

I whipped out my phone at the intersection of Bealey Avenue and Colombo Street and opened the app. It asked me to enable GPS in Google Location services. As soon as I had a “GPS fix” - the accuracy wavered from 3 to 5 meters - I hit the “cycle track” button followed by “cycleway” and pedalled northwards.

The route itself was a dream to ride on a road bike. I felt so safe that it was a rude shock to realise I was crossing an intersection and hadn’t looked out for my own safety. Fortunately the drivers were very considerate and gave way to me. After being cocooned on the segregated cycle track, the section of “greenway” along Trafalgar Street was a sharp reminder of just how frightening it can be to cycle on the road at night.

Before I knew it I had arrived in comfort and style at the end of the cycleway at the railway crossing on Sawyers Arms Road. A quick hit of the save button and I had my first GPS trace. ( https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Adam%20Heinz/traces/2436735 )

The return journey southwards was just as quick and easy and I had my second GPS trace. ( https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Adam%20Heinz/traces/2436734 )

The “Export to Open Street Map” option was greyed out so I hit “Export as GPX”. This was the first moment where I was left scratching my head - I even had to resort to reading the instructions. ( http://learnosm.org/en/mobile-mapping/osmtracker/ )

Within minutes I had transferred the GPX files to my laptop and uploaded the GPS traces to Open Street Map.

The accuracy on a cheap android phone was enough to indicate the streets that I had travelled along when editing the route details. It was enough to remind me where the track had crossed from one side of the street to the other.

(I would look at using a proper GNSS receiver if looking to accurately map things - such as one of the segregated cycling paths that are a reasonable distance from motorway centerlines, for example).

In all, I was astonished at how easy the quick start to OSMTracker was. It left me wanting to learn more and to use the more advanced functions on my next ride.

Adam Heinz is a cyclist, citizen of Christchurch, and a staff member of Christchurch City Council

How hard can it be to map a cycle route in Christchurch? I hit the “Edit” button on Open Street Map to find out.

The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is developing a programme of 13 major cycle routes to connect suburbs to the central city. “Papanui Parallel / Puari ki Papanui: This cycleway will connect Northlands and the Northern Line Cycleway to the Central City”. The CCC website has a page on the Papanui Parallel with detailed plans of the approved scheme design for every section of the route. ( https://www.ccc.govt.nz/transport/cycling/major-cycle-routes/cycle-routes/papanui-parallel/ )

Only a small stub of the Papanui Parallel was visible on the osm cycling basemap on the north side of the intersection of Colombo Street and Bealey Avenue. Construction of the Papanui Parallel is nearly finished so it seemed appropriate to update.

My first step was to address the route as a relation. I used the Little River Rail Trail as a guide, as the Little River Link Trail is an official project referenced by both the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and CCC. The Little River Rail Trail is tagged as “rcn”; the Coastal Pathway, by way of contrast, is tagged as “lcn” even though the link to CCC cycle projects is unclear; so I tagged the Papanui Parallel as “rcn” - a regional cycle network. Someone seems to have set up a CCC custom tag, so I also tagged the Papanui Parallel as “ccc=cyclingroute”.

Starting at the southern end of the Papanui Parallel, Sheet 17 of the plans seemed fairly straight forward. “Bike Lanes” on the left and right side were clearly “tracks” as being “separated from the road by curbs, parking lots, grass verges, trees or another physical barrier, but is running parallel and next to the road”. ( https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:cycleway )

This all seemed relatively straight forward until Sheet 15, near the intersection of Colombo and Cannon Streets, where the northern cycling track crosses the road to join the other in a two-way cycle track on the western side of Colombo Street. I inserted an “Other” node tagged as “cycleway=crossing”, and split the street centre line with it.

Sheets 12 to 13 presented the next complexity as the separated cycle tracks merge into what is NZTA describes as “neighbourhood greenways” ( https://www.nzta.govt.nz/walking-cycling-and-public-transport/cycling/cycling-network-guidance/designing-a-cycle-facility/between-intersections/neighbourhood-greenways/ ).

I tagged that section of Trafalgar Street as “highway=living_street”, being a “road with very low speed limits and other pedestrian friendly traffic rules”. I couldn’t find any documentation about any changes to the speed limit so I left “maxspeed=50” unchanged for the time being. I also tagged the street as “cycleway=shared” just in case that helped. I also managed to override the ccc custom tag with “ccc=cyclinggreenway”, to try and record the official nomenclature.

The last editing dilemma I faced was at the northern end of the Papanui Parallel, on Sawyers Arms Road. A previous editor had drawn the cycleway as a parallel line to the street centreline. This is allowable practice according to the Key:cycleway wiki, but its usage here seemed out of context. The Northern Line Cycleway nearby is truly separated from the railway line it runs parallel to, and similarly the Little River Link is truly separated from the Christchurch Southern Motorway by a reasonable distance. In the context, I felt it most appropriate to delete the separate cycleway line along Sawyers Arms Road and tag the street centreline with a cycle “track” on the right hand side of the road. I hope the original contributor forgives me.

The route appeared in the Bicycle Tags Map in minutes. ( http://mijndev.openstreetmap.nl/~ligfietser/fiets/index.html )

A quick test of Graphhopper, however, showed it did not take a route down the trickiest parts of Trafalgar and Colombo Streets that had taken me so long to edit.

A quick drive down the route showed it was real and not just a plan on a website. After several attempts amounting to about 3 hours work, I had finished.

Adam Heinz is a cyclist, citizen of Christchurch, and a staff member of the Christchurch City Council.