OpenStreetMap
Hey guys, I’m new here and seeking a peer review!
I’ve been using OSM as a reference at work for a while now and have recently started to contribute. So far I’ve stuck to using JOSM for my GPS traces from keymapper3 and the id editor for edits made at work.
My current goal is to map my home town in detail, starting with points of interest, parks and roads that aren’t aligned. At the moment I am focusing on a few areas of town, adding more and more detail as I do each pass of the area. Starting with fences, footpaths and then houses and garages.
So before I go making too many more edits blindly and without experience, would someone kindly take a look at a few of my edits to see if I am doing anything dumb?
Discussion
Comment from MatthiasN on 30 April 2014 at 04:51
Hei,
when I started, I did only minor things like correcting ways. With respect to tags I often looked for similar thinks and copied the method. There is also a wiki on openstreetmap where one can find a more detailed description for tags. And tutorials.
Relations are tricky, since I don’t know how much renderers like Mapnik will look for.
Comment from goldfndr on 30 April 2014 at 07:25
Wow, that’s a lot of detail! I’ve only taken a look at the last few changesets.
A couple of minor fixes for http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/278081250 * It has effectively replaced http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/278080937 (which can be deleted). * It looks like it’s effectively an island (it’ll probably show up in KeepRight soon as a floating island, as way 277926405 does). I’m guessing there are crosswalks across Reeve Street by Keepa and Ballance that it should connect to. Within each of these crosswalks, tag
[highway=crossing](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dcrossing)(and, optionally, a crossing value) at the node in common with Reeve Street.Having everything connected improves routing. I don’t know if bicycles can legally use both roads and sidewalks/footpaths, but that’s one possibility.
Some of KeepRight’s warnings may be false positives, but I really like it as a Quality Assurance tool.
Comment from Tordanik on 30 April 2014 at 09:29
Mapping these footpaths separately from the street could be a problem for routing applications. There is a bit of a controversy about whether they should be mapped as a separate way or simply as a sidewalk=left/right/both tag on the road, which I don’t want to talk about here too much. However, if you are going to map these separately, you need to connect them to the road (with a shared node) everywhere where one might want to cross the road, and at every driveway etc. crossing the footway.
Other than that, I didn’t spot any obvious errors. Mapping fences before buildings is an unusual decision, but setting those priorities is up to you, of course.
Comment from escada on 30 April 2014 at 12:27
I think the paths in Levin domain should be connected to the streets. They should not stop at the border of the park. The idea is that a routing engine can take you from the street into the park.
Comment from Endres Pelka on 30 April 2014 at 15:02
I’d advice you to add address points in your area. It’s not a big deal, but has a big value letting search engines or routing applications lead you to a particular house number, not only a street name. I think address points are more important than fences and sidewalks, but it’s up to you what you’ll proceed with :)
Comment from Hollows on 30 April 2014 at 20:14
For now I’ll stay clear of mapping footpaths at the moment until I discover a better method implemented else where. Connecting all the footpaths at every crossable area doesn’t make sense to me but neither does connecting it to the road. What takes priority? Spatial accuracy or routing?
I found that adding houses after fences was easier for a few reasons. Firstly, fences are a lot quicker to map and house positions can be inferred from them - which is handy when some houses blend into the area around them. Secondly, houses that all face the same way can be rotated to match the fence line which I know is dead straight. I agree, houses and numbers are more important than fences and footpaths but the fences and footpaths make great guidelines.
House numbers are something I am definately aware of and have been taking them down in keymapper3 but haven’t yet had the chance to add them to OSM.
Comment from NZGraham on 30 April 2014 at 20:19
Hi, I’d suggest that you use KeepRight http://keepright.ipax.at/report_map.php to check and where possible correct apparent discrepancies in the map. I found this an effective way to learn about how OSM works and it also gave me a useful direction for my mapping up here in Hamilton. You might like to check these edits which you made and then update/improve the details:- http://keepright.ipax.at/report_map.php?schema=50&error=63142653 (Add name tag to fast food outlet) http://keepright.ipax.at/report_map.php?schema=50&error=64008679 (Service road near Wright Grove doesn’t connect with any other street - should it connect? How is it accessed?) http://keepright.ipax.at/report_map.php?schema=50&error=56527195 (Pub on corner of Oxford Street needs a name tag).
These are just examples - there are quite a few other alerts for the Levin area from various users which you could try to correct/update. I regularly look at my local area on KeepRight as a check on my editing sessions - it is pleasing when nothing appears but, more importantly, very useful when something does appear and can be corrected. Think of it as a form of Quality Control!
For information about how to tag features this is an invaluable source of information/guidance http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Map_Features The deeper you dig the more detailed information you find. Enjoy your mapping - have fun!!!
Comment from NZGraham on 1 May 2014 at 03:22
Hi again, Here are a couple of links relating to pavements which may be considered as part of a street. http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/howdystranger/diary/20797#comments A Diary topic back in January raised by a user in Wellington. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:sidewalk The Map Features page about the suggested way to map/tag such pavements. (In my opinion adding the sidewalk=* tag to the main highway is a cleaner way of recording the information than mapping pavements separately but I do know that opinions differ widely on this subject!).
Also, as a cyclist, I’d be keen to see you add the cycleway=* tag to your local highways - more information here…… http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:cycleway
Graham
Comment from kc0nlh on 8 May 2014 at 16:16
Thank you for the link to keepright helped me find some errors in my updates as well.
Comment from kc0nlh on 8 May 2014 at 16:24
oh my looks like i have some major issues here