My first diary entry in thirteen years, and so much has changed on OSM. The editing tools have come on so much, and there is now an incredible level of detail, even in the rural town I’m living in now. I think I need to go back to the documentation to refresh my memory and look at adding all the things missing in my neighbourhood.

Now this *is* exciting. Found out rather randomly that there was a new version of Potlatch (there was nothing when I logged in indicating that there was a new version, so I was happily mapping away with v1...). Anyway, new version is brilliant.

And then I saw the new fancy Bing background imagery. I *wondered* where the odd building in Limerick (Ireland) was coming from. Managed to trace loads of residential streets, it'll make it way easier to write the streetnames of a printout of the map.

Just the push I need to start OSM-ing again in earnest...

Now this *is* exciting. Found out rather randomly that there was a new version of Potlatch (there was nothing when I logged in indicating that there was a new version, so I was happily mapping away with v1...). Anyway, new version is brilliant.

And then I saw the new fancy Bing background imagery. I *wondered* where the odd building in Limerick (Ireland) was coming from. Managed to trace loads of residential streets, it'll make it way easier to write the streetnames of a printout of the map.

Just the push I need to start OSM-ing again in earnest...

I do most of my mapping in East Limerick and it's easy to forget how bare the other half of the county is. Did a bit more of the R518 and finished off the R520 and R522 (the latter an epic R road in distance). Nice to be putting some orange lines on the map again!

A cycling holiday in Northern France offered a chance to map a good bit of the cycle route LF1 up to Boulogne-sur-Mer. It is actually quite well signposted, and recommended for a good (easy) cycle route.

East Co. Limerick is looking more and more good now, thanks to a few other contributors. One year ago it was completely blank! Inspired by other users' more comprehensive mapping techniques, am trying to do some of the cul-de-sacs and very minor roads. Have started to add a few more POIs but a lot lot more to do. Would like to tackle one or two of the county towns like Kilmallock or Cappamore and do them comprehensively. Also need to find a good way of marking POIs -- can't seem to figure out an easy way to do it with my current mapping tools (Nokia phone with built in GPS and SportsTracker).

On the Limerick City front, did all the little roads off the North Circular, need to work northwards. Had GPS on rear carrier and trace was all over the place -- not sure if that was due to uber-leafy suburbs or my behind getting in the way.

Since last posting I got a new Nokia Navigator phone, with GPS built in. It is very very handy not messing around with batteries for an external GPS.
I had lots of routes saved which I uploaded this evening -- all around East Co. Limerick. Looks like there's been another user mapping some stuff up near Murroe, which is great.
There's been massive progress in E. Limerick since I started (not all by me!), I'm trying to take areas bounded by R and N roads and filling in all the unclassified roads in between. Have done all of the square bound by Kilmallock-O'Rourke's Cross-Charleville, and Kilmallock-Bruff-Croom-O'Rourke's Cross is next.

After a 10-month hiatus from OSM (because I lost my little bluetooth GPS unit), I am back after getting a Nokia 6210 Navigator phone with internal GPS.

My commute is from Limerick City to Kilfinane (at the south-eastern tip of County Limerick), so I'm hoping over time to get really good coverage of East Limerick and North Cork with little 10-minute diversions from my commute.

I am amassing a large collection of geotagged photos of speed limits, pubs, post offices and others, but am a bit afraid of JOSM -- looks a bit complicated!

Am also starting to do a bit in Limerick city north of the river, loads to do again -- it's very satisfying to be creating so many lines on the map!

Took delivery of my cheapy bluetooth GPS from eBay this week. I'm using it with a Nokia 6120 phone, and the Nokia SportsTracker. Can't figure out how to do waypoints, so when I reach a major junction, I continue on one road for a few hundred metres, then do a u-turn and go back to the other road.

There's a huge hole between the N20 and the N24, and this week I've traced and mapped much of the R511, R512 and R513 going south out of Limerick, as well as some of the R roads heading East to West. I'm hoping to map all of the R roads and many of the tertiary roads in East Limerick and North Cork over the next few months, as my work takes me all over those areas. I'm also going to try and improve the streets in Limerick city where I live, although my GPS doesn't work so well when walking.

This stuff is pretty addictive!