Maybe someone is trying to steal the name here by deleting and readding things at the same time. They have similar profile descriptions almost can be identified as fake/illogical. They share similar behaviors and may even be able to write a diary.

However, they have received blocks in the history:

https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/NorthwestPAmapper (we caught this account churning in Maryland by deleting a whole shopping mall with surrounding area and failed to readd back after 3 days).

https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/theurbanexploringman

https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/buildingroadfixer12

https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/ZenithTheFox

https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Jakethedog2004

I assume that some laymen residing in that area are willing to join and improve the project, but the repeated similar behaviors prompt me to believe that it is abnormal.

If anyone above thinks that you are being offended, please reply and tell us why you keep churning. Seriously speaking, I wish to know the benefits as well!

This entry will be constantly updated based on my findings in USA.

Please be advised that a correct solution depicted below is not the only one. You are welcome to brainstorm in the comment section!

Hint: Right click on the picture to view in a new tab so you will see it in a better size.

1:

Wrong:

The reason why the intersection originally looks like this is to prevent reckless driving in rural area.

Correct:

or

or

If you don’t want to hear the awful sound coming from TTS saying “Turn right and then turn left” to “Continue”, then map like this.

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2:

Wrong:

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3:

Wrong:

Correct:

I did not address the sidewalk issue here because I always drive. My understanding is: if drawing road/sidewalk as a line instead of an area, there is no need to cut the crosswalk to make it “detailed”, because the part you cut as sidewalk is already a part of the crosswalk. Theoretically they are like this (crosswalk in orange):

Connecting a crosswalk to a sidewalk, is to ensure a routing is possible, but nothing related to accuracy (if you don’t have a survey-grade GPS, don’t try to tell me your mapping is accurate). If you wish to differentiate the tiny area(s), using curbs on the junction node instead:

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4:

Wrong:

Correct:

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5:

Wrong:

Correct:

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6:

Wrong:

Correct:

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7:

Wrong:

Correct:

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8:

Wrong:

Correct:

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9:

Wrong:

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10:

Wrong:

Correct:

People should be wary of the imagery offset especially using high resolution products. In OpenStreetMap, Mapbox often provides high resolution images in densely populated areas within the US. However, just because Mapbox provides high resolution imagery does not mean the offset is not a thing. In fact, Mapbox has created a lot trouble as it pretends to be accurate but actually not.

Keep in mind that whenever your local municipality has its own orthoimagery published, always use it to draw features (of course it has to be compatible with OpenStreetMap, if it is missing in iD, maybe you can bring it in). The imagery could be dated, but it is accurate. Your local municipality will spend more time to process with the data. These “commercial” providers, like Mapbox or ESRI or Bing, do not have a lot of time to carefully examine everything in a specific area especially when it is not that popular.

I’m going to post an example here. The orange area is OSM data fetched by QuickOSM in QGIS, drawn by a random person who has not noticed the offset for years.

Mapbox imagery (inaccurate but free to use in OSM):

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MD State-wide imagery (accurate and free to use in OSM):

Engineering imagery (accurate but cannot be used for OSM):

MD State-wide imagery is a little bit different from engineering imagery because of different angle, they are de facto the same.

The above example is from Maryland of the USA. In Maryland, please find MD Latest 6 Inch Aerial Imagery as it is always a standard!

Cosmetics changes

Usually happen when the changes are mostly related to cosmetic features, like road realign, water features realign, tag upgrade, field upgrade, traffic sign upgrade, business details…

[Township/Town/City/County][State] cleanup (e.g. DuBois PA cleanup)

Related to changes within a specific area. Could be any type of changes.

[Township/Town/City/County][State] speed limit updates

Related to speed limit updates, could be multiple roads within a specific area

Add a chimney/Add a water tower/Add a building

All these features were added for mapping cell tower. My focus will never be buildings in this project.

Junk Removal

When I really cannot stand the crap (mostly complex relations) in the map so I delete everything and start from scratch.

Sometimes could be reverting others’ “contribution” (damage)..

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All JOSM changesets will have detailed comments. All other changesets will be committed with purpose(s) in details. SAVE LIVES WRITE COMMENTS

Removed due to dated information