Edit: This list is pretty out of date, and I have a different perspective of things now. I’ll update this later.

1. Armchair Mapping Mistakes

• Thinking that going to a place and coming back to your home to actually make the change in OpenStreetMap instead of doing it on the spot is “Armchair Mapping” and not a survey.

• When actually armchair mapping, assuming that just because something was there in my childhood, that it still would be there and unchanged.

• Trusting satellite imagery more then my own eyes. Ground truth matters. If you think satellite imagery is going to be out of date for a long time in an area and it doesn’t reflect ground truth, it’s best to leave a note as a separate node or area explaining such so you dont forget and “Correct” you factual edits. Be sure to leave a date in your note for easy reference.

• Not correcting misaligned satellite imagery with GPS traces whenever it is appropriate.

1. Surveying Mistakes

• Using OpenStreetCam on a footpath is a semi mistake. Ultimately the data is correct, but the render can misrepresent it, making it hard to find areas that haven’t been covered yet, but should be. Of course you should not simply map for the renderer.

• Not uploading high quality 360 degree photos to Mapillary when possible and instead focusing on frequent low quality 2D images taken with a wonky satnav.

• Not using Mapillary or OpenStreetCam at all when there was no coverage in my area.

• Surveying areas that are hard to get to without a full charge on devices. This should be a no brainier, but if you won’t be back for a while, be extra sure to charge your devices to do more photomapping..

• Using a standard lens instead of a wide angle one when it’s avalible. If you have a wide angle lens available when doing traditional photomapping it can often be better because it’s basically a time saving panoramic picture. Of course quality and distortions can be an issue outside the center of the shot.

1. Community Mistakes

• Not taking advantage of my surveys to also improve Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikivoyage. Some OpenStreetMap applications pull in data from them to help fluff their user interface.

• Trying to do things alone doesn’t work. Have local mapping parties. Edit the wiki for your local area to help others. Go to SOTM if you can. Get involved.

Since I do a bit of university mapping, I thought I might note a few reasons why you should map your local university, especially since universities provide their own maps.

Support disabled students.

OSM includes tags that help blind and wheelchair bound students get around. Most proprietary maps ignore these users. Institutions that ignore OSM disabled tags or fail to help disabled users through another mapping solution are effectively discriminating against their disabled students through inaction.

Synergize with the community.

Often Universities and the town or cities that surround them have completely different cultures. By improving OSM on campus, outsiders not using a university’s official app can still navigate effectively.

Encourage Student Creativity

Unlike proprietary maps, OpenStreetMap is free for anyone to use. Students may use OpenStreetMap data legally in their projects through the ODbL. Encouraging the use of proprietary maps on campus locks students out of that data, stunting their creativity.

Commitment to Transparency

Any university that wants to commit to open technologies should at least have a well mapped campus on OSM. Having a well mapped campus in Openstreetmap is like having a well written Wikipedia article. An easily accessible and honest source of information for the community can boost a university’s reputation in the free and open source software communities, and elsewhere.