I edit OpenStreetMap in and around Gillette, Wyoming, USA. I welcome suggestions and changes to the map in the area. I generally follow the guidelines in the OpenStreetMap Wiki and regional norms. In Gillette, I’ve seen it, photographed it, know about it, or have it on dashcam.

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Other projects for Gillette, Wyoming

• iNaturalist — Connect with nature and contribute to citizen science by photographing and identifying wildlife.
• Wikimedia Commons — Media repository used by all Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia.

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Editing OpenStreetMap

• OWL Map — Helps to link Wikidata and OpenStreetMap data.

• Rapid Editor — Microsoft Building Footprints are good for quickly creating rough drawings of buildings. Search for and add the Department of Transportation to add addresses. All the addresses must be checked and fixed to match the actual street names.

• Geographical Names Information System: search — GNIS removed some features in 2021, so some of the GNIS numbers in OpenStreetMap are no longer valid. It’s still useful and should be checked.

Editing Gillette and Campbell County

• Census of Agriculture: Campbell County — 91% of farmland in Campbell County is pasture, 6% crop, and 2% woodland. Almost all of the land use is for hay which makes those areas a meadow in OpenStreetMap. The rest is wheat, barley, and oats, which is probably also used as animal feed. There are almost no farms. Everything is ranches and the land is either open grazing or used for hay bales.

• Campbell County property records — Has street names and subdivision names. Requires manually checking addresses and visual identification from the imagery in OpenStreetMap. Can differ from TIGER or the United States Department of Transportation street names.

• National Inventory of Dams: Campbell County — Some of the dams listed are actually dikes according to OpenStreetMap’s definitions.

Flock cameras and other ALPRs — I looked myself and the surveillance cameras ( man_made=surveillance ) in Gillette do not match any known models of ALPRs. Cowboy State Daily (ref) (state-level news) and the Gillette News-Record (ref) (local newspaper) reported that the Campbell County Sheriff’s Department, the Gillette Police Department, and the Wyoming Department of Transportation do not operate these kinds of cameras in Gillette.

Land use — Campbell County land use is mostly ranching ( landuse=farmyard , landuse=meadow ), coal mining ( landuse=quarry ), oil wells ( landuse=industrial ), and CBM or coal-bed methane wells ( landuse=industrial ).

Dams and reservoirs — The county has many dry creeks ( waterway=stream and intermittent=yes ) and stock ponds ( water=reservoir ). OpenStreetMap defines them as reservoirs because when the ranchers completely block the creeks it enlarges the stream. The dams ( waterway=dam ) are usually little more than a hill of dirt, but it’s enough to block the creek.

Private roads — Driveways and service roads in the county and city are not marked access=private unless there is an actual sign that says so and I add the sign in the notes. Exceptions are when the only road leading into it is private such as the coal mines behind the guard shack ( building=guardhouse ) or all the driveways behind a residential road with a sign saying private property.

check_date — I add check_date=* to all businesses to keep track of the last time I saw it still existed. Businesses in Gillette come and go quickly.

Separate unmarked crossings — Unmarked crossings as ways ( footway=crossing highway=footway ) can be excessive in Gillette because there are more curb cuts than roads. In some spots there are more cuts than actual sidewalk. There are many unused and left over cuts everywhere. Any crossing that does not have a cut, marking, etc. should be a point ( highway=crossing ) according to the wiki.

Stop signs — Almost all stop signs ( highway=stop ) are before the pedestrian crossing ( footway=crossing ) in Gillette. Only an few happen after.

Cell towers/guyed radio antennas — The local towers are called communication masts ( man_made=mast ) in OpenStreetMap. I don’t know of any communication towers ( man_made=tower ) in the county. The wiki has a photo comparison to understand the difference.

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