OpenStreetMap allows people to add notes to the map, people can comment and mark a problem as resolved. This is an easy way for mappers to talk to each other (“Is this mapped right?” “Yes I was there the other month, the aerial imgaery is old” “OK So”), and is an easy way for non-OSM people to provide simple feedback without needing to log in, and (importantly) not break the map if they don’t know what they are doing. Experienced mappers can use them to highlight areas or issues they think should be addressed.

There are now more than 1,000,000 notes in OSM. There was some discussion on the OSM main mailing list about this. Some people don’t like how easy it is for some apps (Maps.me) to add notes, and complain about the amount of useless notes. Yes, a high signal to noise ratio can make things hard. However OSM is open and a wiki map. There shouldn’t be barriers and gatekeepers. If you want only “approved” people to be able to add data to your map, go play with Google Map Maker.

The concern about signal to noise ratios is valid. There are a lot of notes now. About 250,000 open notes. (check on pascal neis’ notes page).

So I’m going to make an effort to look at notes and try to fix up problems. Some cannot be solved from the armchair, but there are lots of new users leaving notes that can be closed, or which describe things which have since been mapped. And some are things you could map. I’m going to work my way through some of the notes in Ireland.

If we all take a few minutes each day to look at notes that people are submitting, we’ll keep the map updated and fixed up.