OpenStreetMap
Over the course of the last couple of years, I have been extremely active in collecting addresses for several cities in New Brunswick, Canada.
Here are some different techniquques I have used over the course of the last few years and some things that I have learned.
When I started mapping, I was huge proponent of using my GPS for everything! I wouldn’t leave the house without my GPS hanging faithfully at my side. During this period, my interest in addrress collection was kindled. I would leave the house and walk down one side of the street, making a POI for every single hoouse number. I would then go back, open up JOSM, and spend countless hours pouring over a relatively small dataset. This was due to the innacuracy of the recorded POIs. I is more time dragging around POIs, trying to figure which house they went with, than I would actually editing the map.
After several weeks of this method, the reward of seeing address points on the map was quickly dwarfed by the despair at how long it took to get them there.
This lead to a second method of address collection, a voice recorder and a GPS. http://josm.openstreetmap.de/wiki/Help/AudioMapping This was by far my favourite way to collect data. It was fast, efficient, and got rid of me having to type in every address. It also allowed me to record notes, helping to offset the problem of figuring out which POI went with which house. When taking a poi, I could now say the house number, the color of the roof, and any other significant features.
