Today I finished verifying the TIGER data for all the roads in a neighboring town today, and I am patting myself on the virtual back. That is the second one under my belt, including my home town. I am picking away at these local roads bit by bit, and I am even making a serious dent in the nearby city.

One day last week, I made a trip to the well-mapped university town nearby, and decided to do some additional mapping there. I was shocked to discover that the vast majority of streets are still tagged TIGER:Reviewed=no , even while the university foot paths and buildings are documented in ultra-fine detail. I understand people do map the details that they find interesting, but I would have thought these interests would be built upon Main Street, at least. It is disappointing to see this vital road left unreviewed. Perhaps communicating with some local mappers would encourage further road review.

Doing more TIGER verification, today. Changing the name “Ducks Head” to “Duck’s Head Road” So I am wondering why they have chosen such a strange name as I look at the map and see the referenced duck in the map.

Doing some mapping during a week-long vacation. Really fun indeed. Great way to explore a place that I have never seen before. At first glance, the area looks complete already, but it is all imported data, so there is a lot to check and fix.

Today, I was asking a very old lady - who was walking with her two unleashed cats in her front yard - where was the lighthouse that I was verifying. She looked surprised, but gave me quite clear directions. As it turns out, the tiny lighthouse had been converted into a residence, and it was no longer being used as a navigational aid. The neighboring houses are just as large, and they made the already squat structure look comically small. I had a good chuckle, on seeing this unusual neighborhood.

Editing OSM tags is downright difficult at times, but it is one of those many times in life, where once someone teaches it, you truly know it.

I want to leave this note of thanks to the people supporting the help.openstreetmap.org website. I am super thankful for the excellent responses there. It is easy to use, and I do not have to wade into a mailing list or online forum to ask a question. This low-barrier-to-entry website makes asking potentially “stupid questions” a lot more comfortable, especially with the in-line search feature that checks for similar questions as you type.

But the website’s real strength is the OSM users who monitor the question queue and take their time composing some excellent answers, with links and further readings. My only complaint is not having more capability to offer my thanks, other than clicking a “thumbs up” button. This help system really makes me feel connected to the OSM community.

Well, unfortunately, it finally happened. While mapping a small residential street, I saw a truck zoom down the street and make a sudden stop next to me, where I was walking on the sidewalk. Two older guys kept asking whether they “could help me”, but they looked like they were ready to start trouble. This redneck patrol was making it clear that they did not like strangers in their suburban neighborhood. I am not sure what they thought about the road being a public right of way, but they drove off saying that I should watch out. Kind of put a downer on my day.

Should you envision a dirty drifter typing this, know that I was just heading into work with a jacket and tie, and had a haircut the day prior. Sadly, the people around here buy property on a road with a cul-de-sac, with hopes of never seeing anyone other than their five other neighbors and the post man. I have always sensed people being unhappy to see me walking to the end of their road, but this is the first time someone went out of their way to say something. Maybe this isolationism says something about the politics of the day.

Strange occurrence happened today. While waiting for the shops to open, I recorded the names of the stores in this strip mall. One office appeared to be a computer themed consulting firm, with GPS systems in their window. When I researched the company website, I found they specialized in GPS systems for sports, and they used openstreetmap in their sport device solution! This was a pleasant coincidence, but how odd that they had not even entered their own office into OSM. I will not link to them in this post, in case the situation makes them appear poorly, but you could find them in my edit history easily enough. Good seeing people using OSM data in a variety of ways. I think these people are focused on real-time data from their sensors, but perhaps not very interested in the completeness of the street maps.

Now that I am more aware of all the numerous POIs around me, I find that I am driving much more slowly. People in the car behind me must get slightly agitated, but that is only because they are not seeing all the things happening on the road. I drive much more safely, when I am concerned about each crosswalk, parking space, driveway, alleyway, and bikepath that must be navigated. I am mentally checking all of them and even see the street signs in a whole new way.

My favorite part of OSM is fixing the TIGER data, as I previously mentioned. I am getting much more efficient, and I am even exploring areas further away from my home location. Unfortunately, the one part of my process that has let me down is my smartphone device. I am surprised by this, but I think it shows focus has moved away from TIGER review, in this time of the ubiquitous smartphone.

When I am on the ground checking road names and intersections, it is hugely helpful to check my screen for OSM data. It has replaced all the pen and paper requirements. But the one thing that I cannot see is whether the tiger_reviewed=no tag is present. The lack of this information has had me checking streets where I had already checked previously.

There is a nice web service run by the folks at ITO World, which shows the TIGER review status of all the roads, but this information is not updated often. It is also not available offline. In saying this, it occurs to me that I can take a screenshot of the ITO World website map, save it to my smartphone, then reference it in the field.

I enjoy following news about selfdriving cars. I have been watching the progress since the first DARPA GC. So I enjoyed reading this article especially the comments, about their need for better maps.

Among the things that have changed, since I was previously an active in 2010, is the way parking lots are defined. When there were none on the map, a parking lot area appeared to be a Public Parking Area, such as one that you might see on a road sign. The information seemed to be directing you toward a widely acceptable place for parking.

Today, every flat, paved place that one might find a few vehicles left turned off has a parking polygon. So, the meaning of the map has changed, but the data structure has had trouble keeping pace.

I have learned about how parking lots are used in today’s OSM. I have attempted to add the “access” tag to the parking lots in my area, including the data that I entered many years ago. The vast majority of parking lots are privately maintained, but without the “access” tag defined, the (unofficial) default is public since they are accessed through public roads. Certainly many renderers put a (P) symbol which is commonly used for Public Parking Areas. That means more work for the mappers. I spent many hours adding “access=customers” to commercial locations or the key “access=private” to more remote locations.

The examination of social structures is one thing that gets me so excited about mapping. And nothing looks at the public-private social contracts more closely than the “access” tag. We can talk about whether the data or the renderer should be defaulting to public or private, but it comes down to this basic question: “Who is permitted to use that place?” Some of the information in OSM is the very complicated answer to that question. Little wonder it is hard to keep that data correlated with our assumptions.

Big personal milestone met today. Throughout my town, I have mapped all the roads through GPX tracks, and I removed all the TIGER:reviewed=no tags, in openstreetmap. Admittedly, I do live in a small town, but it is a good feeling to finally say that I have seen first-hand all of those little roads.

Where to go now? There is really so much left to do, with stop signs, buildings, street addresses, land types, and social structures. But, I am still excited to continue street mapping, so I will be pushing into the bordering towns and verifying the TIGER data there.

I am starting to find uses for more tools. I used OSMAnd+ to capture some pictures, for the first time. The JOSM integration for GPX images is really terrific. I have installed openstreetview, and I am looking forward to trying that on a future ride. There are still many tools left to explore, and I will continue to improve my street verification workflow.

Accessing forested trails is a particular interest of mine. Learning about a new accessable trail encourages my participation in OSM. Discovering a couple “secret trails,” by studying and updating maps, has given me new - and especially enjoyable - local recreation areas. In order to record more GPX tracks in wooded areas, I need some verification that the lands are publicly accessable.

The city government holds many information records about the land, and I asked their advice today. As I expected, several of the first people that I met did not fully understand my interest in exploring wooded areas, but they kept directing me toward more knowledgable people: from City Hall, to Public Works, to Engineering, to the GIS Coordinator.

Finally, in the small office of another map enthusiast, the city maps of land ownership were examined, including a two hundred page online PDF of land lots made public after being abandoned by their owners. I would never had thought to look there.

This information will keep me very much engaged with mapping the woods in my area. I recommend asking for help to all other OSM mappers. I found people in these city offices understanding of a desire to explore natural areas, and I never found myself defending my interest in learning about public spaces.

I appreciate the patience everyone gave me. Great seeing an actual office where GIS is used in city planning.

Today, I searched for a school in OSMAnd+, with a POI search. I was surprised to see so few in the area, so I jumped onto JOSM to investigate.

I saw some schools with building=school tags, while other schools had amenity=school tags. What is going on here? On to the OSM Wiki to learn more. Ah, ha! The schools are supposed to have a border defined which uses the amenity=school tag, for the perimeter of the school grounds. The amenity tag, not the building tag, should carry the name of the school complex. I assume the building’s name= tag is used to define the name of the building, instead. Clever.

There are some non-obvious ways of doing things in OSM, but the more that I learn, the more other OSM methods become more intuitive. Are there other boundaries that are better defined by the amenity= tag?

Consider the blank region. Nothingness. Terra Incognita.

It may make you feel uneasy, with strong urges to know this unknown space.

It makes me want to explore and to discover. I want to find out the best parts, and share these places online.

Now consider this same space, under a the cover of a giant polygon. This polygon says the land is defined as a parking lot or perhaps it is a wetland? The OSM notes say that the data comes from a governmental organization of those particular area types. They are the authoritative information source. Do we conclude this map location is finished …?

On one hand, I can see how filling a map with information is a good thing, especially when none exists. But I question the methods used on these massive polygon imports, specifically creating data that appears certainly correct. In contrast, the TIGER data was imported with an expectation that the road data was certainly incorrect. Indeed, my time is spent verifying roads and correcting the street names. A tag was even created verified=no emphasizing the questionable accuracy of the data.

But on my way to survey the TIGER roads, I pass many terrain types that are head-shakingly incorrect. In the OSM database, they appear as a mass import, from some government agency that focuses on that land type. Yes, I understand these geometries can and should be adjusted, but there is no way to know how accurate it is presently. Has it been checked through satellite imagery, does it overlap another terrain type, or has anyone surveyed? None of these things are specified in the polygon tags, so we assume it is correct. Worse, would-be mappers are now discouraged from exploring the area, because it seems to be already defined, so the incorrect data remains unchecked.

I sympathize with mappers who want to cover up all the uncomfortable blank spaces on the map. It drives my OSM involvement, too. But don’t trade incompleteness for inaccuracy.

• Take ownership of the verification of imports.
• Limit the import scope until verification is managable.
• Consider using a node for your area data instead of a polygon.

There is still something beautiful and special about the unexplored places. Let’s not cover it all in polygons.

Public domain image credit: Il designo del discoperto della Nova Franza by Paolo Forlani, ca. 1566

I have been following (and enjoying!) the diary entries through my RSS news reader, and so I am encouraged to share my own thoughts here, as well.

When I first got into the openstreetmap project, I was verifying on-foot. I took a six-year break (how time flies!), and now I have a bicycle and a cheap smartphone at my disposal. The increased mobility is quite an improvement!

While I still encourage new mappers to print a paper with a couple blocks to verify, using the wonderful Field Papers web service, I myself have moved to verifying miles of road in a single outting. I am knocking out big chunks of town, each week, where previously it would take me the entire Summer.

I have not totally figured out all the details, but my typical outting looks like this: Print a few blocks using JOSM and the US Forestry Service layer for a while background. I use the Ubuntu operating system, so I capture the JOSM display using the Screenshot application. I jump on my bicycle and activate OSMAnd+ trip logging, with the one second logging interval. With my printout, phone, and golf pencil, I head out to my target area. So fun is being on this secret mission!

Using the bicycle is socially better, too. When I walked, I often got strange glares from people, who were uncomfortable seeing strangers on their less-travelled road. It is my understanding that outside the USA, people are more accepting to pedestrians traversing their property. We do not have the idea of Right-of-Way here. What we do have are many property owners who enforce their No Trespassing signs. But with a bicycle, I am not lingering long enough for people to notice or work themselves up for being concerned. With a bicycle, I enter roads that say “Private Road, Residents Only” when before I would skip these areas.

When I am back home again, I copy the GPX track to my laptop, fire up JOSM, remove a few TIGER verified=no tags, and improve the road data. I look forward to verifying the remainder of my town, soon, then moving onward to other towns, next. Verifying OSM data gets me excited to get outside and moving, and now I am using my bicycle so much more, too.

If you see a bicycle on the road with a smartphone strapped to his back, be sure to slow down, drive safely, and smile. It might be me out there collecting OSM data!