Contact
From OpenStreetMap
If you have a general question, try the FAQ or search openstreetmap.org (including mailing list archives) If that doesn't help, try one of the following contact channels, where a lively bunch of people are able to help:
Contents |
Mailing lists
The OpenStreetMap mailing lists live on http://lists.openstreetmap.org/.
| Info | Description | Archive |
|---|---|---|
| newbies | Created for benefit of new users. Here they can ask all questions they have without being overwhelmed by tons of emails on talk list. Long term OSM users are encouraged to also subscribe to this list, in order to be able to answer questions. | archive |
| talk | For general OpenStreetMap user discussion. High traffic! | archive |
| dev | For developer discussion. | archive |
| josm-dev | For JOSM developer discussion. | archive |
| legal-talk | For legal discussion, including copyright and licensing. | archive |
| merkaartor | For Merkaartor discussion. | archive |
| party | For discussion and organisation of mapping parties. | archive |
| tilesathome | For discussion of tiles@home. | archive |
| routing | For discussion about routing with vector data. | archive |
Country-Specific Lists:
| Info | Description | Archive |
|---|---|---|
| talk-ar | Argentina specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-au | Australia specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-be | Belgium specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-ca | Canada specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-ch | Switzerland specific topics and discussion (Deutsch/Français/Italiano/Rumantsch - all are welcome) | archive |
| talk-co | Colombia specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-cz | Discussion in Czech | archive |
| talk-de | Discussion in German. High traffic! | archive |
| Germany Regional lists | Due to the high traffic on talk-de, separate lists for regions in Germany are available on lists.openstreetmap.de. Infos on requesting regional lists: Deutsche Mailinglisten | |
| talk-dk | Discussion in Danish. | archive |
| talk-es | Discussion in Spanish | archive |
| talk-fi | Finland-specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-fr | Discussion in French | archive |
| talk-gb | UK-specific topics, such as UK mapping parties and meetups | archive |
| talk-hu | Discussion in Hungarian | archive |
| talk-ie | Ireland-specific topics, such as Irish mapping parties and meetups | archive |
| talk-in | India-specific topics, such as Indian mapping parties and meetups | archive |
| talk-is | Discussion in Icelandic | archive |
| talk-it | Discussion in Italian | archive |
| talk-ja | Discussion in Japanese | archive |
| talk-lb | Lebanon specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-mm | Myanmar specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-nl | Discussion in Dutch | archive |
| kart | Discussion in Norwegian | archive |
| talk-pe | Peru specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-ph | Philippines specific topics and discussion | archive |
| talk-sk | Discussion in Slovak | archive |
| talk-se | Discussion in Swedish (Feel free to discuss Swedish issues in English though) | archive |
| talk-si | Discussion in Slovenian | archive |
| talk-tr | Discussion in Turkish | archive |
| talk-us | US-specific topics, such as US mapping parties and meetups | archive |
| talk-za | South Africa specific topics and discussion | archive |
| nzopengis | New Zealand specific topics and discussion |
Bugs
You can email bug reports to the mailing lists above.
If you have a bit more time, and want to save the developers time, you can enter them in trac which is our bug database.
Blog
Read the blog at opengeodata.org.
Entries here are mostly written by Steve Coast.
At one time the blog featured a weekly digested summary of mailing list discussions. Any volunteers want to reinstate this? Probably just a matter of writing them and emailing to Steve
IRC
For instant chat:
- irc://irc.oftc.net #osm : Probably the busiest OSM channel
- irc://irc.oftc.net #geo : More general GIS chit-chat
- irc://irc.oftc.net #osm-nl : Dutch OSM channel
- irc://irc.oftc.net #osm-fr : French OSM channel
- irc://irc.oftc.net #osm-de : German OSM channel
- irc://irc.oftc.net #osm-hu : Hungarian OSM channel
- irc://irc.oftc.net #osm-ie : Irish OSM channel
- irc://irc.oftc.net #osm-ja : Japanese OSM channel
- irc://irc.freenode.org #openstreetmap : Another english one
- irc://irc.ircnet.com #freemap.sk : Slovak OSM/Freemap Slovakia channel
Conversations often get deeply technical, but newbies should feel free to come and ask questions.
You can chat on the web at http://irc.openstreetmap.org/ Many people prefer to use desktop IRC client software (comparison at Wikipedia) Another web interface which works is IRC@Work or Mibbit
Forum
The forum is at forum.openstreetmap.org. A conventional forum/message-board system, this contact channel is preferred by some people, however it is currently used by fewer people than the mailing lists.
There is another forum at forum.pocketnavigation.de. This board is at the largest German-speaking navigation community so it is likely to increase in traffic soon.
Contact a Mapper
You can find the last person to edit a road by looking at zoom level 17 of the Osmarender (t@h) layer. Alternatively, using Potlatch, click the way and press 'H' (for history) to see a list of everyone who has edited that road.
Log in and go to page "www.openstreetmap.org/user/[user-name]" by replacing [user-name] with the mapper's name. Click 'Send Message'.
You can write your text there, but you will not see the mapper's e-mail address.
Diary
People with an OSM account can use a 'diary' feature. Some people use it as record of their mapping/development activity, but also diary entries all appear together as a kind of collective blog at http://www.openstreetmap.org/diary , and like blogs, the entries are commentable, so this becomes a new way of connecting with people.
Wiki
See Wiki Help
Making wiki edits can be a good way of communicating with the OSM community. Contribute to wiki pages where we try to assemble facts and describe concepts in a way we can all agree upon. It's a large sprawling mass of information, but it can offer a more effective way to pass on your knowledge of a topic. Some pages may look well polished but in general there's lots of work to be done, to improve the wiki contents, so please "be bold"!
You can also edit "Talk pages". These are primarily intended for discussion of the contents of the 'main' wiki pages to facilitate improving the information, but can also function as a small focussed forum around that topic. Creating discussions and replying to people using wiki edits may seem strange until you get used to it. Many OSM people prefer not to do this, and questions can easily go unanswered.
If you want to join and give openstreetmap more exposure signup using the following link http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/61515/458CE625572D
TS2 (TeamSpeak2)
Some people also idle on the VoIP TeamSpeak Server
- Server: technoculture.dyndns.org
- Channel: "GPSDrive+OpenStreetMap"
Linux, MAC OS and Windows Clients can be downloaded at: http://www.goteamspeak.com/index.php?page=downloads
Email Steve
For other things get in touch with User:Steve, who started OSM and is the current Chairman of the OpenStreetMap Foundation.
