Portal:Users
From OpenStreetMap
| The Map | Upload | Help | Blog | Shop | Donate |
Read this page in English, Български, Czech, Dansk, Deutsch, Français, Italiano, Español, Japanese, Nederlands, Norsk, Slovenščina, Svenska, Türkçe, اللغة العربية or 中文
Introduction
This page aims to provide an introduction to OpenStreetMap, from the point of view of those new to the project and wishing to join-in. For the very impatient, see the Starter Tutorial.
Copyright
Never copy data from copyrighted maps. This may contaminate the OSM database! Learn here about Copyright Easter Eggs.
Recording the street positions
Handheld GPS units record where they go, and that data can be copied to a computer. That gets uploaded to the OpenStreetMap website, as a load of dots along your route. Then you trace those dots out using one of the editors to create roads, rivers, railways, etc. on the collaborative map.
Another way is to use a Laptop, PDA or SmartPhone with an internal GPS or external GPS connected via a Serial Port, USB connection, or a Bluetooth connection. You can find instructions in Making Tracks with Homebrew-ware
See GPS Reviews for some of the units we find useful.
Mapping techniques lists some of the ways we record interesting features (using digital cameras, notebooks, tape recorders, etc.)
Creating maps from the data
| First, attach the GPS-to-PC cable, and copy the tracklogs across. (Making GPX Tracks has the technical details of how to do that)
Upload them to OSM here (you'll need an OSM account - get that here) | |
| Editing in JOSM | |
| The GPS tracklogs are displayed in JOSM (a desktop editing application) as a series of dots showing where your GPS has been taken |
| Trace those dots to create road segments (or footpaths, or railways, rivers...) and describe the segments, telling OSM what the road name is, whether it's a one-way street, what type of road it is, and anything else you want to store.
Category:Editing has some more options with different types of software to use |
| Rendering with Osmarender | |
| Maps can be rendered using Osmarender (via SVG, or Scalable Vector Graphics format) into images that are suitable for printing or use on a website.
See Using OpenStreetMap for more ways to view your maps |
