Upload
From OpenStreetMap
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One good way to get involved in the OpenStreetMap project is to upload GPS track logs. They are then added to the background of the editing map as little dots. These dots are the basis for the manually drawn lines. If you're having trouble uploading a file, this page and the FAQ might help.
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What formats are supported?
File should be in the GPX format. The server understands standard GPX Version 1.0 and 1.1, except that the tag <time> must be present on every track or way point. For uploading trackpoints lacking proper timestamps see my user page.
The geographic datum of OpenStreetMap worldwide is WGS-84, so please make sure your uploaded tracks are in WGS-84 lat/lon. GPX files should always be in WGS-84, but you have to be careful if you convert your tracks from other formats (and possibly other datums) to GPX.
For more information on GPX and creating GPX files see Making GPX Tracks and Editing GPX Tracks.
Compressed files
A single file may also be uploaded after being compressed by gzip, having a .gpx.gz extension. If you have multiple files to upload, you may compress them into a zip archive and upload it. It will then be treated as one big gpx file (that is, only one entry in your trace list is created).
How to upload a file
- Create an account and log in.
- You may need to allow cookies for www.openstreetmap.org
- Note that the map editor login (OSM account) is different from the wiki login
- The upload procedure described here is not the same as uploading images to illustrate the wiki pages
- Click "GPS traces" tab
- Click "See just your traces, or upload a trace" to get to the upload page
- Use the "Browse" button to select a GPX file on your local computer
- (see GPS Serial to USB to learn how to create gpx files),
- Enter a description and/or tag
- Click "Upload".
The file will be uploaded to the OSM server, where it will join the queue of files waiting to be inserted into the database. You will see the following message:
Your GPX file has been uploaded and is awaiting insertion in to the database. This will usually happen within half an hour, and an email will be sent to you on completion.
A list of your traces and their current status will be shown below the upload form.
If you are searching a way to automatically upload GPX files to OSM, you can have a look a this Batch Upload Perl script. In the future the OSM API may support a better approach.
Tagging
Tags are a simple way of describing your file, with single word, which will allows you to group the file alongside other similar traces. For example all the traces tagged 'Melbourne' are listed at http://www.openstreetmap.org/traces/tag/Melbourne You may have seen the same idea around the web, e.g. for tagging photos, bookmarks, blog entries, etc.
Each file can have many tags. Usually tags are the country and the cities, that your trace concerns. You have to separate tags by spaces, not commas (,). If you have any comma in the tags field, the upload will fail! This also means, you have to use underscore (_) in tags instead of spaces!
What happens to my file after it has been uploaded?
Your GPX file is parsed by the OSM server and points are extracted and inserted into the database. Note that this operation can be delayed. Requests go into a queue on the server, and occasionally there is a backlog. Once completed however, you should be able to...
- See your trace listed on the GPS traces tab
- See your trace among others, while editing, (and use it to draw map features over the top)
- Use the API to fetch your trace among others within given bounding box. See OSM Protocol Version 0.5#Retrieving GPS tracks
You will not see any streets drawn in over your tracks, until you (or somebody else) uses an editor to draw the streets as nodes and ways with tags.
How do I upload GPS data (not GPS track logs) directly?
See Using_curl_to_upload_data for an example of how to do this.
