Upload
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 thin lines or little dots. These lines and dots are the basis for the manually drawn lines. If you're having trouble uploading a file, this page and the FAQ might help.
GPS waypoints cannot be uploaded to the OSM database at present. However, they can be converted to tracks and be uploaded temporarily, if necessary.
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 Farzaneh's 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.
Multiple tracks in one GPX file
You should not upload multiple tracks inside one GPX file. The GPX file format supports this, but the server will link them together into one track file. For instance, if you had a track from New York and a track from London in the same GPX file, OSM would link them together with a huge line across the Atlantic. Upload two GPX files instead.
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. Note:
- You may need to allow cookies for www.openstreetmap.org.
- 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.
- Select the "GPS traces" tab. (If there's an error, have a look at Platform Status.)
- Select "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 Tags. Separate multiple tags by commas (,).
- Decide whether to make your data "Public" so that everyone can access the full file you uploaded. If you choose not to make it "Public", your trackpoints will still be visible to people in their editors, but they will not be able to access the track as a whole or even see whose track it was.
- If you do not want your GPX points to be seen by anybody, stop here and do not upload. Instead, use an editor which can display GPX files from your local storage without uploading them.
- 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.
Please note: On weekend and Monday this duration time normally extends to 8...24 hours.
A list of your traces and their current status will be shown below the upload form.
For automatic uploading of GPX files to OSM, use the Batch Upload Perl script. In the future the OSM API may support a better approach.
Tagging
Tags provide a simple way to describe your data. They make your file findable with a single word and allow you to group the trace 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 tags elsewhere on the web, attached to photos, bookmarks, blog entries, and so on.
Each file can have many tags. Usually the tags are the names of countries, cities and other places your trace concerns. Use commas (,) to separate multiple tags. Note that tags are case-sensitive!
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 API v0.5#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.
Applications supporting direct upload of GPS track logs
The following applications support direct upload to OpenStreetMap:
- Track'n Trail is an application for iPhone 3G.
- OSMTrack is another iPhone 3G application supporting direct upload to the OpenStreetMap.
- Map Mobile Navigator is J2ME application supporting direct track upload to the OpenStreetMap for any mobile phone.
- Viking is a powerful and userfriendly GPS data editor and analyzer.
- JOSM, the java-editor for Openstreetmap. For uploading the GPS traces the DirectUpload-Plugin is needed.
Upload Waypoints
GPS waypoints cannot be uploaded to the OSM database directly. However, they can be converted to tracks and then being uploaded temporarily. So they can be displayed as background objects in Potlatch.
See Upload Waypoints.