Pl:Mapping Tricks and tips
Na tej stronie zebrano wskazówki i porady dotyczące różnych technik mapowania, jakich doświadczyli maperzy OSM. Jest przeznaczony wyłącznie dla zwykłych maperów. Aby uzyskać więcej informacji, a zwłaszcza technicznej, zobacz stronę głównych technik mapowania.
Zawsze sprawdzaj wolną pamięć i naładowanie baterii przed wyruszeniem w trasę
Always check your batteries and memory capacity on your GPS and your camera before starting out.
Make sure you have your memory card in place. Remember what you did last time? You took the memory card out of the camera/gps to upload the data. It's not still there is it? You'd be really embarrased if you switched on your camera/gps to start tracking & realised the memory card was still in the slot in your computer at home. So, as you walk out the door to set off on a mission look in the camera/gps unit & make sure the card is in the slot. It could also be useful to bring the cable for connecting the camera to your computer, so you can move files from memory card to your hard drive, freeing space in the camera. If using a laptop, consider disabling your screen saver, or at least, set it to a very long time. It is helpful watching the screen from time to time to see what you have already mapped, but you most likely won't use the keyboard or touchpad for periods beyond usual screensaver trigger time.
Got kids? They love digital cameras. Snap, snap, snap... 35 blurry pictures of the dog, 5 videos of the floor & running round the house. Does wonders for your memory capacity & the battery-you-thought-you-had-just-charged.
Let this be a warning to you...
Record track points at one second intervals
For best results in urban areas always record track points at one second intervals.
Stój w miejscu dopóki nie dostaniesz fixa na twoim urządzeniu GPS
For best results do not start moving until your GPS has a 3D fix.
Many GPS receivers can take much longer to get a fix if you are moving and can give really wacky results.
Stand still and wait until your GPS says that it has a good fix and even then it's probably a good idea to wait another 30 seconds or so for everything to settle down.
Always turn right (or left)
When recording tracks by bicycle in urban areas, a good way to cover convoluted housing developments is to always turn right (or, in the UK, always turn Left). It is easier to catch those elusive little side roads this way. It also avoids making turns across oncoming traffic which can be both dangerous and time consuming. Typically this means that you cover all the branch roads on one side of a main road on your outward journey and those on the other side on your return journey.
Arriving at a street you already have mapped, just turn around and go back. Arriving at a junction where you have been, do the following: take the most right free street you have not visited. This means if you cannot turn right because there is a track, go straight. If you cannot also go straight, go left. If you cannot go left turn around and drive back the way you came.
Set borders
To map a large area, or a whole city, begin by driving all the main streets with the car. After this you have divided your city in chunks. Now you can choose a chunk, small for short trips, big for longer, and map it. The main streets already mapped are your borders. Follow the 'always turn right' tip within the confines of a border.
In cars, always take a passenger
The driver is only the driver. - The passenger has to take notes on street names, mark waypoints, and can tell the driver which streets he's already done (by looking at the GPS)
Capture several features in one photo
Post Boxes are often near Street Signs, so kill two birds with one stone by taking one photo of both the Street Sign and the Post Box. If you get lucky there'll be a phone box there as well.
Oh, and don't forget to mark them on the map with amenity=post_box and/or amenity=telephone.
Edit data as soon as possible after creating the tracks
Try to enter the street and other data as soon as possible after you have seen the area and created the tracks. You will remember more details that way. Also it is best to enter the data from your own tracks. Nobody knows better than you exactly what you did.
Use a camera to support your GPS tracks
- Główny artykuł: Photo mapping
If you have a digital camera use it to record information along the way as you create your tracks. Street signs and Points Of Interest (POI) especially. If you set the camera clock to the same as that of the GPS then you can match the images to the GPS tracklog. Take a picture of your GPS showing the time on it to help synchronise between the timestamp on the image and the tracklog timestamps.
Use a tape recorder or similar
- Główny artykuł: Audio mapping
It can be cumbersome to take many notes, especially when on a bike. Use a tape recorder or similar to record notes as you go. You can also mark waypoints on your GPS at the same time. You only have to record then things like: "Waypoint 15 is start of Summer Lane" or "Waypoint 21 is telephone booth on eastern side of street". Make sure to spell out streetnames when they have unusual spellings. See also JOSM hints for how to automate synnchronization with your GPS tracks and/or waypoints.
Be prepared to visit an area several times
Theoretically you could go out to an area, create your tracks, note down everything important, go home, enter all the data and be done with it. But it is very difficult to do that. There'll always be details which you forget. Be prepared to go through each area at least twice. In the first round make sure to get tracks for all roads and major footpaths etc. Also note down street names and all amenities etc. which you can get. Then enter all this data, print out a map and go back to compare the map with reality.
Hints for doing rail tracks
If you are going to a rail trip, get a fix before boarding. Once you get the fix, the ephemeride are valid for 2-4 hours and your receiver can get a fix in a matter of tens of milliseconds. This is valuable in harsh receiver conditions such as rail cabs. It can also help (though to a lesser extent) when travelling by coach or car.
Usually (at least in Finland) it is possible to hang your jacket in such a way that you can get the pockets face a window. Once your jacket is hanging like that, it is likely to be the best receiver position in the whole train (unless you have access to the roof...).
Trains in Japan (especially express trains) often have a window sill that a GPS can sit on quite happily, but don't leave it on the train!
If possible, map during night/early morning
With fewer cars on the roads, you will be able to go almost anywhere you wish, without being struck by other people. In some areas, you will even be able to stop anywhere without disturbing anyone, giving you enough time to take pictures or seek street signs and points of interest. However, avoid Friday and Saturday nights, as there are more car accidents at these moments (and there are reasons why). Finally, if you take photos with a digital camera, check a few of your first shots to see if the light is enough to make your shots actually useful. I do work at early hours, and i tend to leave home half an hour earlier than usual to try new ways to go to my workplace, making new traces at once. Note however that a car driving round a housing estate slowly in the early hours of the morning could arouse suspicion from others who don't know what you are doing there.
Photographing reflective road signs at night
Attempting to use the flash from a small camera to photograph most modern steel road signs at night will produce an overexposed photograph, with the signage whited out and illegible. A convenient way to get the right amount of light from the flash is to cover it with your finger-- just enough will pass through the skin to light up the reflective parts of the sign, and the lettering will be much easier to read. An amusing, or possibly disturbing, side-effect of this technique is everything will be coloured red...
Alternatively use some tissue or toilet paper, you will need to experiment with the layers of paper to use so that the right amount of light gets through to the sign.
Record the direction in which you took the picture
I have sometimes been wondering "Was this postbox on the left or on the right hand side of the road?". Now I record if I'm facing North or South (or whatever) when I take a picture. If using a smartphone, applications like Imageotag can record the readings of the digital compass into the Exif metadata. But a straightforward way is to add your left hand on the picture, with the index finger pointing up for North, right for East, etc.
Feel free to add to this list. Each tip should be a short paragraph.