Wiki Help

The textual information you see here is built and organised using wiki software. Go back to the main Help for information about how we build maps.

How to use a wiki

Browse the information: As on any website, click the links to find information which interests you. Have a look around! The Main Page is a good starting point; so is the OSM category tree.

Edit the information!: Click 'Edit' at the top of any page, to edit the contents. You do need to create a wiki account before editing.

That is about it really. Simple, hey?! ... Actually there are few other tricks to learn. See Help:Wiki-Editing for instructions on editing wiki pages. This explains some of the wiki text syntax for achieving special effects in the text such as bold and italic text.

Wikipedia's editing help

You may wish to visit Wikipedia's help. Wikipedia has detailed articles covering almost every imaginable aspect of editing pages on a Wiki. Wikipedia also has a group of volunteers who answer questions and provide help with editing. The OSM Wiki runs on Mediawiki software, as does Wikipedia, so much of what you see here works similarly.

Make a user page

You may want to start by editing your user page. If you wish to tell the OSM community where you are (for example, so neighboring OSM members can collaborate with you to map your locale), place some category links like the following at the bottom of your user page, as necessary to identify the area(s) you want to help map:

[[Category:Users in Country|Username]]
[[Category:Users in State/Province|Username]]
[[Category:Users in City|Username]]

Replace Country with the name of your country, Username with your username, etc. Then your username should appear under the Users by geographical region category tree. If you happen to be the first user in a particular geographical region category (country, city, etc.), the category link at the bottom of your user page will appear in red until someone creates the category page. If you are new to Wiki editing, don't worry about this - someone else should eventually create it for you.

You may also create user subpages, to practice editing before you post something to the main Wiki. Wikipedia provides some help on this.

If you upload images of you or other specific for the user page, place it in Category:User images with code [[Category:User images]].

At your personal page, you can place ready stickers with various information using custom templates. Choose Userboxes by visiting the Category:Userbox

Display OpenStreetMap

This is the OpenStreetMap wiki - of course you can insert the OSM's map into any pages. If you want to use static map image, see Simple image MediaWiki Extension. If you want to use dynamic Slippy Map, see Slippy Map MediaWiki Extension.

Include source code

Q: How can I insert some readable source-code in a wiki page, so that it is shown in a non-proportional font, colorized for syntax, etc.?

A: Surround your code with <source lang=*>...</source>, where * is the language - one of:

actionscript, ada, apache, applescript, asm, asp, autoit, bash, blitzbasic, bnf, c, c_mac, caddcl, cadlisp, cfdg, cfm, cpp, cpp-qt, csharp, css, d, delphi, diff, div, dos, eiffel, fortran, freebasic, gml, groovy, html4strict, idl, ini, inno, io, java, java5, javascript, latex, lisp, lua, matlab, mirc, mpasm, mysql, nsis, objc, ocaml, ocaml-brief, oobas, oracle8, pascal, perl, php, php-brief, plsql, python, qbasic, rails, reg, robots, ruby, sas, scheme, sdlbasic, smalltalk, smarty, sql, tcl, text, thinbasic, tsql, vb, vbnet, vhdl, visualfoxpro, winbatch, xml, xpp, z80

For example:

<source lang=perl>
#-TEST--------------------------------------------------------------------------
our $help=0;
my $coord;
print "TEST\n\n";
</source>

is displayed as:

#-TEST--------------------------------------------------------------------------
our $help=0;
my $coord; 
print "TEST\n\n";

Include images from Wikimedia Commons

Since april 2009 it is possible to use easily images from Wikimedia Commons at the OSM wiki.

Short HowTo: look at Wikimedia Commons for the desired picture and embed it here like this:

[[Image:Dunvegan_Castle_in_the_mist01editcrop_2007-08-22.jpg]]

Options for resizing and placement are

[[Image:image.png|thumb/frame|left/right/center|size in px (e.g. 100px)|
alt=text describing picture (useful for people with screenreaders)|
description here is displayed below the image]]

Example:

[[Image:Dunvegan_Castle_in_the_mist01editcrop_2007-08-22.jpg|thumb|right|
200px|alt=photograph of Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye in the mist|
Dunvegan castle on Isle of Skye]]

Dunvegan castle on Isle of Skye

For a more verbose HowTo see the Wikipedia Picture_tutorial.

Note:
Use only pictures from Wikipedia if the license is Public Domain or CC-BY or CC-BY-SA.
You are NOT allowed to use pictures with GNU-License like GFDL or GPL. In this case you can contact the author and ask if he wants to make his picture availible in CC-BY-SA for osm.
You should probably not use any map image from wikimedia, even where they are pronounced cc-by-sa on wikipedia, because this community applies more strict criteria regarding derivative works.

See also Collaboration with Wikipedia.

Some general guidelines

Be aware that anyone can edit anything on the OSM Wiki. This means anything you contribute may get hacked to bits by others.

Wholesale deletions or large-scale re-arrangements may be necessary in order to achieve a reasonable organisation of the website as a whole. Anyone can undertake such re-organisations but for any change which might be viewed as destructive, you should leave a trail of comments on the associated discussion pages, to explain what you are doing and why. See Wikipedia:Talk Page.

In general be bold, go forth and do it! Any edit can always be reverted, but for really big changes which might upset someone, it is best to hold a discussion about it first. Propose the change, discuss it, and reach agreement on the best organisation. Different people have different ideas for how to organise the wiki pages.

Wiki Translation

It is necessary to translate Wiki pages about usage of software, mapping techniques, and mapping features to all languages because we really hope to map everywhere. If you can read and write more than one language (even if one is not English), you can help. The translation guide is on the Wiki Translation page.

Common links and symbols in the wiki

Tool links

Places

• Browse map — view a map of the area
• Edit map — edit the area in Potlatch
• Users — list local mappers
• GPS traces — list GPS traces uploaded to OSM
• Wallpaper image: jpeg, png — Download map as a tile
• Maplint — data checker
• informationfreeway — map from Informationfreeway
• Check Map Features via Query-to-map
• Check streets with no-names — highlight unnamed roads
• Geohack for OSM with more maps
• OSM Inspector — check the map (only European data imported as of 3 October 2009)
• Osmaware — recently edited points
• OpenStreetBrowser — view map by categories
• OpenStreetBugs — report problems with the map data
• MapDust — view problems reported by Skobbler users
• Keep Right! — check the map
• Coastline checker — Coastline error checker
• Public transport — Map of public transport from Öpnvkarte or LatLon Public Transport Map
• Wikipedia article — Wikipedia article about the place
• Google — Search for the place in Google text and image search
• Webshots — Search for photographs in Webshots.com
• Geograph — Search for photographs in Geograph

Tags

• Used on these elements — tag is useful for nodes, ways or relations
• Useful combination — tags most often used on the same element
• Implies — tags that may be assumed for elements tagged with the tag
• Used combinations in — use of this tag reported by Tagwatch

Relations

• XML — download relation through the OpenStreetMap API
• b — browse relation on map
• check or a — check relation with Relation Analyzer
• manage or m — check relation with OSM Route Manager
• josm or j — edit relation in JOSM

See also

• MediaWiki extension

Colour and symbol legend

The status of each map region is indicated by a symbol, which describes the type of feature, and a colour, which indicates the completeness of that feature in a map region.

Meaning of symbols

• - Street names are labelled. This means that the map can be used to find an address - Key: l

• - Roads for car traffic are present. One way streets and pedestrian streets are present. This means that the map can be used for car navigation - Key: c

• - All cycleways, and field and forest roads suitable for bicycles are present - Key: b

• - All footways are present - Key: fo

• - All wheelchair access is present - Key: d

• - All public transports are present (including name of the bus stop/station names) - Key: tr

• - All public institutions are present (Churches, sports facilities, venues, schools, hospitals, city hall) - Key: p

• - All petrol stations are present - Key: fu

• - All restaurants and hotels are present - Key: r

• - All tourist attractions are present - Key: t

• - All natural resources are mapped (e.g Water, Lakes and Woodland) - Key: n

• - All housenumbers are present - Key: h

Meaning of colours

Background colour	Meaning	Use for navigation	To do	value
	The map needs checking, status unknown	Availability unknown	Please check	(None)
	The map contains no or little data	Not to be used	Please complete	0
	The map contains partial data	Limited usability	Please complete	1
	The map is largely complete (please describe missing data)	Use with restrictions	Please complete (missing data, streets etc.)	2
	The map is complete (in the opinion of a mapper)	Suitable for use	Please check and correct any errors	3
	The map is complete (verified by 2 mappers) ; please indicate Date when checked)	Suitable for use	Please update as needed	4
	This attribute does not exist in the mapped area (e.g. no petrol stations)	Suitable for use	Please update as needed	X

This table is a wiki template with a default description in German. Editable here. The english translation is Editable here

WikiProject Cleanup

This OSM wiki does need some re-organisation. We need to take an global view point and do some merging/deleting and consolidation of information here. We are coordinating this effort at WikiProject Cleanup. To help in this process, please try not to be too precious about "your" pages. Nobody owns the pages of a wiki. When adding to the wiki, you should seek to find the correct place within the current structure, to build upon the information we already have. This is better than creating a new page as your page where things are written your way.

As with any kind of internet community discussion, if you find yourself passionately defending your way of doing things, try to take a step back and stay open-minded.

see also

• Wiki - list of Wiki administrative pages.