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If you appreciate OSM, consider installing the StreetComplete mobile app[0]! It lets you contribute to OSM in a very simple manner, via simple questions like, "

If you appreciate OSM, consider installing the StreetComplete mobile app[0]! It lets you contribute to OSM in a very simple manner, via simple questions like, "Is there a marked crosswalk here?" I'm not affiliated, I just think it's cool. It's very satisfying to complete quests in your local area. [0] https://streetcomplete.app/ https://streetcomplete.app/

yonatan8070 2y ago
Turns out I have new mini-hobby now, thanks!
eisa01 2y ago
And until there's an iOS version [1], you could try EveryDoor - especially great for POIs [1] https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 [2] https://every-door.app https://every-door.app
- raybb 2y ago
  For folks not too familiar with OSM, POI are points of interest, usually shops, parks, water access, restroom, etc. Just one point and a few labels. Much easier to map on the go than sidewalks or buildings that require more precision.
nurgasemetey 2y ago
Is it normal that website gives 403 Forbidden?
- ainonsense44 2y ago
  No
deng 2y ago
Yes, I can also confirm that it's a great way to lose weight, as it gives long walks a sense of purpose. ;-)
Freak_NL 2y ago
StreetComplete is fun for casual contributions, but what OSM really needs is good local mappers. You can tell when a place has local mappers updating and monitoring changes in the real world. Even just taking care of the coming and going of shops is really useful. People who visit your area using apps like OsmAnd and OrganicMaps use that data!
- xethos 2y ago
  I cannot describe [0] my pleasure and satisfaction when, visiting Germany, we found an icecream shop closed. We'd stopped by with the assumption Google Maps would have the correct hours; they did not, and we carried on without icecream. OSM, on the other hand, correctly showed the shop as closed for the day. [0] I can't, but my fiancee used the words "impossibly smug"
  - dtech 2y ago
    I mean, both rely on community contributions for this sort of thing, so it feels weird to be smug about this... It just depends on who decided to put the correct hours in.
    - xethos 2y ago
      "Smug" was mostly tongue in cheek. More than anything, it was a breath of fresh air seeing OSM, a product so heavily reliant on it's community, beating out one of the most well-funded corporations on our planet. Google has satellite views, they run their own network of vehicles to gather streetview data at a planetary scale, they follow every Android user (with Google Services installed) to know popular locations, new and closed businesses, likely opening hours, travel times, and more. They (at one point) pushed users to update store information, and then (from everything I've heard) charge out the ass for embedding a Google Map view. I am ecstatic that we have a free-as-in-beer, donation and corporate sponsorship funded, open-for-all map that not only can go blow-for-blow with this absolute behenoth, but in this case actually won. So while "smug" may be overselling it, "thrilled" would not be
jcynix 2y ago
> consider installing the StreetComplete mobile app [...] I'll second that and I'd add the tip to install its companion app StreetMeasure too in order to measure things like the width of a street or the length of other things. When on holidays or a weekend trip visiting places I often use StreetComplete to add missing data while walking around with my wife. And recently in the South of France I had to answer questions about the width of rather small streets in an old town center where my guesses wheren't very good. Then StreetComplete suggested that I use StreetMeasure and I got much better estimates.
- ygra 2y ago
  I carry a laser distance meter for that sort of things. Also wall/hedge/fence heights, etc. Besides, you can just ... not answer certain quests if you're unsure of the answer (or need to use estimation – there's tagging for estimated widths, but it's not used by StreetComplete). But I also found it handy to figure out the sizes of common paving stones, which makes sidewalks rather easy to measure without actually measuring :)
bartread 2y ago
Sadly does not seem to be available in iOS App Store in the UK or I would love to.
- eddyg 2y ago
  Try https://every-door.app/ https://every-door.app/
  - bartread 2y ago
    Excellent, thank you!
m4rtink 2y ago
Can really recommend StreetComplete - really fun to use & using it right now on a day trip to improve a less mapped area. :)
PontifexMinimus 2y ago
Google Maps used to have geolocated pictures taken by users (IIRC this was called Panoramio). If OSM had an app that allowed you to take photos and they'd be automatically uploaded with location, that'd be great.
- ygra 2y ago
  Mapillary or Kartaview are the typical choices here to add free street-level imagery which can then be used for OSM purposes as well. What also works is Wikimedia Commons. There's a good mobile app. You can take pictures of a POI, upload them and later associate them with that object in OSM (or via Wikidata).
  - nelgaard 2y ago
    Yes, and I use or have used them all. The wikimedia app could be improved a lot to support OSM. It is a bit of a hassle to take a picture, upload it to commons, then add both categories and concepts, then open an OSM editor, find the object, and add the wikimedia_commons tag. It would be much more helpful if you could search for an object in OsmAnd/organicmaps etc, take a picture, have it uploaded to wikimedia providing default categories based on OSM tags, and then have it added to OSM. It could also help create wikimedia categories if necessary.
  - francis44 2y ago
    There is also a newcomer called Panoramax, started in France about a year ago. It's federated and starting to expand in other countries. https://panoramax.fr/ https://panoramax.fr/
    - PontifexMinimus 2y ago
      It'd be really nice if all these services auto-federated with each other. A lot of the images are too dark or low-contrast, so another nice feature would be to auto-adjust the image for brightness (maybe make this a user-level default).
weightedreply 2y ago
Thanks for sharing! I'm glad there is an FDroid version. I think I'll enjoy this while on walks. It's like gamification for map stewardship. I remember when OpenStreetMap was new. I added a short missing footpath in my neighborhood at the time. It was a shortcut between homes. Today that same path even displays a very slight 1° turn. Amazing.
IndySun 2y ago
I use GoMap!!. It's comprehensive and a little clunky to use. I had not heard of streetcomplete. A quick suggests it is similar but a welcome alt.
- habi 2y ago
  StreetComplete is a gameified approach to updating details on OpenStreetMap, and only available on Android (for the moment: https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1). A good companion to Go Map!! (which is a nearly full-featured OSM editor app) is https://every-door.app/ https://every-door.app/, which is great for on-the-go stuff.
  - mbirth 2y ago
    In the GoMap display settings (the “map” button above the big “+” button), you can enable “Quests” which is basically the same thing StreetComplete does. In GoMap you can even define your own “quests” for details to add.
    - habi 2y ago
      Of course, I forgot (because I have them turned off). Thanks for reminding me.

yonatan8070 2y ago

Turns out I have new mini-hobby now, thanks!

eisa01 2y ago

And until there's an iOS version [1], you could try EveryDoor - especially great for POIs [1] https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 [2] https://every-door.app https://every-door.app

raybb 2y ago
For folks not too familiar with OSM, POI are points of interest, usually shops, parks, water access, restroom, etc. Just one point and a few labels. Much easier to map on the go than sidewalks or buildings that require more precision.

nurgasemetey 2y ago

Is it normal that website gives 403 Forbidden?

ainonsense44 2y ago
No

deng 2y ago

Yes, I can also confirm that it's a great way to lose weight, as it gives long walks a sense of purpose. ;-)

Freak_NL 2y ago

StreetComplete is fun for casual contributions, but what OSM really needs is good local mappers. You can tell when a place has local mappers updating and monitoring changes in the real world. Even just taking care of the coming and going of shops is really useful. People who visit your area using apps like OsmAnd and OrganicMaps use that data!

xethos 2y ago
I cannot describe [0] my pleasure and satisfaction when, visiting Germany, we found an icecream shop closed. We'd stopped by with the assumption Google Maps would have the correct hours; they did not, and we carried on without icecream. OSM, on the other hand, correctly showed the shop as closed for the day. [0] I can't, but my fiancee used the words "impossibly smug"
- dtech 2y ago
  I mean, both rely on community contributions for this sort of thing, so it feels weird to be smug about this... It just depends on who decided to put the correct hours in.
  - xethos 2y ago
    "Smug" was mostly tongue in cheek. More than anything, it was a breath of fresh air seeing OSM, a product so heavily reliant on it's community, beating out one of the most well-funded corporations on our planet. Google has satellite views, they run their own network of vehicles to gather streetview data at a planetary scale, they follow every Android user (with Google Services installed) to know popular locations, new and closed businesses, likely opening hours, travel times, and more. They (at one point) pushed users to update store information, and then (from everything I've heard) charge out the ass for embedding a Google Map view. I am ecstatic that we have a free-as-in-beer, donation and corporate sponsorship funded, open-for-all map that not only can go blow-for-blow with this absolute behenoth, but in this case actually won. So while "smug" may be overselling it, "thrilled" would not be

jcynix 2y ago

> consider installing the StreetComplete mobile app [...] I'll second that and I'd add the tip to install its companion app StreetMeasure too in order to measure things like the width of a street or the length of other things. When on holidays or a weekend trip visiting places I often use StreetComplete to add missing data while walking around with my wife. And recently in the South of France I had to answer questions about the width of rather small streets in an old town center where my guesses wheren't very good. Then StreetComplete suggested that I use StreetMeasure and I got much better estimates.

ygra 2y ago
I carry a laser distance meter for that sort of things. Also wall/hedge/fence heights, etc. Besides, you can just ... not answer certain quests if you're unsure of the answer (or need to use estimation – there's tagging for estimated widths, but it's not used by StreetComplete). But I also found it handy to figure out the sizes of common paving stones, which makes sidewalks rather easy to measure without actually measuring :)

bartread 2y ago

Sadly does not seem to be available in iOS App Store in the UK or I would love to.

eddyg 2y ago
Try https://every-door.app/ https://every-door.app/
- bartread 2y ago
  Excellent, thank you!

m4rtink 2y ago

Can really recommend StreetComplete - really fun to use & using it right now on a day trip to improve a less mapped area. :)

PontifexMinimus 2y ago

Google Maps used to have geolocated pictures taken by users (IIRC this was called Panoramio). If OSM had an app that allowed you to take photos and they'd be automatically uploaded with location, that'd be great.

ygra 2y ago
Mapillary or Kartaview are the typical choices here to add free street-level imagery which can then be used for OSM purposes as well. What also works is Wikimedia Commons. There's a good mobile app. You can take pictures of a POI, upload them and later associate them with that object in OSM (or via Wikidata).
- nelgaard 2y ago
  Yes, and I use or have used them all. The wikimedia app could be improved a lot to support OSM. It is a bit of a hassle to take a picture, upload it to commons, then add both categories and concepts, then open an OSM editor, find the object, and add the wikimedia_commons tag. It would be much more helpful if you could search for an object in OsmAnd/organicmaps etc, take a picture, have it uploaded to wikimedia providing default categories based on OSM tags, and then have it added to OSM. It could also help create wikimedia categories if necessary.
- francis44 2y ago
  There is also a newcomer called Panoramax, started in France about a year ago. It's federated and starting to expand in other countries. https://panoramax.fr/ https://panoramax.fr/
  - PontifexMinimus 2y ago
    It'd be really nice if all these services auto-federated with each other. A lot of the images are too dark or low-contrast, so another nice feature would be to auto-adjust the image for brightness (maybe make this a user-level default).

weightedreply 2y ago

Thanks for sharing! I'm glad there is an FDroid version. I think I'll enjoy this while on walks. It's like gamification for map stewardship. I remember when OpenStreetMap was new. I added a short missing footpath in my neighborhood at the time. It was a shortcut between homes. Today that same path even displays a very slight 1° turn. Amazing.

IndySun 2y ago

I use GoMap!!. It's comprehensive and a little clunky to use. I had not heard of streetcomplete. A quick suggests it is similar but a welcome alt.

habi 2y ago
StreetComplete is a gameified approach to updating details on OpenStreetMap, and only available on Android (for the moment: https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1). A good companion to Go Map!! (which is a nearly full-featured OSM editor app) is https://every-door.app/ https://every-door.app/, which is great for on-the-go stuff.
- mbirth 2y ago
  In the GoMap display settings (the “map” button above the big “+” button), you can enable “Quests” which is basically the same thing StreetComplete does. In GoMap you can even define your own “quests” for details to add.
  - habi 2y ago
    Of course, I forgot (because I have them turned off). Thanks for reminding me.