How long does it take to map 1km2

10 people will cover much more then 1 km^2 in 3 hours. Although the speed varies a lot.

First you have to walk/cycle/drive all the streets and collect data. The time it takes depends on how fast you are going, how much data you care about and how much you have to backtrack e.g. dead ends.

The next step (hopfully after some food and rest) is to upload the traces and add the streets. This is not done automaticly as a computer have a hard time interpreting raw data.

Try the beginners' guide to learn more.

I have found it depends on experience (in terms of surveying and editing), as well as area density and detail levels, and the quality you aim for.

I have estimated areas before, and I work with 6 levels of population density. Around 30 people per square km, then 100, then 180, then 300, then 700, then 3500. basically, sparce, rural, big villages, towns, cities, city terraced housing.

It's quite simple in a table I have, but seems confusing when typed. So I'll list the Kilometres Square I estimate I can map for the 6 levels from sparse to dense, and in each set firstly just roads, then paths and tracks, then all natural features (hedges/fences/woods etc).

(14km2, 0.8km2, 0.4km2) (8km2, 0.7km2, 0.4km2) (3.2km2, 0.6km2, 0.44km2) (1.6km2, 0.5km2 ,0.48km2) (0.56km2, 0.48km2, 0.53km2) (0.7km2, 0.68km2, 0.68km2)

With Roads, and some additional information, in usual urban areas therefore I'd guess that I would map at about 0.5km2 per hour each. so 2.5km2 for 10 of you per hour. (guess based on having photo reference for speed, and using josm)

I think there's a lot of varying factors though, and these numbers are just based on how 'I' do it, where I live.

Also the reason very dense is quicker than dense areas is becuase if time saving techniques like just marking street ends, and also the lack of anything but housing usually in such areas.

When you are a bit more experienced with OSM data modelling you can even load your recorded GPS tracks in one of the available offline-editors. This loading is done immediately.

After that, download the already existing data from the central OSM server according to the area that is covered by your recorders track. This is done in a few seconds.

Than you have to draw all ways, points and objects in a kind of vector data that are not yet included in the OSM data. The time amount for this differs strongly by the grade of missing objects and the editor's skills about handling the editors program. This is the most time consuming part.

After all edits and new objects are tagged as desired, do an upload of that data to the central OSM server. This is also done in seconds.

But I think that 10 people CAN cover your desired area in 3 hours.

streets and roads can be traced and edited in a short time,but if you are going the draw in all the buildings in from bing and tag then all with numbers it will take ages as would the collection of numbers on the ground as they should not be copied from another map as there maybe copyright traps.best way estimate do a little then do the maths good luck!