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Best way to record POIs while field mapping

2

Hello

I am a rather new mapper and currently in the process of making the map of my hometown better.

Can anyone recommend me a good technique / app for field mapping? What I want to do is walk around my hometown and see what's missing (shops for example) Note the GPS locations of these Points in an app with a description. And add them to OSM later when I'm back at home.

Anyone knows a good app/technique for that? I have thought of printing the map but as I want to cover a rather big area in my field trips I would need to print quite many pages. So I don't think that this would be suitable. I know of the app StreetComplete but in my town there are not only housenumbers missing but also shops, benches etc. so it's not suitable for all I want to do.

Thanks for your help.

asked 11 Sep '17, 12:03

maracuja-juice's gravatar image

maracuja-juice
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accept rate: 0%

You're asking for an app, so you probably need to tell us what sort of phone you have.

(11 Sep '17, 12:15) SomeoneElse ♦
2

Ah forgot that: I have an Android Phone (7.1.1)

(11 Sep '17, 12:20) maracuja-juice

2 Answers:

6

There are many different workflows possible outside of joting down the information on paper

  • take geo-referenced fotos (for example with OpenCamera) and then use JOSM (unluckily this is not possible with iD) to add the information at home by using the photo import support in JOSM.
  • use mapillary (supported in both iD and JOSM)
  • use OsmAnd or maps.me to add POIs (both have significant disadvantages compared to proper editors, which may or may not be relevant for you)
  • use vespucci http://vespucci.io/ to add the POIs directly
  • and various combinations of the above

answered 11 Sep '17, 16:30

SimonPoole's gravatar image

SimonPoole ♦
44.7k●13●326●701
accept rate: 18%

What about GPS devices and adding Waypoints?

(11 Sep '17, 17:09) maracuja-juice
1

.. or even a phone and creating a GPS track with waypoints in it there. I've used the snappily named "OSMTracker for Android" to do that.

(11 Sep '17, 17:52) SomeoneElse ♦

Okay good. May you link me to a tutorial for tracing with a GPX file after I have uploaded a file? I haven't found out yet to do that. thanks.

(11 Sep '17, 18:00) maracuja-juice

I think I will go with the Maps.Me approach + OsmContributor + sometimes paper maps if I need to add lots of house numbers.

(11 Sep '17, 21:34) maracuja-juice

There's a section of the beginners' guide that discusses contributing GPS traces: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Recording_GPS_tracks .

(11 Sep '17, 22:32) SomeoneElse ♦

Keep in mind that maps.me maps can easily be outdated in areas with lot's of mappers.

(12 Sep '17, 05:53) escada
showing 5 of 6 show 1 more comments

3

I can recommend "OsmTracker for Android", I used it exactly as you described: walked, recorded GPS track, left notes (and photos) for missing places. Moreover, you can even quickly add POIs with it.

answered 11 Sep '17, 20:39

Sergey%20Karavay's gravatar image

Sergey Karavay
539●18●21●34
accept rate: 0%

Thanks. I now found OsmContributor and I think I will use this one to add new points of interest.

(11 Sep '17, 21:34) maracuja-juice

Source code available on GitHub .