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Imagine that I've been to the pub. It's not listed on OSM, so I'll add a GPX waypoint at the front door, and edit it so that the description contains the pub name and any other useful information.

When I get home, I'll open the GPX file in JOSM and update the map. Naturally I'll want to add the pub to OSM, and it would be nice to be able to use the text stored in the waypoint description. The problem is that there are lots of other waypoints in the file, and i don't want to merge them all as nodes - just this one. How do I do that?

Similar questions have been previously asked on the forum here and here, and also on the newbies list here. It appears that there are solutions to "convert all waypoints..." but not "convert one waypoint..."?

asked 06 Sep '11, 12:41

SomeoneElse's gravatar image

SomeoneElse ♦
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accept rate: 16%

closed 22 Oct '15, 09:27

SimonPoole's gravatar image

SimonPoole ♦
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Actually there's a serious downside to converting .GPX files to .OSM files for use by JOSM - you don't see any useful information in the data layer about them; just the name. To actually see the tags that have been set you have to "inspect" the node, which is extremely clumsy.

(10 Sep '11, 12:43) SomeoneElse ♦

This is not currently possible in JOSM. However you may try to make a plugin or script that does this. Mind that if other people use it they may want to enter the details in another format then you want.

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answered 07 Sep '11, 11:09

Gnonthgol's gravatar image

Gnonthgol ♦
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accept rate: 16%

Interesting - I'll have a read of http://josm.openstreetmap.de/wiki/DevelopersGuide/DevelopingPlugins . Probably won't be today though...

(07 Sep '11, 11:33) SomeoneElse ♦

It is possible, see Vincent de P...’s answer (which should be the accepted answer, I think).

(13 Jul '16, 13:37) erik

@erik It's not the accepted answer because it doesn't actually work for me (for the reasons I added as comments below that answer).

(13 Jul '16, 14:42) SomeoneElse ♦

Your first forum link suggests you can use gpsbabel to make the waypoints into a data layer. If that is so (and I've not tried it), open that layer as a separate layer in JOSM and copy and paste individual nodes between the layers.

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answered 06 Sep '11, 13:40

EdLoach's gravatar image

EdLoach ♦
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Sounds promising - I'll definitely have a look at this.

(07 Sep '11, 11:42) SomeoneElse ♦

Converting a .GPX to a .OSM file works - the tricky bit seems to be getting JOSM to work with multiple layers. For example, if I first of all I open up my converted .osm file, create a new layer, and download from OSM, I can't select anything in the converted .osm file.

If I delete and then reopen the converted .osm file I can now select nodes and press ^C - the problem is that I can't select the other layer and paste them in there (what actually happens is that pressing ^V renames "Data Layer 2" and adds a "0" to the end of the name, so I get "Data Layer 20" etc.

(10 Sep '11, 00:59) SomeoneElse ♦

Interestingly what does work is to press ^C on the node from the converted .OSM file, delete the layer containing the converted .OSM file, and then press ^V, but it's not practical to close and reopen a file every time that you want to add a node.

(10 Sep '11, 01:01) SomeoneElse ♦
1

If you have the .osm layer open as one layer and download data to a second, I switch between layers by having the layers dialog open on the right, highlighting the one I want to use, then clicking the third button in (with the green tick on) to make it the active layer. I have used this method to cut and paste missing ways from OS OpenData BoundaryLine shapefiles converted to .osm files using OGR2OSM when fixing GB boundary relations. It is only individual nodes I haven't tried cutting and pasting between layers, but assumed it would work similarly.

(10 Sep '11, 11:46) EdLoach ♦

That works - the full sequence is as follows:

gpsbabel -w -i gpx -f c:Temposmtr1724a_post.gpx -o osm -F C:/Temp/osm/tr1724a.osm

Open tr1724a.osm in JOSM File / New layer Download from OSM

At this point "Data Layer 1" is active. "Upload Data" says there's nothing to upload.

At this point what I'd expect to be is in each layer - I can hide each and see what I'd expect.

Zoom in on a point that I'm interested in. I can't read the name, the font is too small and the grey on black font is illegible. Activate the other layer and click on the point...

(11 Sep '11, 13:21) SomeoneElse ♦

... Right click / inspect shows:

Node id=-8 lat=53.1675882 lon=-1.1494951 (projected: x=-127961.20920136309, y=7014057.564866551); Data set: 1385846; User: [<new object="">]; ChangeSet id: 0; Timestamp: <new object="">; Version: 0 tags: "created_by"="GPSBabel-1.4.2" "amenity"="pharmacy" "description"="Pharmacy 09-SEP-11 18:27:19" "name"="DOA049653"

Edit / Copy

Activate Data Layer 1 Edit / Paste

Command Stack says "Added 1 object" Edit the tags on the node (because I've used "pharmacy" to indicate something else).

Upload Data the changeset shows 1 node...

(11 Sep '11, 13:23) SomeoneElse ♦

The problem is that it's not really a realistic workflow for individual waypoints - way too many button presses.

(11 Sep '11, 13:25) SomeoneElse ♦
showing 5 of 7 show 2 more comments

You could (carefully!) edit the GPX file using your favourite text-editor; it's plain-text XML. Make a backup copy of the file, open the file in your editor, find the waypoint of interest, delete the others, save the file, close the editor, then open the file in JOSM.

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answered 07 Sep '11, 10:52

tongro's gravatar image

tongro
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That'd work, but I'd need to know which POIs to create the second data layer from before starting JOSM (or go round the loop several times), and I'd need to write something or use GPSBabel to convert "wpt" entries in the GPX to "node" in a pseudo-OSM file.

(07 Sep '11, 11:42) SomeoneElse ♦

This question is already answered imho. Convert your gpx file to osm file (possible via web service but also directly in josm via right click on the gpx layer) and then copy the wanted nodes from that layer into your main data layer.

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answered 20 Oct '15, 14:31

Klumbumbus's gravatar image

Klumbumbus
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accept rate: 8%

It's not answered - see the comment on https://help.openstreetmap.org/answer_link/47188/ .

(16 Dec '15, 19:05) SomeoneElse ♦
  1. Open the gpx file
  2. Right-click on the gpx layer, select "convert to data layer"
  3. Switch to editing this layer instead of the osm data layer
  4. Select waypoint(s), Copy
  5. Switch back to editing osm data layer
  6. Paste
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answered 16 Dec '15, 17:13

Vincent%20de%20Phily's gravatar image

Vincent de P... ♦
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accept rate: 19%

When I try and open a GPX file (I used http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/SomeoneElse/traces/2079394 ) two layers are created, "TR3891b.GPX" and "Markers from TR3891b.GPX". If I select the latter, and "convert to data layer" I get a warning "Upload of unprocessed GPS data as map data is considered harmful" (which is fair enough - I have no intention of uploading unprocessed GPS data).

I selected a waypoint (DOA157315) and copied it to a new OSM layer. If I save (to the dev server, for testing) I get http://api06.dev.openstreetmap.org/node/4301145583 . This isn't much use. What I actually want to do is to be able to see the full set of tags on the waypoint:

<wpt lat="53.0097842" lon="-1.4806223"> <name>DOA157315</name> <sym>Boat Ramp</sym> </wpt>

and process them. In this case "Boat Ramp" means "this footway is marked as a public footpath".

For completeness no non-name tags seem to be coming through. For example cmt and/or desc would be useful here to indicate whether a road has a sidewalk or not:

<wpt lat="53.0004501" lon="-1.4820385"> <name>DOA157415</name> <cmt>0</cmt> <desc>0</desc> <sym>Swimming Area</sym> </wpt>

(same file)

(16 Dec '15, 19:04) SomeoneElse ♦

Also, if I convert the "TR3891b.GPX" layer to a data layer I just get an untagged way (I've not uploaded that).

(16 Dec '15, 19:12) SomeoneElse ♦

Just for comparison, here's the equivalent workflow in P2:

1) Edit the GPS trace directly (no need to hunt for the original file)
2) Background / Vector File / TR3891b.GPX / tick
3) Click on an orange waypoint
4) Look at the waypoint's symbol and comment fields
5) Make changes to map based on what is there
6) Repeat from (3).

There's no need to convert anything, copy between layers, or worry about adding things like http://api06.dev.openstreetmap.org/node/4301145583 by mistake. Most importantly, waypoint information other than the name is visible.

(16 Dec '15, 19:37) SomeoneElse ♦
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question asked: 06 Sep '11, 12:41

question was seen: 13,722 times

last updated: 13 Jul '16, 14:42

NOTICE: help.openstreetmap.org is no longer in use from 1st March 2024. Please use the OpenStreetMap Community Forum