[OSM-newbies] tracks

[Stefan Baebler]

Hi!

There is nothing wrong with uploading a track file (gpx), which covers
the same road several times. In fact it is quite useful, as the GPS
position is not exact and by having several recordings you can then
draw the road in the middle of those readings (you can't get the exact
position with a single drive-by)

However you shouldn't upload same file several times, as it adds no value.
Use gpsbabel only to remove only _exact_ duplicates (in case you
merged some tracks more than once, or were recording it without moving
- otherwise they are practically impossible).
http://www.gpsbabel.org/htmldoc-1.3.3/filter_duplicate.html

Also, there is no reason to wait with the upload until your gigantic
track will cover all the city. Consider that there might be other
users in your area who already have recorded some tracks so there is
no need to go into that streets anymore. Don't deliberately delay your
uploads. If your tracks are _extremely_ short (eg bellow 100 points)
you can merge them though, but is not needed.

greets,
Stefan

On 6/15/07, Charles Basenga Kiyanda <kiyanda2 at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> Ok, so I'm a complete newbie. I've been mapping the town and area around
> where I live. I don't have all the streets beyond the main streets in
> the town, but I thought I'd give it a go and upload whatever tracks to
> the server so I could go through the whole process once and make sure
> I'm doing things correctly.
>
> One interrogation I have is considering duplicate tracks. So far, all I
> did was drive/bike around and merge the gpx files together at the end of
> the day. I end up with several tracks on top of each other as I've been
> through the same streets many times. I know that I can simplify the
> tracks with gpsbabel. I gave it a try but it wasn't fabulous. I wonder
> if people here have standard procedures they use, how many points they
> keep, or a specific workflow regarding simplifying tracks?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Charles
>
> _______________________________________________
> Newbies mailing list
> Newbies at openstreetmap.org
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/newbies
>