[OSM-newbies] Starting with JOSM and OpenStreetMap in general

[Richard Fairhurst]

graham wrote:

> Rick Collins wrote:
>> I think this is what I don't understand.  Why do I need to "create"
>> nodes when I already have all these points collected from my
>> GPS?  Clearly I don't want to have to duplicate all of these
>> points?  Or are you saying that I need to trim them down to a minimum
>> that still follows the course of the road accurately?
>
> Yes, that's it.
> There are (at least) three reasons for this: [...]

The one scenario when it's really useful to automatically convert  
from a GPS track to an OpenStreetMap way is on long, winding rural  
roads. GPS accuracy here is generally pretty good (no concrete  
canyons), and tracing 100 miles of bends is not fun.

With Potlatch, you can upload a track to OSM, then automatically  
convert it to a way. Potlatch "simplifies" the way to remove surplus  
points while retaining the curves. You will, of course, still have to  
tidy it up a little yourself - splitting the way at the right points,  
making junctions with other ways, etc. - before saving to the database.

Details here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Potlatch/ 
Primer#Working_with_GPS_tracks

A quick Google suggests that a similar feature was experimentally  
available in JOSM at one point, but any more than that I don't know.

cheers
Richard