[OSM-newbies] help editing a trail contribution

[Andrew Errington]

Apologies if I underestimate what you know, but a gps trace will not
show up on the map.  We use the gps trace as a guideline to draw roads
and trails on the map itself.  It looks like you have done this and
drawn a way on top of the trace, and it's tagged highway=footway

http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/249319492

What is strange about its appearance?  It looks ok.

The only thing you can (and should) do is make sure the way is tagged
properly.  If you think it is, then you're done.  The way the way (!)
is drawn is dependent on the rules for the specific renderer that you
are looking at.  If you select a different map layer from the menu on
the right you will see your path drawn in a different style (and
sometimes not at all).  It's up to the renderer to decide what to
render and how to render it.

What you *must not do* is alter the tags to make something look the
way you want it to on the map.  For example, maybe you'd like a road
to be drawn blue (because you like blue), so you could tag it as a
river.  It would look blue, but it would be wrongly tagged.  It's an
extreme example, but illustrates the point.

What do you think needs to be fixed?  If you want the entire trace to
be used then you must draw a way along the entire length.  It's
possible that somebody else already did some parts of it, so you could
re-align the existing ways to your trace, or you could leave them as
they are.  Don't forget that the gps trace may be offset by several
metres in any direction, so it might not be in exactly the right
place.

Best wishes,

Andrew

On 20 December 2013 12:31, Fred Felter <felterf at gmail.com> wrote:
> My first post here.
> I recently contributed a GPS trace to complete a foot/bike path near where I
> live. The result in OSM has a strange appearance and I cannot figure out how
> to fix it. Since this is new to me I could really use some personal tutoring
> to get me through this problem. Is this an appropriate forum for that? And
> if not, where?
>
> My trace is http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/frefel/traces/1614067. I
> wanted my entire trace to be used but only a section was. What I added looks
> more like a road than a foo/bike trail and I don't see why?
>
> Thanks for any help.
> Fred
>
>
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