[OSM-talk] Questions from a newbie on editing

[Laurence Penney]

Is the advice on the OSM site out-of-date that newbies should use the 
online applet?

I've been trying for quite a while to do some editing based on a long 
cycle ride I did around Clifton yesterday, but have mostly failed so 
far. I managed to add nodes, segments and ways for a couple of short 
streets[1], but there are some buts...

Specific problems:

* It's painful waiting for reloads. This is especially a pain when 
scrolling back to an area I've just been to - caching would be lovely to 
say the least!
* Most or all of the big trace I did yesterday (#3351, 1482 points) does 
not show up. I zigzagged a lot around the residential streets, all of 
which shows up when I load the GPX into JOSM.
* Zoom (] key) doesn't work beyond level 14, I have to edit the URL to 
15 or 16
* The name of one of the streets I tagged (Clifton Suspension Bridge) 
doesn't show up.

/*
First impressions of JOSM:
* I finally got the right mouse button to work by plugging in a real 
mouse (implementing ctrl-click as RMB is essential for laptop usage)
* I could not download an area of interest using the map UI in the 
File/Open dialog. The scroll & zoom tool just magnifies the minimal-res 
world image with a mysterious algorithm.
* Downloading based on a URL [2] omits my Clifton Suspension Bridge that 
shows up in the online applet. Is it supposed to show me other people's 
traces too?
* When I load a GPX from the hard drive it looks pretty but seems 
squashed vertically as if the coordinates are not adjusted for latitude.
*/

Questions:

* Is it possible to have only one trace, or my own traces, as the 
background layer for editing? As I can't filter traces, I can't tell 
whether my big trace is partially loaded into OSM.
* Can one check the time or contributor of a particular yellow trace dot?
* Is there a bookmarking facility for the online applet? Getting back to 
the same area is a pain.
* I didn't see any recommendations on how to set up a GPS for tracklogs. 
My Garmin has options for record method (Distance/Time/Auto) and 
interval (More often/Normal/Less often/Least often). I kept mine on 
"Auto/Normal".

Wish list:

* A "playback" feature of any GPS trace, with fast forward, a calendar 
and an analogue clock.
* It would be wonderful to know who has created each existing way, 
mainly to collaborate on doing various bits of a city as part of one's 
fitness workout!

I'll end more positively... I can highly recommend cycling as a superb 
way to capture points. I hope people brings bikes to I spent about 4 
hours cycling yesterday, and came back quite exhilarated to have found 
such productive way of keeping fit! The mental exercise - working out 
the most efficient path to "fill in" a few streets - is interesting: as 
you get more tired your path around the streets gets less efficient. 
Never has topology been so intimately connected with topography. To 
enhance the feeling of a workout being productive, and to get cities 
done in double-quick time, collaboration tools with other locals would 
be really desirable.

I'd be happy to collate any responses on the list and add them to the Wiki.

-- Laurence

[1] Clifton Suspension Bridge; Canynge Square
[2] 
http://www.openstreetmap.org/edit.html?lat=51.462471485&lon=-2.624981403&zoom=14