[OSM-talk] Surveying

[Dave Stubbs]

On 18/11/2007, Gervase Markham <gerv-gmane at gerv.net> wrote:
> If I were to go out surveying - in this case, in the countryside and
> villages of Cumbria - is there a definitive list of all the things I
> should be spotting to make a complete map? I can then create a
> "Surveyor" plugin XML button definition file with all of them in and use
> it on my travels.
>
> I realise that, in one sense, there's no end to the level of detail you
> could add, but it would be nice to know if there's some consensus on
> what needs to be annotated to consider the map "good enough".


Obviously, many answers. But as a start I would say:

 - all roads, and road names
 - accurate junctions
 - major foot paths/parks etc

Once those things are on the map it's much easier to add everything
else. You stop needing equipment like GPSs: if you know there's a post
box on the corner of road X and road Y then any interested person can
add that if road X and road Y are already there. This level of
completeness becomes a launching pad for everyone else.
You can of course do a very comprehensive map first time out ala David
Earl, but if you're anything like me then you'd get bored very
quickly. You can always go out again and do a second pass, or hope
that other people will add in all the post boxes and pubs.

In SW London I've been adding in the basic street/road network,
railways, subways, rivers, the odd pub, the odd post box, and the odd
church. Since that first pass I've been on various cycle route hunts
over already "mapped" areas with the odd insane braking manoeuvre as I
pass a small alley way that somehow got missed the first time.
I've actually added more pubs to open street map in areas that I
didn't originally map than areas I did, thus kind of proving the
point!

Basically, do whatever makes you happy, and don't feel obliged to map
anything you can't be bothered with. As SteveC says, Have fun.

Dave