[OSM-talk] What do you wish you'd known?

[Chris Hill]

SteveC wrote:
> What are the thing or things you know know that you wish you'd known when you started with OpenStreetMap?
>   
The stuff that I know now that I wish I had known includes:

* That joining ways together is important.

* That the right tag to use is not a black-and-white issue.

* That good stuff lies behind the blue an white +.

* That there were other editors than Potlatch which are better at some 
things.

* That taking photos and using them with a GPX track is VERY useful.

* That a decent estimate of an area (such as a recreation ground) is a 
good start, i.e. things don't have to be perfect because they can be 
improved later.

* The definitions of types of roads is not what you might think (trunk 
vs primary & unclassified vs tertiary vs residential).

* That I would probably revisit almost everywhere I have surveyed to get 
more detail later.

* That the voting process for tags is not needed.

* That note=* and fixme=* tags are useful for sorting estimates out later.

* That OpenStreetBugs is useful, even if you can edit the map. (It 
didn't exist when I started, but I wish it had and that I knew about it).

* That surveying on the ground is much better than tracing from aerials 
because of the details you find (and much more satisfying), but that 
some things depend on aerials (restricted areas such as docks, building 
layouts).

* That loads of people offer help on mailing lists, IRC, forum etc.

* That getting at the underlying data was not hard.

* That doing something useful with the underlying data was satisfying, 
but a bit hard.

* That it would be so addictive.

There's probably other glaring issues that I've forgotten in two and a 
half years, but I hope this is  what you are looking for Steve.

Cheers, Chris