I’ve been making a lot of contributions to OpenStreetMap lately.

I’ve wanted to get into mapping for a long time but found it really intimidating. There’s a lot of rules to keep in mind and it all seems so complicated!

I still think this is sort of true, and there’s a lot of dense documentation to read if you really want to get into the weeds of things. But it ended up being a lot easier to get started with than I thought.

I started using an app called StreetComplete which makes making edits really simple and fun. It asks you a bunch of yes/no questions about your surroundings (like “Does this crosswalk have street markings?”) and automatically handles turning that into a correctly formatted map edit.

A lot of the houses in my neighborhood are missing addresses. I have been going for walks surveying the addresses and improving the map bit by bit. I really enjoy seeing the address coverage get better day by day.

StreetComplete is awesome but can’t edit everything. After using StreetComplete for a couple weeks, I got an itching to do more. So I learned how to use iD, the web-based editor built-in to the OSM website. It has a nice tutorial to walk you through how to make your first edit. I found it rather straightforward has lots of presets for whatever you are adding to the map. I spent an afternoon mapping parking lots to learn the ropes. I was really nervous I might accidentally do something wrong, so before starting I looked at how existing parking lots were mapped nearby, and also checked the OSM Wiki page for parking if I was unsure on edge cases.

Today I am figuring out how to use JOSM, an even more advanced editor with tons of fancy features (very few of which I understand, but that’s okay)

So far I’ve enjoyed learning about things one by one, and it’s helped me feel less intimidated. You don’t need to know how to do everything, just how to do one thing good enough and learn more later. All I confidently know how to map right now is houses, parking lots, and roundabouts. I’m sure I will learn more in time.

Go give mapping a try!