Hi, I’m a new mapper to OSM, and have been acting like this is a fun game and going super detailed with what I’m mapping out. It doesn’t seem like others go into the same amount of detail I do, so my question is, is that ok? I assumed it was like do whatever as long as its accurate, or is there like a general consensus on how detailed you should go.
I’ve attached a picture of my home neighborhood subdivision as an example
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Welcome to OSM!
It is!
Exactly as you say, you can map what you choose to map and how detailed you want to map it. Some choose to add small details, others deal with the big picture. Of course that all depends on perspective: They may add small details to things that you would’ve never thought of!
Nice work, looks great!
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It is OK! Map what you are interested in and know well, as detailed as you like. 
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Thank you!!!
Hi PGio,
another welcome from my side. Great work, just go on!
A side note: I saw that you mapped a couple of road gullies or manholes. Please be aware that at the time being the tagging of these objects is under discussion (here) and I will be working on the wiki pages soon.
Only those manholes which are made for a person to enter into a shaft to inspect drainage channels should be tagged as man_made=manhole + manhole=drain. Road gullies also called stormwater drains should be tagged man_made=storm_drain + inlet=grate. If you want to map more of those, please have a look at Road inlets and covers - OpenStreetMap Wiki.
Thank you for the advice!! I was mostly plotting the manhole covers on top of the drains. these covers are completely solid and have no grate. After looking at the wiki page you linked, I think these could be tagged as manhole=rainwater? But what I think I should do is tag the drains more correctly as inlet=kerb_opening and then add in its tags that it also has a manhole on top? Since the manhole is more like a feature on the drain, than the actual drain itself if that makes sense.
Hmm, frankly spoken I cannot imagine the kind of object you describe. Maybe you can post a pic or 2?
Generally manholes and storm_drains are two different kinds of object:
Manholes are openings for a person to enter, covered with a solid manhole cover.
Storm_drains are openings near the kerb where rainwater can enter an underground pipe or channel, in most cases covered by a steel grate.
These are storm drains with no gate and a manhole on the top. This is the closest image I could find, the top is made of concrete but will have a solid manhole cover, for someone to access if needed.
this is from the satellite image, the rusty colored circle you see there is a solid manhole. The concrete square circled is the storm drain.
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Good eye for topology with this storm drain. Here’s some hydraulic GIS insight for you. I work for a state DOT. We call this structure an inlet. The manhole on top is part of the structure and is not classed as a manhole. The inlet is of the type COS or COG. That’s an acronym for curb opening. We’d map the point in the centroid of the structure and in the crude OSM drainage toponymy its fine as the drain one.
Manholes typically access an underground junction of two or more pipes. Pipes are preformed above ground in a factory and placed in a ditch, which is then backfilled. Whenever the pipes hit a junction, change direction, merge, or diverge, there is a manhole for access and cleaning. Manholes are like an iceberg, the part you see at the surface is just the top of a structure.
All that said id typically map the openings/inlets as drains in osm, then I connect them with pipes, to a manhole, forming a network, to an eventual outfall, where the pipe empties into a waterway.
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Ok, understood. Yes, it is an inlet=kerb_opening with an additional man_made=manhole + manhole=drain according to the tagging discussed so far. I have not seen such type before but would like to include it in my overview page for road covers and inlets, so it would be nice to have a photo showing the complete object.
@ElliottPlack
Thanks a lot for your explanations. I think all this goes quite well with the tagging discussed earlier and summarized in the overview page of road inlets and covers.
In case of the inlet described by PGio I would add man_made=manhole + manhole=drain even if the manhole on top of the structure is not classed as a manhole officially. There is a visible manhole cover giving access for a person to enter the drain so it would be confusing to tell any mapper not being an expert that these manholes are not real manholes.
For even more detail, you can also map the number of floors of the houses, as well as the roof shape and color.
And do indoor mapping too.
Can you elaborate on indoor mapping?
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Hi! Looks good.
There is a good adage of ‘map what you know’. This might be your own neighbourhood or route to work / study. Or it could be that you lots about canals and can properly map them / upgrade their details.
It is relatively rare that people map too much detail. :)
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One possible issue is to add details that will change faster than you’ll able to maintain in the long term. You or the community, but think if you possibly could.