How do I map the boundary of 97,200 hectare private nature reserve to the south Namibia map

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#1

Hello,
I am new to OSM and would like some help with mapping the boundary of a private nature reserve located in the south of Namibia with 25km of Orange River frontage.
Thank you for your help!

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#2

Hi KarenY80, welcome to the OSM Community!

  1. Does the object exist as a polygon (e.g. ShapeFile) from an official source?
  2. Can we use the data from this official source for OpenStreetMap (see license page)?
  3. Do you already have the JOSM editor installed and can you use it?
  4. Have you discussed the planned change with the local Namibian OSM community?

If you can answer yes to all four questions, then you can proceed as follows

  1. make sure the area does not already exist in OSM, even partially.
  2. open the area (as a shapefile) in JOSM.
  3. add the appropriate nature reserve tags as indicated in the wiki
  4. if the area has more than 2,000 points (as it is the maximum for waynodes), then divide the area into individual ways and create a relation between them.
  5. once you have made all the changes and are sure that everything is correct, you can upload the changes.
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#3

Thank you for your reply @mcliquid. I will download JOSM although I have never used it before.
The Shape File was produced by calculating the boundaries of each of the farms owned by Sandfontein and mapping this on Google Earth. It is not from an official source but mapped by the owner. The change has not been discussed with the Namibian OSM community. Must I do so, even if the area is privately owned by Sandfontein?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks!

#4

Hi @KarenY80, I like to quote a very important statement from the Wiki here:

The Google Maps Terms of Use explicitly forbid using Google Maps content - both map data and Google Street View - for making any other content. It includes using them for OSM mapping.

We are not allowed to create maps based on Google Earth, sorry.

Can you get the information from another source that has been approved for OSM? For example Bing?

Especially for the question, which source (aerial photo) is good in the region, it is always a good idea and belongs to the good tone to contact the local community with the mapping project. Here you will certainly also get valuable tips on how to correctly tag such a nature reserve in the country. There are significant differences between the individual continents and countries regarding tagging.

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#5

Thank you @mcliquid. I will think about how we can map out the boundaries using another source, e.g. Bing as you recommend. And thank you for your advice to contact the local community. I shall do so. Much appreciated!

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