How to contribute street corrections?

OpenStreetMap Questions and Answers
#1

I’m looking to move from Google maps to OSM and need to learn how the OSM community is contributing to improving street level accuracy. I’d like to learn the process so that when I see a discrepancy, I can submit the problem for correction and then have an estimate on when the change would be propagated to the OSM nightly build so I can pick up the change.

I have one discrepancy to submit today. This problem is also in the HERE mapping, so its not just OSM. South Signal Street does not actually connect to South Montgomery street. It dead-ends on the south end. The location can be found searching for Ojai City Hall, Ojai, CA. The street is just to the left of the green area (Libby Park) near the right side of the screen http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/34.44286/-119.24769 . Google reference: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ojai+City+Hall/@34.4445378,-119.2495396,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x80e9a538899f958f:0xf3b91bfb6b88647d!8m2!3d34.4445334!4d-119.2473509

#2

The quickest way is t to edit it yourself. Anything else is likely to take months++, as you have to wait for someone to survey it for themselves.

I’m not sure what you mean by the nightly builds. Changes are applied to the database in real time. Depending on scale, and on how busy things are, the tiles for the default rendering are updated in seconds to hours. Third party services, like routers, may update at any interval it chooses. Some of the alternative rendering take up to a week.

I presume you mean here: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/95562594

Note that we cannot use information from Google maps; I am assuming that you have actually visited the site and are not relying on Google maps.

++ Sometimes posting here will produce a faster response, but it is not the right way of requesting a third party edit; for that use the map note feature.

#3

Hi ZRacer and welcome to OpenStreetMap.

The answer is very simple: you need to make the change yourself and the corrected data will essentially be available immediately (how long it takes to get to whichever app you are using depends on the app in question).

Editing OSM data is not particularly difficult, and I would suggest starting with the browser embedded editor iD. There are lots of beginner materials available for example http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners%27_guide

#4

Assuming:

  1. Id

  2. there is access for pedestrians between the two roads.

Double click on the place where the vehicular part of the road ends.

Single click on the resulting small circle, indicating a node on the line.

Single click on the scissors, to split the road.

Single click in a free area of the map.

Single click on the pedestrian part of the road.

In the left panel, click on “Residential Road”

Select Path Features, then Foot or Cycle Path as appropriate.

Select Save, towards the top right, and enter an explanation of what you have done in end user terms, why you have done it, and how you collected the information (but not a lot on each part).

If there is absolutely no way through, instead of changing it to a path, use the dustbin icon to delete the unusable part.

Note that, looking at the Bing imagery, the geometry of this road is not very good. Ideaily you should add multiple node on the road, and move them to better reflect the real shape. However, you should note that Bing imagery can be misaligned, and you should respect any systematic offsets in other road in the area.

#5

The street dead-ends. OSM reflects this after clicking the edit button https://www.openstreetmap.org/edit#map=18/34.44419/-119.24591 Technically you might be able to walk through, but it isn’t public property (no sidewalk or designated walking path).

Using ID, how can I select a start and end point to delete? When I click on a starting point that is a dot where the outer parameter of the cul-de-sac is, the whole street is highlighted. Then I click the end point to delete which is the south end of the street that buts up against Montgomery. The whole street remains highlighted. I tried ctrl+click for start and end, but that had no impact. I clicked on the trash can anyway and there was no visible change but a change counter appeared at the tool bar area. I’m confused. https://www.openstreetmap.org/edit#map=18/34.44419/-119.24591

#6

I did give the procedure above. Double click to add a node at the point where you want to break the road. Select the resulting new node. Use the scissors to cut split at that point. Select the part to remove, and use the dustbin to get rid of it.

However I did miss a step, because I’d already done it. You need to select the road before the double click.

(I’d normally use JOSM, where you could detach the road from junction. There may be a way of doing that directly in iD, but I’m not sufficiently familiar with it to know one.)

#7

In removing the section of South Signal, a gap is created in South Montgomery. My end point to delete was a node that intersected South Montgomery. So I used the line tool to bridge the gap after removing the road section on South Signal that shouldn’t be there.

This is my first street edit wanted to verify that I’m ready to click save. At this point do I need to do anything with the new line I created on South Montgomery, like add properties to the new section before clicking save?

#8

What I think you have done is to select the node on the junction, and then delete it.

You actually want to split the road in two and delete one of the two parts of the road, so undo that change, without saving and select the last node on South Signal, before the junction, use the scissors to split it there, and then select the road between it and the junction, and delete that.

As it seems unlikely that that last node is the real end of South Signal, you may have to then drag it into a better position.

The procedure I gave above adds an extra node to mark the true end of South Signal, first.

If you add a line to fill in the gap you have made, that line will have no tags, and will not be considered to be part of the road. Fixing that is going to be more difficult than splitting South Signal and deleting part of it.

(Whilst you could drag one end of the gap onto the other until it snaps, that will change the position of the boundary between Buckboard Lane and South Montgomery, and also change the shape.)

I’ve just tried another way, which is actually potentially better:

Select the node on the junction.

Use the icon just below the scissors (the one with two blue arrows) to split the node into three.

Drag the node. If it moves the wrong road, remember where it should be and try dragging again.

If you get the correct road, drag it back to where the road really ends.

Finally drag any other road endings that you moved back to their original position; they should snap together.

Check that they are rejoined by trying to move the junction, and then undo that move.

If they are not joined, moving them back should make them snap back together. (When I dry ran this, South Montgomery moved first, then South SIgnal, so I just had to move South Montgomery back to join Buckboard. The reason I don’t actually make the change is that I want someone who has actually seen what is there to be recorded as the person making the change.).

(The advantage of this method is that there is a danger, when splitting a road, that the split will be achieved by creating a new section for the part you want to keep. That means that you lose the history information. The disadvantage is that you risk moving the junction between the roads you want to keep, because iD doesn’t allow you to detach just one road from a three way junction, and doesn’t seem to allow you to select which node to move.)

I have added a map note http://www.openstreetmap.org/note/843317 which is the slow way of getting the change done, as it relies on some, preferably local mapper, seeing the note, and verifying the true situation. There is a note close to this location that has been there for over two years. Another approach is to contact the person that mapped the road, but that happened 7 years ago, and the person doesn’t seem to have been active for 5 months, and may no longer be in the area, if they ever were.

#9

Hi, you said, you are/were a google maps editor. Did you do only some simple edits or would you say, you are/were a “heavy user”, who did a lot of edits (hundreds, thousands?)

If you are/were a “heavy user” and wish to do the same with OSM later, i would suggest to start with the “professional” editor Josm. In long term it will be better for you (and us).

Regards
walter/germany (sorry for my poor english)