Uploading individual points to OSM Server

General talk
1

Raw beginner.

[edited to add: OK I had searched but missed this, which seems to be saying that all I have to do is add a phony track and the separate waypoints WILL upload] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Upload_Waypoints

I mapped a number of points with my GPS. I would like to add these points (amenities, restaurants, hotels, etc.) to the OSM.

What I thought I could do would be to upload the waypoints as a GPX file, that I would then see the points in Potlatch and then mark the Potlatch points of interest symbols on top of them, in other words use my GPS points as a temporary template. Then delete the GPX file.

It seems though that a GPX file containing individual waypoints will not successfully upload to the server. It apparently wants track files only.

Should I artificially create a track that includes these points of interest waypoints? I guess I’d have to create a series of artificial timestamps, increasing, and paste that into the file. OK, I can do that easily enough I suppose. Or, if I add a short track to the GPX file, will the entire file, including the individual waypoints (not part of the track) be accepted? [edited to add: this seems to be the way to go, from further reading]

Perhaps I am fundamentally misunderstanding how all this works? I have points of interest. I want to map them on OSM. Am I taking the wrong approach?

Thanks.

2

You could also use an offline application like Merkaartor or JOSM.

3

Uploading waypoints and editing with Potlatch is quite involved. The upload tracks facility is really aimed at GPS traces.

I would suggest using either JOSM or Merkaator, OSM off-line editors, which can read your waypoints and track directly. The effort required to learn adding a POI in JOSM is probably less than that required to fiddle with uploading a waypoint only trace.

Alternatively always record a trace when waypointing POIs: having a trace is useful for other things, like geotagging photos.

4

I’d like to do a similar thing.

I used a Garmin GPS to mark a bunch of fire hydrants as waypoints, ie. all the waypoints are of the same type.

Is there a tutorial that explains how to go from a GPX file with only waypoints, add tags, and upload the whole thing to OSM in one go?

I have JOSM installed, but have only basic knowledge of it.

Thank you.

5

I recommend as follows:

Try to get familiar with JOSM, it is the best editor for your aim … maybe see http://learnosm.org

Then you should be able to import your GPX wayponts as a *.gpx file by loading that file directly into JOSM.

6

You would not normally use the coordinates from the GPX data as they could be 10s of metre out, even if the local datum is correct. If the local datum is wrong, e.g. because local mapping was based on satellite imagery which had not be fully georeferenced, you would also need to take account of the systematic offsets in the area.

You need to place the hydrants in the correct relationship to adjacent objects.

Also, you need to chech whether they are already mapped.

7

I once wrote a python script that translated my waypoints into a .osm file that could be opened by JOSM.They were placed in a separate layer. I copied the nodes over to the “main” layer and then uploaded the file. Of course during the copy process I checked whether the items did not exist in OSM yet.

The conversion program also worked for e.g. housenumbers.

I wrote about that on my diary in 2013.: http://www.openstreetmap.org/user/escada/diary/19675