JP Cassou, Thankyou for your GPX traces they all help making the map. Xapitoun is correct, the GPX traces are not automatically turned into roads or paths ( only you know what your GPX traces are, for example they could be a road, a path or even a ski lift etc )

Most users will load the traces they record into JOSM and trace over them, having downloaded the map of the area in question.

I hope you can read my english - good luck and if you need more help please get in touch

bri

As a mapper adding detail to cities that have already been mapped, a good place to start would be to download the Cloudmade .img ( http://downloads.cloudmade.com/ file of the UK. This will then give you a detailed map of the existing area that can be loaded onto your GPS unit ( depending on which one you have. Adding extra detail such as cameras etc is then easier as you can just mark them as waypoints on the steet.

Perhaps post with the equipment that you have been given, the type of GPS units so OSMers can be more specific with their advice

Sounds like a very interesting project

bri

Very good units - there has been a recent firmware update ( Nov 09 ) taking the unit to version 3.20 so that might be worth checking out - see the garmin website for details.
The Cloudmade .img files are great especially when you are travelling, check them out -

I cache at 1 point / second. a day of logging creates files of 2-3Mb, trivial file size on a 1/2/4 Mb micro SD card.

Have fun

Bri

A GPX file is simply the chosen file format that the OSM website uses alongside other map making tools such as JOSM. There are lots of manufacturers of GPS devices which record the waypoints and tracks in different ways.

To allow the data from all these different devices to provide a uniform data file format to the OSM website, there are free tools ( GPSBABEL to name one which I and many others use ) which will download the data from your GPS and
convert that into a standard GPX file.

Most GPS devices ( and I am only familiar with the Garmin units ) will log continuously where you are, for example I set my Garmins to log once a second. So after an hour of walking or driving you will have 3600 data points of the route you took which maybe a path or road.

This recorded track can then be downloaded by you to your personal computer and you can use tools such as JOSM to trace over the GPX track and upload a new road or path.

If you have been to a new area that has not been mapped it is worthwhile uploading the GPX trail to the OSM website putting the route of the road into the public domain.

If a number of people travel down the same route, and they all upload their GPX tracks, a good average of the route of road can be seen as a series of overlayed GPX traces, thus improving the accuracy of the drawn road on OSM.

Some mappers might only drive a road and upload their GPX trails, other mappers can then view your trail and trace over the trail ( though this is less usual as it cannot be know simply from the GPX trail what the route is ( path / road / major highway etc ).

Cheers Bri

Good work adding the post boxes, As an extra data point all post boxes have a reference written on them ( on the white label eg WC1 255 ).
In JOSM or Potlatch you can add the reference - and this can then ensure that the post box has not been added twice, it is also a handy unique identifier and if all the box references are added will give a good idea of the shape of individual Post code zones

cheers brian

Cloudmade maps are another option

Backup the original gmapsupp.img file ( or simply rename it to eg gmapsup_orig.img)

download the gmapsupp.img files for which ever country you need. Copy to the SD card to the folder 'garmin', if it doesn't exist create it
Cloudmade maps from OSM for nearly every country are available here

http://downloads.cloudmade.com/

The alternative is download countries or areas from Cloudmade here
http://downloads.cloudmade.com/
Download the Garmin files ( IMG ) and copy them to your memory card if
you have a Garmin with SD card. If you don't it is a little limited as the Garmins have quite a small internal memory

Yes - it is hard to know how valuable air routes are, they change with the weather ( east or west take off / landing etc ) and essentially take the shortest route, usually diverting slightly to fly over / close to major airports en route. It is understandable that you are interested in this but these traces could clutter real street traces. You might want to consider taking them off the OSM website.

I admit I am a little lazy - after a week of caching ( if I am on holiday etc ) I will just load all the GPX files from my Garmin Legend HCX into JOSM, Merge them all down, tidy them up using GPXedit plugin ( getting rid of all the stationary lumps of points etc ) and save that single GPX file for uploading to the website.

I am always a little puzzled that my GPX traces seem to have lines that link unrelated points, but I understand you can remove time and date info from the GPX data points - would this remove the lines? I don't know if this is best practice, but when downloading areas in JOSM it is hard sometimes to make out the data from the random junk lines.

Comments anyone?
bri

Download Autodesk DWG TrueView from here - it is free
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=2952277&linkID=9240618

I am not sure if you can plot the file, but at least see it. Try Bullzip PDF printer ( it is free and you might be able to plot to a PDF ). Bullzip will llow you to print out a file into a PDF, but i might not work with True View - try and see

http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

The file seems to be latr than Autocad 2004, so I cannot see it

cheers bri

Following on from that - I have a Garmin Legend HCX. Pre built maps can be downloaded from Cloudmade for your Garmin ( see the European pre built maps here - http://downloads.cloudmade.com/europe#breadcrumbs ).

Uploading maps to Garmins which do not have a MicroSD card slot ( such as the Legend HCX ) is a little more detailed. You will need an IMG file. Download from Cloudmade, or download parts of the map that you need using JOSM, Merge all the areas into one layer, save the layer as an OSM file ef test_map.osm.

You now need to convert the test_map.osm file into an IMG file. To do this use MKGMAP ( http://www.mkgmap.org.uk/snapshots/ )

so.....

java -jar mkgmap.jar --ignore-osm-bounds test_map.osm

should create a file by default called 63240001.img - see the wiki for more info
( osm.wiki/index.php/Mkgmap )

Now you have to use 'Sendmap' to send the IMG file to the Garmin

Yes this is all a little tricky ( and the process for Garmins with the Micro SD card is a lot easier and mot limited by internal memory issues ) but once you get it to work it is quite fun

good luck and mail me directly if you need more assistance

bri

Yes, JOSM is the more powerful tool, allowing detailed edits of objects. If you need the map underlay in JOSM try the WMS plugin which is very good.

cheers bri

Understand the need to tag bicycle parking - I would also ask for motorcycle parking, so perhaps a generic parking, with car / bicycle / motorcycle etc. Also I can foresee the requirement for electrical charging points to be tagged. I do live in London and motorcycle / charging points etc do exist and do require mapping.

cheers bri

Enjoy your Legend, make good use of the free IMG files available from Cloudmade which can be transferred to you HCX Micro SD card.

http://downloads.cloudmade.com/oceania/australia#breadcrumbs

These maps, made once a week help you to spot roads that have been missed, and of course you can compile your own Garmin maps using MKGMAP to convert OSM files into Garmin IMG files

Good luck

Bri

I can only partially agree with your statement that multiple GPS traces are more
accurate that some satellite imagery.

Mapping even medium density suburban areas with high resolution imagery is
generally more accurate than GPS, and allows up to add significantly more
detail than any GPS survey could complete. If you think about it, there are
only two errors the picture can have, one of position and of scale. Assuming
that the GPS trace confirms that the Image is correct on the 4 corners of a
chosen square area, the rest in the middle must be pretty much right, or at
least to acceptable tolerances.

My recent experience of mapping Kaduna served as a good example of this.
Kaduna was a town I used to visit frequently some years ago, then I noticed
that it was in high res Yahoo imagery. A number of OSMers started contributing
and generated the map you see below

osm.org/?lat=10.5221&lon=7.4339&zoom=13&layers=B000FTF

Recently I spent three weeks there and devoted my spare time to adding the
details such as street names and amenities. My GPS traces confirmed that
there was no significant error in the positioning of the Sat imagery over
the scale of the town.

However what it did teach me was that there would have been absolutely
no way to have mapped this medium sized town extensively on GPS alone.

There is still much work to be done on Kaduna and only limited resources.

GPS traces give us excellent information for areas not imaged and for
assistance in adding the extra information such as amenties, on the ground
surveying and streetnames. But for high detail work the image is essential.

This essentailly explains why Abuja and Lagos, the capitals of Nigeria
are not on the map yet.

Cheers b

OS maps - they should be good and how long has it taken - too little to late me thinks.

But you know what the OS doesn't have? All the implicit data that OSM maps do, such as the Amenities, free routable maps via Cloudmade etc The OS map is just that, a map, of the UK only.... OSM has the potential to be much more assuming we can keep up the pace of contributions, we should also remember it is also global....

How did I miss this? :(.......Copy that... Ditto - Harry??

Yep - The roads are just the start, the 'Meta Data', the detail of your area is the key to success of this map. Amenities, shops, Supermarkets, Post offices Public toilets, Cash Machines, paths etc. It can all be tagged. Try JOSM for more enhanced editing features over the Web based Potlatch. Good luck and keep up the good work

http://downloads.cloudmade.com/

All the OSMs, Garmin IMGs etc
also for your phone try GPSMID
http://gpsmid.sourceforge.net/

Terrific news for OSM and great forward thinking from Advantage West Midlands. My Father does some work for Yorkshire Forward, an agency with similar regional objectives.

One more example Open Source, GIS and Open Street Map in particular making a difference in this highly competitive world.

Great posting

cheers bri