OSM bits...

[Colin McGregor]

On 1/23/09, Merv Curley <mervc-MwcKTmeKVNQ at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On January 18, 2009, Colin McGregor wrote:
>> Already much of Toronto has been mapped. Much of the mapping came off
>> aerial photos, so one has a street grid without street names. Just
>> printing off a map of an area which doesn't have street names, then
>> going, collecting the names off road signs, then entering those names
>> would be a great help. Further, there is a lot of room for additions,
>> like where are the houses of worship, or schools, or fast food places,
>> or arts centres or ... in an area. Toronto's downtown core is fairly
>> well covered already, but as you get away from the core the room for
>> improvement increases...
>
> When I looked at my residential area I saw that almost no streets were named
> and someone had entered 'fix-me' on some.  I figured I would do as you
> suggest and add the names BUT
> it seems to be a difficult involved process.  I haven't gone back to see if
> I
> can figure out  'HOW-TO'. So in simple language
> HOW-TO?
>
> Regards
>
> --
> Merv Curley
> Toronto, Ont. Can

Okay, first up you will need an account on Open Street Map, it is
free. For an account go to http://www.openstreetmap.org and click on
"Sign Up" (look in the upper right corner of the screen). Follow the
instructions on the sign up screen.

Once you have an account, there are multiple ways to edit a street
name, I will go with what I have found to be the simplest. Scroll and
zoom in on the map until you can clearly see the area you are
interested in, then click on "Edit", this will take you to a sign-in
screen and once you have signed in, to the "Potlatch" on-line editor.

You should at this point see the roads you were looking at earlier,
plus you should see any/all aerial/sat. photos available for the area
(these images are not available at very high or very low
magnifications).

Once at the Potlatch main screen you have three options "Start",
"Play", and "Help". The "Help" option brings up a tutorial, "Play"
brings up a option allowing you to play with the map, but not make any
permanent changes to the map. For this I am going to assume you pick
"Start, which makes real edits to the map.

Move your mouse pointer to a road you are interested in putting in a
name for, the pointer will change from an arrow to a hand. Click on
the roadway to highlight the road. Now to add details. If the road has
a name like "Fix Me", or something else incorrect, then under the map
you will see a list of entries, like "highway | residential", "name |
Fix Me", and so on... Click on middle of the "Fix Me" box, delete the
old name and enter the correct name.

For times when there is no name at all, you first need to select the
road you are interested in as above. Next you need to click on the "+"
sign at the bottom right of the screen, this will let you enter what
aspect you are describing, the system will give you a list of some of
the possible options as you type (and as you type the list will get
shorter), so, type "name", and then in the second box, type the name
of the street.

Once you are done with editing, click on "View" to exit...

Do note that the maps you see on "View" are only updated once a week,
so, yes, it may take up to a week before your handywork is visible to
the world.

Hope this helps.

Colin McGregor
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