Open Street Maps

Your GPS UNIT: Garmin Legend HCx

STARTING IT UP

  • hold down the button on the bottom right side, it has a light on it, and a power sign.
  • It acquires the satellites

SET UP TRACKING: The most important thing is to set up the tracking right

  • Goto “Tracks” page from the menu (shows Track log on/off at top) → Setup
  • Set Record Method to “Time” and Interval to “2 sec”
  • Have “Wrap When Full” set to off.
  • There are no data cards in these so dont worry about the data card setup

WAYPOINTS

  • basically, you double click the joy stick to mark your location while you are out collecting data. This is called a waypoint.
  • see below for instructions on “waypoints”

Make sure this is off while you are not using it, to save batteries.

Software You need

  • GPS Babel: http://www.gpsbabel.org/ T

Basic Info

STEP ONE: Get Your Map

  • Create an account for your self on openstreetmaps.org
  • Download map info to JOSM:
    • goto the map, and put in your city.
    • Zoom in to about 6 steps from the closest you can be.
    • Then you click the permalink link on the lower right. You will copy this link. (This link will tell JOSM your coordinates so that you can download the map of your location from the server into JOSM.)
    • Now, go to the JOSM application. Click the toolbar button with the green arrow that points down. You will then add your link to the page pictured below that appears and click download.

You now have that data file of your city from the OSM servers on you computer!

STEP TWO: Start Mapping

  • Turn on your gps – the bottom button on the right hand side.
  • Basically you will be using the gps unit as a datalogger, that is it. All you need to do is turn it on and it will be collecting tracks for you to upload, after you set it up as per the instructions above.
  • When you pass a street or landmark (hospital, prision, etc) that you want to map, double click the joystick button on the front, this will bring up what they call a “waypoint”.
  • Take a note of the number of the waypoint somewhere on a note pad or in the gps so you remember what it is (ex. 019 is the hospital). Then select “ok” inside the waypoint window. Your waypoint is now marked, and you have a note reminding you what it is. This will help when you add the data you collect to the map.

STEP THREE: Import your data

  • After you have gone around with the gps, marking waypoints, you return and plug in the gps into your computer.
  • Launch GPSBabel, and use the selections below. This will import a .gpx file with your “tracks” onto your computer.

  • Now, go to JOSM, and open the file you just imported. Click File > Open > Browse to you .gpx file.
  • You now have imported your tracks and waypoints into your map!
  • Layers: On the top right of JSOM you will see your data and you will see the data of the map that you pulled down earlier.

STEP FOUR: Label Your tracks

  • on the tool bar on the rigth, you will see a finger and below it a line. Use the line to trace over you track points. So if there are a bunch of tracks that show the road you went on, use the line tool to mark this. Double click on the map, and it marks a reddot. Trace your road.
  • Now its time to identify what you have traced. when you are done go up to the top menu (dont worry about the rubberband, the software is buggy) and selet preset. So in this example you could select Preset > Street. No name the street, and say if its one way, how many lanes, etc. these are the streets “attributes.”

STEP FIVE: Let the world know about this street, upload the information to the server.

  • Go to the layers section on the right, select your data.
  • Go to the green up arrow in the tool bar on top, and click it.
  • Upload your data to the OSM. The information should appear on openstreetmap.org in a few days for the world to see!

More Info

wiki.openstreetmap.org: Their site, full of maybe too much information:
wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contact: contact for help and guidance.