OpenStreetMap is a great ecosystem - I'm a long term contributor.
Some pointers:
- CoMaps is a fork of Organic Maps, which forked long time ago from Maps.me - OsmAnd is similar. It has more features but is slower and clunkier - If you see errors/missing stuff on OpenStreetMap, fix them. You need a free account for this. There are various tools to help out, such as the editor on Osm.org. Beginner-friendly editors are https://MapComplete.org (which has thematic maps; disclaimer: I'm the main dev) and https://streetcomplete.app
Hey, a simple question : I would like to contribute not features nor POIs but actual paths. In my region the maps lack a lot of forest paths, and others that are on the map are long gone due to nature closing them. Something like the strava heatmap is a lot more accurate because hikers and trail runners make the actual paths appear. I often use https://onthegomap.com (which uses OSM) to plan routes and find that the hiking paths do not match reality. What is a straightforward way for me to contribute ? I have GPX traces of all those not-on-maps well-trodden paths if that helps.
There is an upload GPX track function on the website. You then draw your paths with the online editor, above those tracks. Edit: you do this because GPS is not clean enough and you need to choose which paths connects where.
You will often forget the details if your GPX are old. E.g. was it really possible to use a bicycle on that path, did those two actually connect or was it me running 150m through the Forrest as a short cut.
So it takes work to get right.
Thanks, that was so simple ! Just contributed my first missing path.
> It has more features but is slower and clunkier
Just to clarify: OsmAnd has more features, CoMaps and Organic Maps are much faster.
(Aside: I'm using CoMaps myself. The main missing features are tracking (I use OpenTracks for that) and public transportation (I use a website for that). End of aside.)
OsmAnd is not that much slower nowadays since they added the new OpenGL renderer. It is, however, less convenient and pretty. I think OsmAnd really shines for things like hiking, whereas for regular urban navigation CoMaps works just as well.
Exactly my experience as well. OSMAnd is a lot better for hiking as it has 3d views, hiking routes, topo maps and better routing in general. Comaps is great for city navigation or casual usage
Wait, I just used the tracking the other day and generated a GPX from it. It also drew me an elevation map and gave me some other info about the trip. Is there some other tracking that it can't do?
I stand corrected, CoMaps can do tracking. It was introduced in Organic Maps a couple of years ago, but I was already using OpenTracks, so I never switched away from it.
CoMaps lets you record a route, though it's somewhat limited
What website do you use for public transportation?
I was recently recommended https://api.transitous.org (it's a webapp despite the domain). It can do things like "someone can pick me up on the far side and I don't mind walking 30 minutes at the start at 6 km/h, what's the optimal route to take?"
Revolutionary! Finally I don't have to look on a map to find all stations in walking/cycling/driving distance and then route to/from every possible combination of start and end station manually to see what busses and trains run there. And repeat the process with each schedule change in each involved country. Every other transport app that I know of will try to keep you within a few hundred metres of a bus stop or train station at all times and say "there exists no route" before telling you to cycle 10 minutes or from which station you have the shortest remaining distance by taxi or whatever
There is actually work being done to integrate exactly this API into Comaps! Although it will certainly take some more time, especially until these more niche routing features are available
KDE Itinerary, a mobile and desktop application, is becoming better and better for this. It's based on MOTIS / Transitous.
I just discovered cartes.app can do this too!
I've found that websites specific to a single European country or, in the case of France, to a single city are the ones that work best.
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You can also do it directly from CoMaps if you have an OSM account.
Yeah! CoMaps was actually what I used for my very first contribution to OSM! Nice lil gateway to an awesome ecosystem. Mega kudos to the CoMaps devs for doing such a great job with it.