I am still trying the quirks of mapping on OSM by means of taking photos of interests using my smartphone and tablet with geotagging enabled.

Today I went on mapping the stretch of Lilac Street in Marikina, which is fast becoming a “Restaurant Alley” for more and more restaurants are plopping up on this street in the past years.

The restaurants there had not been mapped before to OSM.

Just what I am concerned, it seems that in some cases the GPS data saved on each of my photos are not accurate enough, with error up to 50 meters. Sometimes I had to use my reckoning in an attempt to plop points in the map correctly. I still haven’t installed yet any OSM editors on my smartphone, and I am too reluctant to edit OSM data on-the-spot, given how bad is theft situation in the Philippines. Imagine busy mapping a Manila alleyway when someone suddenly grabs your phone.

I am using a Korean variant of Samsung Galaxy SIII. Priming up geotagging in my device takes a minute or so, and I realized this halfway through my mission. I also have minor accuracy issues on the GPS of my smartphone; I am noticing some discrepancies of up to 20 meters when I reviewed my cycling track on a route-plotting map on my phone.

I may still well experiment with this method and refine it if needed. Aside from the security concerns which i mentioned above, currently, the best OSM editors on the market still have bugs on offline editing, so I am reluctant on using those apps. I may well have to refine my current method and use my computer in mapping based on the geotags of the photos which I took.

If I would be too lazy drawing some blank maps and mapping the POIs, I would just try to shoot a 180-degree view from my point, every three to five meters, as long as each 180-degree view connect to each other. I also take note of the place where I made such shot.

I usually roam around Marikina riding a bicycle, and with me is a Canon Powershot A2400 digital camera. In my second test, I try to set my camera as to make a 2MP shot (my camera can take up to 15MP), to save space. I designate JP Rizal, Sto. Niño as a test place, and walked around as I fulfill my plan.

But this method is not without danger or scrutiny, most especially on guards, who have their eyes not only on rogue persons, but also on camera-armed persons taking photos of their establishments. They do this to protect the reputation of the place they are paid to guard, because there are several instance that those establishments were shot and such shots were used for malicious intentions. Yes, I was did approached by a guard, asking me why I apparently took the photo of their clinic. I calmly and honestly told him that I do this for the sake of mapping in OpenStreetMap.

Anyway, I think this plan is working, and I hope so. I do wish I can contribute as many things as I can, and I wish there are other cartography enthusiasts who can help us in mapping.

PS. I love this kinda “crowdsourced” mapping called OpenStreetMap!