Great to hear that people are mapping these. It would be well worth contacting WSCC using this form: http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/ccm/content/environment/the-west-sussex-countryside/public-rights-of-way/user-feedback-form.en to report any missing bridleway signs. Which reminds me I need to report a broken sign for a footpath near my house. I'll do that now...

Great to hear of more and more people starting to contribute :) Watch out for the addictiveness that is OSM! ;)

Great! That will look fantastic once the cycle map gets updated, with contours and all.

I know the feeling - I do most of my mapping while going somewhere with non-mappers, it stops you doing anything comprehensively, but it's always good to add stuff!

Great to see people adding mtb trails. Just wondering, how do you tag them? It seems slightly odd to tag them as cycleways, but neither are they really footways!

A good post to get a tag problem in too! ;-p

About the bridges, I'd go for lanes=1.

I agree about riding shotgun - good way to make thorough notes on road names, designations and features of interest.

Regards,

Dave

Welcome to OSM! Yes, it's true about keeping the GPS out of your pocket, I found the same.

I find it easiest to map what I have done soon after I make the traces, so that I can remember what things looked like, whereas mapping lots of older traces in one go, sometimes I can't remember things so well.

I think Mapnik gets its coastline from a different source, but could be wrong. All islands should be anti-clockwise (i remember it as *L*and on the *L*eft) but so long as the ways join up, there is no need to combine them into one way.

Welcome! Have fun mapping! Where are you from?

To get the best possible accuracy from a GPS unit, give the unit some time to acquire satellites and download the ephemeris data. To download the satellite data you need a good signal, stronger than that needed to maintain a lock. Try placing the GPS somewhere stationary with a good view of the sky for 15 minutes or so before you next use it. I find that placing my GPS on a south facing window for a while, then a north facing window for a while helps if I don't want to go outdoors.

If the unit is new it is possible that it hasn't had a chance to download data from the satellites yet, and is only using a few to obtain a lock. Do you know how many satellites it is locked onto most of the time?

Also, note that for best reception you want a clear line of sight to the sky as possible. Are you using the GPS in a pocket? I always find this causes bad performance. If you are in a wooded area or amongst tall buildings you will find the tracks are innacurate. It's just a limitation of current GPS technology.

+/- 10m on altitude is to be expected I'm afraid, unless your GPS has a barometric altimeter.

Glad you didn't lose much - I used to have an unreliable GPS and know how frustrating it is when it switches itself off!

How about a bluetooth GPS receiver to use with your mobile phone, which I guess you may carry round with you anywhere? They only cose about £25 for a decent one if you shop around. I think there are logging apps available for most phones. Certainly S60 and Windows Mobile phones, not sure about others supporting Java, but I think so. Otherwise did you see the storage deopt section here: osm.wiki/index.php/Merchandise I don't know if the Navi GPS is in stock at the mo though.

Last time I used Potlatch, if you go to the GPS traces tab, and click "edit" next to the trace in question, the waypoints show up as locked nodes with the text in a tag. If you go straight to the edit screen and display all GPS traces, the waypoints don't show up as it would make editing impossible because of all the extra nodes. Has this changed recently?

I have come across the same problems in the UK, but the street signs say something different from what the businesses on the road and the local council seem to use!

careful with handlebar mounts - pdas don't seem to like the knocks - mine became unreliable after I used this kind of set up :( It seemed to damage the connection between the CF socket (where the GPS was fitted) to the mobo. :(

He he! Sounds about right - many people find seeing the results of their mapping efforts appear addictive!

Another note of appreciation! Although I'm mainly a JOSM user, I very much doubt I would have got into contributing to OSM without Potlatch, it really helps lower the barriers to entry, so thanks for all your hard work!

Talking of errors, the "del" used in the original post is really screwing up the display of text in internet explorer - everything on the page from that point on is struck through! I'm hoping that I have turned it off for the rest of this page now...

I noticed there was a big blank area round there! Have fun mapping! Are you planning to map the Jungfrau Joch? :) I've spent a few weeks in the Wengen Area - it's lovely. The waterfalls up the valley from Lauterbrunnen are worth a visit IMHO. (the name escapes me right now, but it's the one that is down inside a cliff.)

It's great to see the footpaths and bridleways popping up on the map in this area :) I changed one of the paths you did from a footpath to a bridleway as I have spotted the bridelway sign on one end when driving past. I'm hoping to add more detail to Tilgate forest in the coming months, but currently waiting for a new PDA to come into stock as mine's playing up. :(