Hi MacDude. Just wanted to let you know that sometimes I share your frustration. It seems that too few people are aware of the OpenStreetMap project in the United States. I am in Omaha, NE, and while it is not nearly the size of Chicago, I only see 11 people who have signed up with the project and only one of those, besides myself, has done any mapping at all.

Instead of getting discouraged, I just added things around my work, and started checking the TIGER data in neighborhoods that I regularly travel as I have time. I also am adding public parks, tourist attractions, bodies of water, and some public buildings as I go. This adds color to the map and makes it look more interesting. To try to get others involved, I show my additions to people I know and encourage them to do a little area around their own neighborhood.

It seems like it would take forever to get the map accurate, but in reality, if only 20 people would map regularly, in a year or two, the city of Omaha would be looking pretty good. With that in mind, I just try to have fun with what I'm doing right now and hope others will eventually join in.

:)

Thanks for the reply robx,

This bridge passes over a set of railroad tracks that are on layer 0 by default. What I noticed was that the street that is on the bridge would render correctly ( over the tracks ), but the lines that run alongside the bridge, to show it is a bridge, rendered under the tracks in osmarender. Adding the layer=1 tag to the bridge caused the lines alongside the bridge to render correctly. Don't know if this is just a problem with osmarender or not as I haven't seen it with mapnick yet since I just started mapping.

Hank