I have been following (and enjoying!) the diary entries through my RSS news reader, and so I am encouraged to share my own thoughts here, as well.

When I first got into the openstreetmap project, I was verifying on-foot. I took a six-year break (how time flies!), and now I have a bicycle and a cheap smartphone at my disposal. The increased mobility is quite an improvement!

While I still encourage new mappers to print a paper with a couple blocks to verify, using the wonderful Field Papers web service, I myself have moved to verifying miles of road in a single outting. I am knocking out big chunks of town, each week, where previously it would take me the entire Summer.

I have not totally figured out all the details, but my typical outting looks like this: Print a few blocks using JOSM and the US Forestry Service layer for a while background. I use the Ubuntu operating system, so I capture the JOSM display using the Screenshot application. I jump on my bicycle and activate OSMAnd+ trip logging, with the one second logging interval. With my printout, phone, and golf pencil, I head out to my target area. So fun is being on this secret mission!

Using the bicycle is socially better, too. When I walked, I often got strange glares from people, who were uncomfortable seeing strangers on their less-travelled road. It is my understanding that outside the USA, people are more accepting to pedestrians traversing their property. We do not have the idea of Right-of-Way here. What we do have are many property owners who enforce their No Trespassing signs. But with a bicycle, I am not lingering long enough for people to notice or work themselves up for being concerned. With a bicycle, I enter roads that say “Private Road, Residents Only” when before I would skip these areas.

When I am back home again, I copy the GPX track to my laptop, fire up JOSM, remove a few TIGER verified=no tags, and improve the road data. I look forward to verifying the remainder of my town, soon, then moving onward to other towns, next. Verifying OSM data gets me excited to get outside and moving, and now I am using my bicycle so much more, too.

If you see a bicycle on the road with a smartphone strapped to his back, be sure to slow down, drive safely, and smile. It might be me out there collecting OSM data!