Forum: General Topics

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Subject:Full version 

Alec

19:13
Wednesday
12-Aug-2009

O stephan how could you? Now you've left free with mild advertising and become little better then the rest; is this perminant? why? i just got a new GPS :(

 

ChrisM

23:00
Wednesday
12-Aug-2009

Location:
Bedfordshire, UK

Phone Model:
Sony Ericsson W770i, Blackberry Playbook(?)

Thats a bit harsh!
Maybe it was because it was probably actually costing him money trying to run it for free!?
And anyway, I'm not sure you will find a better (or better supported)program for £1.50 a month.
Just stop moaning, pay up your 18 Euros, and enjoy your new GPS!! :)

Best Regards,

Chris.
 

Alec

19:25
Thursday
13-Aug-2009

I'm bloody 16, i had to push to get a GPS for ages, especially a second one as is.

I'm never clicking an ad again.
 

Stephen

21:05
Thursday
13-Aug-2009

Location:
Surrey, UK

Phone Model:
BB 9800 Torch
BlackBerry 8900
SE W910i
Nokia 5800

Hi Alec,

I'm sorry if you don't like the new charging structure for TMJ, but you have to see it from my point of view. I simply can't afford to continue working on it for nothing - I have lots of bills to pay and horrible stuff like that!

However, I appreciate that you've just had to buy a new GPS, so how about a little holiday challenge instead?

How is the OpenStreetMap coverage of your area? Have you done any mapping before? - its pretty easy. You just have to walk or cycle around your local streets with TMJ running and note down the street names and any points-of-interest (eg Schools, Shops, Churches, Petrol Stations, etc). Save the track as a GPX file (or just have the GPX logging running in the background). Then transfer this file to your computer, upload it to OpenStreetMap and use their online editor (PotLatch) to trace over the streets, adding in the streetnames and POIs. After a day or so all your edits will become part of the main map, and within a week or so they will be available in TMJ on the Vector and Raster map pages, so everybody benefits!

So here's the challenge: I'll upgrade your account for free for one month, and if you're able to spend a few hours over the summer holiday doing a bit of mapping then I'll upgrade it for a further year.

How does that sound - you up for it?

 

Alec

16:14
Friday
14-Aug-2009

Would you mind? really, that'd be awsome as there currently off by ~20 meters if they exist?


are you sure that sounds awsome, and at 17 i can have paypal and whatnot. so :) thats perfect, are you sure really though? isnt it abit unfair or something then? not complaining mind :)
 

Stephen

23:41
Friday
14-Aug-2009

Location:
Surrey, UK

Phone Model:
BB 9800 Torch
BlackBerry 8900
SE W910i
Nokia 5800

Hi Alec,

I'm sure others will agree its a fair challenge - I hope they don't think it unfair at all (I'm sure they'll understand that I can't extend this offer to everyone!!).

So, back to the challenge! I've upgraded your account until the end of next month, so when you next 'Enable Upload' (with v0.6.9) it'll upgrade to the full version. See how you get on with the OpenStreetMap editing - have a look through the guides on their site, it might look a bit complicated at first but its actually quite easy, and fun (its very satisfying when the new map tiles appear after a day or two and you can say 'I did that!')

Good luck!

Stephen
 

Alec

0:21
Friday
28-Aug-2009

okay, its been a while i think, anyway, i have compiled lots of maps, and there all stored on this site, i've even walked around stuff, and walked in their first letter in there car park (yeah i got some looks, but its nice seing it on the screen :) )

anyway, what do i do now, exactly, sorry if thats dumb.
 
 

Stephen

19:14
Friday
28-Aug-2009

Location:
Surrey, UK

Phone Model:
BB 9800 Torch
BlackBerry 8900
SE W910i
Nokia 5800

Hi Alec,

Ok, heres a quick guide...

1. Firstly, sign up for an account at http://www.openstreetmap.org

2. You then need to get all your traces in GPX format, so either export them from the DEVICES or FOLDERS page on this site, or use the GPX Logging functioin with TMJ-Mobile.

3. Log in to your OSM account and click the GPS Traces / Upload a Trace link.

4. Upload each GPX track to the site. After a couple of minutes you should get a confirmation e-mail once the trace has successfully been processed.

5. Go to the main OSM Map page. Zoom in on your area then click the Edit button.

6. This should start PotLatch, which is a Flash-based OSM editor. Click the 'Edit with Save' option to begin with (this allows you try some editing without making any permanent changes - once finished you can then decide whether to 'commit' the changes).

7. You should then see a basic line drawing of the existing map. Press the 'G' key to overlay your GPS traces (and anyones elses) over the map as thin blue lines. You can then trace along these lines to create the new streets on the map. There is too much to explain about the editor to write it here, but click the HELP button in the bottom left corner for a useful introduction to get started. Also have a look at the OSM Beginners Guide.

8. All OSM objects are comprised of lines and points (called 'Ways' and 'Nodes'). A Node is a single point, or dot, that can represent a POI (eg School, Church, etc), or else several Nodes can be combined together to form a Way (eg Street, Footpath, Stream, etc). If a Way is 'closed' (where the last point is joined to the first point), then it becomes an Area (eg Lake, Park, Playing Field, etc).

9. OSM objects have Tags, which are used to describe the object. Each tag is a 'Key/Value' pair, for example 'highway=motorway' ('Highway' is the Key, and 'Motorway' is the Value). Objects often have several tags used in combination, eg a Node used to pinpoint a church might have the following:
amenity=place_of_worship
religion=christian
denomination=protestant
name=St Mary's Church
etc...
There is a comprehensive list of tags on the Map Features page.

There is quite a lot to learn to get started, but its all fairly straightforward. As I mentioned earlier, once you've done the first edit and have seen your stuff appear on the map, it can become quite addictive to add all the places around you.

One *VERY IMPORTANT* thing to stress though, is that you absolutely must NOT copy details from other maps, including paper maps and online maps. Mapping Data is very heavily copyrighted - the while point about OpenStreetMap is that it is a map created entirely by hand by volunteers surveying on the ground. This frees it from any copyright issues and allows the map data to be used by anyone (including TMJ), largely without restriction!

Good luck!

Cheers,
Stephen

(Let me know if you get anywhere and I'll force a re-render of your area to update the Vector tiles for use in TMJ)
 

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