How We Map - OpenStreetMap Wiki
How We Map
From OpenStreetMap Wiki
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Help
How We Map
In other languages
Afrikaans
asturianu
azərbaycanca
Bahasa Indonesia
Bahasa Melayu
bosanski
brezhoneg
català
čeština
Crnogorski
dansk
eesti
Esperanto
euskara
Frysk
Gàidhlig
galego
hrvatski
Ido
interlingua
íslenska
italiano
Kreyòl ayisyen
kréyòl gwadloupéyen
kurdî
latviešu
Lëtzebuergesch
lietuvių
magyar
Nederlands
norsk
norsk nynorsk
occitan
polski
português
română
sardu
shqip
slovenčina
slovenščina
srpski (latinica)
suomi
svenska
Tagalog
Tiếng Việt
Türkçe
Zazaki
Ελληνικά
беларуская
български
македонски
монгол
русский
српски / srpski
українська
հայերեն
עברית
العربية
سرائیکی
فارسی
پنجابی
پښتو
नेपाली
मराठी
हिन्दी
বাংলা
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
தமிழ்
മലയാളം
සිංහල
ไทย
မြန်မာဘာသာ
한국어
ქართული
ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ
中文（简体）
中文（繁體）
粵語
Other languages...
OpenStreetMap is a
social activity
: it is a teamwork effort by hundreds of thousands of people around the globe.
OpenStreetMap has a tradition of making as
few rules
as possible.
Contributions to OpenStreetMap should be:
Truthful
– means that you cannot contribute something you have invented.
Legal
– means that you don't copy copyrighted data without permission.
Verifiable
– means that others can go there and see for themselves if your data is correct.
Relevant
– means that you have to use tags that make clear to others how to re-use the data.
When in doubt, also consider the "
on the ground rule
": map the world as it can be observed by someone physically there.
OpenStreetMap has
very few rules
on tagging. There are tagging standards, but they evolve instead of being pushed through.
OpenStreetMap values
local knowledge
highly, but mappers should welcome edits from outsiders.
OpenStreetMap values
community cohesion over data perfection
You do not have to ask permission
before modifying existing data. If you believe that you can improve something, then do it.
In talking to other mappers, always
assume good intentions
If you have a conflict with another mapper that you cannot solve amongst yourselves, involve other project members. Attend a local community meetup, post to a regional mailing list or forum section, or message them directly.
Occasionally you will be contacted by other mappers about edits you have made. Please do not ignore them. If the other mapper has taken the time to look at your edit and ask you a question, they deserve an answer.
Do not delete data unless you know (or have very strong reason to believe) that it is incorrect.
Do not engage in large-scale "cleanups" without securing the agreement of the relevant community or talking to the people whose work you aim to "clean".
You may believe your third-party dataset should be added to OSM. Do not bulk import data from other sources without first discussing and securing agreement on the OSM Community Forum.
See the
Talk:How We Map
page for discussion
See also
Good practice
Tags
Imports
Automated edits
Scope
Retrieved from "
Category
OSM best practice
Hidden categories:
Pages unavailable in German
Pages unavailable in Dutch
Pages unavailable in Japanese
Navigation menu
US