Take a look at StreetComplete [1]. It is gamification of updates to OSM.

[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplet...

Was a really rude intro to the community and reminded me a lot of SO or Wikipedia with its gatekeeping.

I've never submitted a single thing since then. If that's how you treat newcomers then I want nothing to do with you.

> The user's answer is automatically processed and uploaded directly into the OSM database.

https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/

Of course uploading a few months of changes all at once is going to cause issues, naturally some will conflict with other changes that have been made in the meantime.

I hope you reconsider and try again. Many of us are actually here to help.

It happens automatically in default configuration.

You can enable manual upload in settings if you want, but then, well, you need to upload it manually.

I am contributor to StreetComplete - so maybe I will add feature to start reminding about upload if edits are old.

in my experience, you don't have to manually submit in streetcomplete, and it does happen automatically.

> a few months worth of my travels

Was this travels in your local neighbourhood, going home daily, or one trip to another country or in a very rural area? I'm asking if you had constant data connectivity, intermittent, once daily, or none during that time?

It sucks to have a bad first experience from a Gatekeeping community. Of course, as newbs, we try to move slowly with small changes first to test the waters. That worked for me, sorry that it did not work for you. I also take the point that was raised about not editing based off months-old data.

OSM is like Wikipedia for maps. Complete with all of Wikipedia's baggage and wannabe bureaucrats.

OpenStreetMap has strict demands on how contributors should structure their changes, but has no way to enforce them. The best it has is having someone review your changesets _after_ they've been already submitted, when it's too late as the "damage" is done. Start implementing a technical solution to problem, instead of disciplining the ones who are volunteering their time trying to curate your dataset for you.

(Also, if StreetComplete is a repeat offender, start a conversation with its devs instead of reprimanding users.)

Granted, that still doesn't solve the case that you may have no connectivity and are basically forced to upload a big batch later. It annoys me a bit as well.

On the other hand, despite how angry the changeset comments may read, this isn't a big deal. Globe-spanning changesets happen all the time and yes, they do annoy local users trying to keep a watch on what happens, but the history on the OSM site isn't really well-suited for that either. Also, with enough other changes, those large changesets also fall out of the history range fairly quickly, except in places where no one maps anyway.

Then why be angry about it at all? It either is worth gatekeeping about our not, decide.

> Globe-spanning changesets happen all the time

I noticed! But this only makes it worse. That's precisely my point: the requirements are there but can't be enforced and then the matter is addressed with... hostility between contributors? Who's benefiting from this behavior, exactly?

Some things like reverting vandalism or fixing large geometries like coastlines or motorways often make large edits necessary anyway. And often it just happens by accident. I have added some cleanup changes to the wrong changeset more than once and then got a changeset for a whole continent. The immediately visible history on the OSM site soon ceases to show that changeset and another will take its place, so personally I don't see much of a problem to get worked up about.

So my stance is basically: It happens, we can't really prevent it anyway (although I'd love a spatial auto-split in StreetComplete and JOSM – Every Door has it, I think), and as long as the norm is that people try to make smaller changesets, I guess we can live with that.

Thanking them and advising is the recommended way to handle this.

Unfortunately, as happens in all large crowdsourced areas, some don't adhere to the recommended ways and "do their own thing", often to the detriment of the project as a whole.

It'a however a little bit more technical and not all gamified and glossy.

I have discovered lots of places in my local area thanks to StreetComplete!

One thing I wish it had was the ability to add an entirely new building. I'm currently living in a town that is experiencing massive growth and I'll often see a structure that's still a vacant lot on osm, and I don't think you can add it with StreetComplete.

There must be folk who dedicate their time to searching the OSM database for unresolved notes, because whenever I leave a note on StreetComplete mentioning an inaccuracy (e.g: a path where there isn't actually one, a driveway marked incorrectly as a road, etc.) I get an email alert a few days later notifying me that the note has been resolved - often by someone who lives in an entirely different country (and who can use the information I provide in the note plus the satellite imagery to resolve the note).

So thanks for leaving notes allowing remote fixing!

If you want to add an entirely new building on the go, there is Vespucci:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.blau.android/

But, honestly, adding a building on a phone sized screen, while quite possible, is much more easily done with either of the two desktop editors:

JOSM, Java based: https://josm.openstreetmap.de/

iD, Web based, this is the editor available from the "Edit" button from the OSM website: https://www.openstreetmap.org

For more task-based editing with gamification elements check out StreetComplete, an Android app.

Also, the markers disappear entirely past a certain zoom level. When that happens, zooming out one notch does not cause them to reappear, either - I had to do like 4 levels before they'd show up. The worst part is that it also happens when you click on a marker and the map auto-zooms on it.

EDIT: just realized that for that last problem, what happens is that a single combined marker (the one that shows a number) is broken up into individual markers. The problem there is that those individual markers often end up outside of the viewport, and so it looks like the combined markers just disappeared.

On the topic: I think it would be a good idea for OSM if done in a good and non-technical user-friendly way.

On the one hand it's free work benefiting the corporation... but on the other hand it's genuinely helping sometimes thousands of other people. I benefit massively from reading Amazon reviews, and it feels good to give back. But it is also a contribution that further entrenches Amazon (or Google Maps), it's not like Wikipedia where contributions can be used by anyone.

What do we do when we can help other users, but doing so also supports corporations for free? Although then again, I've never paid a dime for Google Maps and use it daily, it's literally a major part of my life -- so does getting the product for free also play a role?

For example if you wanted to put in your new directory whether company A has a car park at their premesis or has disabled access etc, you would need to pay somebody to either go there and perform a survey or call them up and ask them. Googles monopoly enables them to just ask the question to everybody that has ever been there and get the data returned back into the system automatically and free.

I see this as anticompetitive and so I choose not to participate.

It's harder for map corrections though, as the user-presented data mixes commercial and user-supplied data. Maybe legislation should require regular data dumps of all user-supplied content much like Wikipedia makes available in XML form? Then no scraping is even required.

Contributing to Stackoverflow is my one exception.

I found the "Emergency" door of a local hospital hard to find IRL, so I added a photo of it from the driveway POV. Another sort of real person you can help are the web-clueless owners of local small businesses.

I also enjoy adding a food shot or a representative photo of places I have enjoyed as a small reward and enticement for others to do likewise.

But personally, I have a ton of fun just mapping for the sake of it. Seeing my contributions rendered is a satisfaction.

Doing it because you get a pair of socks or some smiley clippy character telling you something cute is very different.

Do they protect against self promotion somehow? seems like it would be an easy way to market something to a huge audience. I mean something like giving a completely legit review then dropping a link to your website or something.

For example one company caused noticeable damage as UK was mapped by people from Belarus who were unaware about many local intricacies.