WikiProject Belgium/Resolving notes

Anyone can open a note on OpenStreetMap, even anonymously. It's a handy way to tell mappers that something should be mapped or edited. However, notes do not always get closed and too many open notes litter the map. This project has the goal to close as many as possible in a coordinated way. By joining the efforts of mappers, we can divide the work in a structured way, we can ask a second opinion when something is not clear and we can motivate each other to 'flatten the curve'.

Methodology

Hashtags in comments

We use hashtags to categorize Notes that cannot be easily closed. In the near future, we hope to be able to filter these with MapComplete. These hashtags are in use:

• #OSMbe #FollowUp in mm/yy: this Note will only become relevant in the future. Fill in the date that it should be next reviewed.
• #OSMbe #SurveyNeeded: this Note cannot be fixed without a survey.
• #OSMbe #ComplexMapping: it's a lot of work to be able to close this Note. Leave this hashtag to indicate that you prefer someone else to fix this issue.

Tools

• The MapComplete theme for notes can be a very handy tool:
  • it can be used to filter notes (based on e.g. age or message content)
  • it shows all notes in the map view
  • it can be used to add photos to the note and view those photos
• https://observablehq.com/@vgeorge/oldest-osm-notes-by-country
• https://ent8r.github.io/NotesReview/
• https://resultmaps.neis-one.org/osm-notes-country?c=Belgium

Changesets to resolve notes

Every time a note is fixed, mention the note number and the hashtag #notesBE in the changeset comment, together with information that you would usually put in a changeset comment. An example:

Mapped [...] based on note #[...] #notesBE

Afterwards, the note can be closed. This will automatically send a message that the person who created the note will receive (if it is not an anonymous note).

Resolution messages

To see the progress of the project, we use the hashtag #notesBE when closing notes. An example

Thank you for contributing to OpenStreetMap. This note was resolved with changeset #[...] during a notes mapathon. More info on https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Belgium/Resolving_notes #notesBE

Criteria for closing notes without further action

These criteria were based on other wiki pages and on discussion within the Belgian community:

• using notes as markers for personal use (we could leave a standard message for this, see the example at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Notes/Common_errors)
• notes mentioning a source that cannot be used, e.g. Google
• notes that are too general / not clear (e.g. not related to a specific location, just some gibberish)
• notes mentioning things that are already mapped
• anonymous notes where someone already asked for more details but there was no answer

Mapathon 08/05/2024

• meetup event
• online discussion happens in this room

Mapathon 01/06/2022

• meetup event
• umap to track progress
• online discussion happens in this room

Links

Thanks to MaptimeBogota for the inspiration.