One of the issues we all have is that OpenStreetMap isn’t perfect. There are missing streets, non-existent streets, and streets with no name. All of these affect the number of streets necessary for running our city.
Lately I’ve been focusing on the streets with no name.
Step 1: Find the streets with no name. A guy named Simon Poole wrote a program that goes through the OpenStreetMap site looking for streets with no name. He then created a map (updated every five minutes) with those streets in red. The site address is: http://qa.poole.ch/
Step 2: Find the name of the street. Here in Florida, the county property appraisers generally have maps on their web sites indicating where every parcel of land is. They’ve also got street names on those maps. I’ve been using that map to find the names of the unnamed streets. Google “[name of county] property appraiser” and you should be able to find your county’s property appraiser. (I’m working on Volusia County.)
Step 3: Add the name to the unnamed street on Open Street Map.
Step 4: Wait for the city to be updated on CityStrides.
Step 5: Complain about the increase in the number of streets to run.
I think I’ve figured out an Overpass query that’ll return unnamed streets that align with the existing CityStrides street query … I’ll post a MapRoulette link soon - if it looks usable, we can create one for each state (I can test it at the country level as well).
Massachusetts streets without names Oof over 100k way records without a name (and still counting). This is also using the existing query that decides whether or not to bring streets into CityStrides - so this might help point out other tags that should be ignored (like highway = service).
I’ve done a garbage job on the description & instructions. I’ll try to get around to updating those soon.
Been doing this a ton in rural central Portugal. The concelho (county) municipal websites have public info GIS resources that I’ve used to update (hundreds? maybe over a thousand?) street names that were blank on OSM. I’ve found them to be about ~99% accurate to reality, only once in a while was a street renamed or newly built and doesn’t exist yet in the GIS database.
There are also a ton of literal unmaintained track roads and overgrown dirt paths that don’t have names, but I’m drawing them in OSM to help know how to get around in the forest between small villages and enhance the utility of CS Routes planning.
Oh and I’ve mostly figured out how to edit OSM myself by trial and error; at first I always checked the box asking someone to audit my changes. The only time I ever got any feedback was when I accidentally moved a survey point - don’t do that, someone will yell at you
Another tool I have been using to support with naming roads has been the Streetcomplete app for Android (don’t think there is an ios version yet) StreetComplete - OpenStreetMap Wiki
I will plan some longer runs to take in a red road on the qa.poole.ch site and then can use the app to update the roadname “in the field” rather than try and remember as my memory is terrible by the time I get home! It can become a little addictive with all its challenges
A lot of these seem to be parking lots, I am not sure what the naming convention is in the US, or if these should be in CS. Any chance of having a European challenge? Ideally not 100K+ streets though
I’ve got that in the query: ['service' !~ 'parking_aisle'] so tagging those will help.
…Not that I’m convinced this MapRoulette idea is going to pan out - it seems like it would be a huge effort just to create all the challenges required … and 100k+ fixes per challenge can’t possibly be fun to anyone
This is really useful! I’ve updated a few around me and will cast my net a bit wider to places I know and use the local council website for ones I’m unsure of. Apologies to all those 100%s I undo…
Don’t apologise. I am guessing everyone here wants to run all runnable streets in a city. So anyone who makes the reflection of the real world that we call openstreetmap more realistic, is welcome (imho).
Plus, updating OSM can also involve removing or shortening a street that is no longer accessible or no longer exists. I’ve encountered a few gates in the physical world that weren’t on OSM, and sometimes I don’t even jump them…!
I can’t find it now, but wasn’t there a link to a site, that found errors in the OSM data? I don’t think it was the roulette thing, but rather something else. Does that sound familiar?
@hans1 That does look familiar! I also took another look at https://maproulette.org/ , and think it might be what I was thinking of… But the name was not familiar.
over 100k way records without a name (and still counting). This is also using the existing query that decides whether or not to bring streets into CityStrides - so this might help point out other tags that should be ignored (like 
