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this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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something something ask me literally anything about using or contributing to OpenStreetMap or about what it is/the state of it. get hyperspecific; see if I give a fuck.
Source: reasonably long-time user and contributor
I have been adding businesses in OSM for awhile, but refrained from doing any roads.. until a few days ago! It is actually very easy haha.
I did a bunch around me with street complete until it started asking the width of the roads. Is that actually useful?
I started filling in all the house names because nothing here is numbered. It hasn't improved delivery drivers finding us 🤣
In the UK it's common for country lanes to have a speed limit of 60 MPH, while only being metres (9 ft) wide. Including road widths is useful for some routing engines for both normal cars, and HGVs.
As someone who has worked in the geospatial industry, yeah, width of roads is useful eventually. But probably only for land development or simply understanding what a road is.
How should we approach businesses that closed and another opened in the same building? Should we delete and add another, or should we edit and change the name? Does osm keep records of what was in there before, for hisotrical reasons?
OpenHistoricalMap tracks that sort of thing. OpenStreetMap is strictly for what's currently (and at least semi-permanently) there. For businesses that just closed, it's a good idea to put a note saying something like "Formerly Dairy Emporium" (along with potentially, say, when it closed if known). This not only potentially helps confused users, but it also helps other contributors who might try to "correct" what seems like a mistake.
Editing and changing the info is ideal, because it preserves the edit history. A deleted object is a lot harder to find the edit history of.
Thanks. Just to better understand it, does older data from osm automatically go to openhistoricalmap, or is it a completely separate project which its own contributors?
It's a separate project with a separate license.
I see. Feels like a missed opportunity on osm to be able to press a point and look for what used to be there
Could we rename the white house to something like brown diaper house as a protest through osm?
We'd ask that you didn't try. Directing your energy toward improving OSM in your area and moving people away from the corporations kowtowing to Trump and other fascists is what makes an actual difference.
Fair :p