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Comment by zikduruqe | Hacker News Reader

As a cyclist, I use Organic Maps to add drinking water sources, shelters, repair stations, fix biking routes and lanes using just a mobile app to update OSM when I am out and about.

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Thanks for that! Editing the map on a bike can be a hassle though. I tried many options and came to conclusion that a 360° camera on the helmet and a physical Bluetooth button to take audio notes is the easiest possible setup.

If you both don't know about StreetComplete yet, you should check it out: https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/#readme

Yeah I'm often using StreetComplete when walking in a city, but on a bike any operation with the phone involves stopping and switching the context. Besides, SC is intended to fill the missing or fix existing data, and sometimes I need more than that (adding/fixing paths and objects, for example). So I just record an audio note while passing by something, and later on I import the video/timelapse and edit it on my computer, which is much faster than doing that while cycling.

Worth looking at SCEE [1] for adding objects, unfortunatelly it doesn't do paths.

[1] https://f-droid.org/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete.e...

I also started using EveryDoor recently, which strikes a Nice middle ground betweek StreetComplete qnd Vespucci.

https://f-droid.org/packages/info.zverev.ilya.every_door/

https://every-door.app/

https://every-door.app/ is also good.

I collect info on the bike using a Garmin eTrex GPS. Because this has physical buttons, and not a touchscreen, you don’t have to take your eyes off the road so much. You rarely have to stop at all if you just make your own personal system of abbreviations.

For example, I will save a waypoint titled "RLPGW" or "RRPGW" to specify at intersections that the road to my left or right is paved and ends in a give-way sign. Or "DWL" or "DWR" for drinking water to my left or to my right, respectively, etc. Then, when I get home, I just connect the Garmin to my laptop and comfortably upload everything using the powerful JOSM editor.

I’m interested in doing the same setup. Would you mind sharing what camera and button you use?

How do you fix the routes? I just checked out the suggested route from my work to home and it doesn't stick to the bike greenways or streets with bikelanes. It actually suggested I take a very dangerous road with no bike traffic at all. How can I help improve that?

A lot of the routing comes down to pressure around the tag `bicycle`. If there is a road illegal to bikes, tag it `bicycle=no`. But if it is unsafe, the best way to fix it is to better document designated routes, as well as cycleways.

OSM's philosophy on routing is you should not try to fix routing by trying to translate your opinion that it is unsafe to ride on the street into to tags. Instead the routing algorithm should improve or the data should improve to the point where an alternative route can be suggested based on data.

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Bicycle

> Instead the routing algorithm should improve

Where's the feedback to the routing algorithm? I thought graphhopper / OSM was sent to users without feedback.

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