I’ve found it very enjoyable to record and upload GPS traces as I do various activities. These can help with assessing imagery offsets, route accessibility and popularity, adding brand new routes, and as a refresher after I get back from a walk, hike, bike ride, or drive. Here are some questions, issues, etc. I’ve been thinking about. Feel free to comment on any or all:
- Am I helping or hurting by uploading GPS traces with poor accuracy? They will average out as they accumulate, but there is no easy mechanism I know of to achieve this for your typical mapper.
- Given that the standard OSM GPS (raster) layer doesn’t seem to favor newer traces over older ones, what happens when a road or path is moved, removed, or repurposed? All that old data is now actively harmful. (Again, in the context of the OSM raster traces layer)
- What is appropriate to upload? My 100th daily walk along the same route as always? Off-trail wilderness exploration? Airplane flight path? (IMO, the answer to all of these is either “not appropriate” or “if you really want to, as long as it’s well tagged”)
- What about people who sort of dox themselves by not turning off their GPS at home, or by owning a driving assistance device that seems to auto-upload all their travel!?
Please let me know your thoughts in a comment, and happy mapping!
