I'll always upvote StreetComplete.

Yes, the gamification elements they've been adding lately are brilliant. I was really impressed when I first saw that. Really need to open the app more often..

I don't like the implication that Pokémon GO was bad when it got a ton of people to go outside and interact with each other. This is cool too though.

I love this app so much, also if you really get into it go to the open street map website and draw buildings, roads, etc to add missing places or update changes.

I cleared my whole walkable area of questions then added all the houses and it populates new questions about house number, shop name, etc which I then went and filled out while walking round. In the zone around me the open source map is now by far the best free to access map, Google house numbers are completely random and no where has upto data shops.

There's also a lot of cool projects devoted to mapping under-served areas, especially in regions where aid workers need information or natural disasters have changed landscapes. You draw in roads, towns, farms, etc based on areal imagery.

Just submitted a first update. Yay dopamine.

The open source community can thank me later. I'll take a banquet and a linux distro named after me thanks.

(Seriously this seems fun - thanks for posting about it)

I love this app, found it a bit ago on F-Droid. I'm moving to a very rural town up north and there's nearly nothing done there. Very excited to get up there and start working on it.

StreetComplete is godsend. Editing OSM in JOSM, iD, etc, is not trivial and involves reading a lot of documentation and forum posts (if you care to do things right), which of course isn't anywhere near practical for small devices when you're on the go, surveying.

This app changed my whole routine. The interface is really solid and helps the community target important tasks, rewarding it with little prizes. Althewhile, the gamification is kept at a very healthy level, to avoid attracting leaderboard seekers and whatnot, which would certainly lower the quality of contributions.

I think the contribution day grid (akin to GitHub's thing) as well as the dynamic category explorer, the badges and the OSM-related projects it reveals to you bit by bit really bring everything together. It's an incredible tool!

For the experienced (and this is not said lightly), there is the expert version, which adds more advanced editing features for those looking for a bit more control in regular SC.

I tried it when someone posted about it a couple of weeks ago. It is fun, my son and I go for walks and I include him in the tasks. Unfortunately, we get a lot of road surface questions which are a bit boring.

When first reading (or not actually reading) this post, I thought "What's the task? Go to the local bar and drink a beer, then enter the museum and scan a QR code to prove, you are there..."

But then, I realized what it's actually about: Collecting information to show others in OpenStreetMap, like "does the bus stop have a trash bin? Or what kind of asphalt does the street have?"

I think, I'll try this out tomorrow. Thanks!

StreetComplete to the polls

Friendly PSA that there is also StreetComplete ExpertEdition (on F-Droid only) which has more tasks and crucially allows you to directly edit tags. Very recommended if you know what you're doing and have some more familiarity with OSM.
https://github.com/Helium314/SCEE

iOS version is in the works but there's something similiar online too.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion, it's quite fun and I'd love a future where OpenStreetMap data is exaustive

Fdroid says that it is bound to jawg.io for tiles. What are the chances that we are giving our data to a company who will take it away from us, or is just using us for free labour?

There's also SCEE, a more advanced version of StreetComplete, and Vespucci, another very powerful application for submitting OSM entries.

Oh that sounds funny! Having a walk and doing something for the community.

Unfortunately it isn’t available for iOS. 🙁

What's the best android app to use OSM?

I've been using magic earth as a sort of waze alternative but it's not great for looking up store hours or just general info

Can I throw in that once you get your stride with Streetcomplete you'll love Every Door where you can add Shops and features pretty easily. They really complement each other.

It is actually pretty fun. However it can't do everything. I use it in conjunction with the Organic maps editing tools and OSM web on desktop

Nice! I like this idea a lot :) I'll download and maybe use it as an excuse to walk :)

I hadn't heard of that. Thanks. Just marked up my neighborhood. This a real clever and simple way to get casual users to contribute.