Chapter 2 – Beginning OSM

Exporting a map

4.  Create an OpenStreetMap Account

• Now that you have seen what the main website looks like, you can register for a username and password and make your first additions to the map.
• Go back to the OpenStreetMap website.  Click “sign up” in the top right corner of the page.
• You should see a new page that looks like this:

Registering an OpenStreetMap Account

•  There are five boxes on this page that you need to fill in to register an account with OSM.
• Enter your email address in the first two boxes.  You should enter the same email address in both boxes.  Later, you will need to open your email to confirm your account with OpenStreetMap.
• In the third box, enter the username that you would like to have.  You will not be able to choose a username that someone else has chosen before, so it should be creative.  If you try to enter something simple, like your first name, it is likely that someone has already claimed that name.
• Enter a new password in the fourth and fifth boxes.  You should enter the same password in both boxes.  It does not need to be the same as the password for your email.
• You will want to remember your user name and your password so that you can login later.  You may want to write down your OSM username and password.
• After you have completed all the boxes, click “Continue” at the bottom of the page.
• If there are any problems, an error message may pop up.  Check to make sure that your email is the same in the first to boxes, and your password is the same in the bottom two boxes.  If the third box is highlighted red, it means that someone else has already chosen your username, and you should try a different name.
• Next you will see a page that displays the contributor terms, which you will need to accept in order to create an OSM account.  Basically, the agreement states that you will not add data to OpenStreetMap that is taken from other maps, unless you have clear permission to do so.  The agreement also states how your contributions to OSM may be used.  Data entered into OSM has what is called a Creative Commons license, which essentially means that anyone can use the data as they like, but they can’t take the data and claim it as their own.

Contributor Terms

•  You have the option of declaring your additions to OpenStreetMap as public domain, which means that anyone can do absolutely anything they want with your data, with no restrictions whatsoever.  If you would like to make your edits public domain, click the checkbox at the bottom of the page next to “Public Domain”.
• To accept the agreement, click “Agree” at the bottom of the page.
• Open a separate window or tab in your internet browser, and navigate to your email.  Common email sites are mail.yahoo.com and www.gmail.com.
• Enter your email address and your email password to open your email.  Note that this is not the same as your OpenStreetMap username and password.
• If everything was successful with your registration, you should see an email from OpenStreetMap in your inbox.  Open the email.  It should look like the image below.  Click on the link that is identified below:

Confirming your OpenStreetMap account

• A new tab or window will open.  If everything went well, you should have an OSM account!
• On the OpenStreetMap page, click “log in” in the top right corner.  Enter your OpenStreetMap username and password and press Enter.  You should now be logged in.  You should see your username in the upper right corner of the page.
• If this is your first time logging in, you will see a page where you can change your profil settings. You may edit this if you want, but you don’t have to. To return to the map, click on the “View” tab at the top of the page.

5.  Adding Your First Points

• Now that you are logged in with your username on the OpenStreetMap website, you can use the Potlatch editor to add your first point to the map.
• In order to use the online editor, you must have Adobe Flash installed in your browser. If its not installed you will see an error when you try to edit. If this happens, go to get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ and follow the instructions to install Flash. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of installing Flash or using Potlatch to edit, you may skip ahead to the next chapter, where we will discuss the desktop editor called JOSM.
• Move the map to a place that you know very well, such as your town or village.
• Zoom in to a place where you would like to add a point to the map.

Start editing

• Just above the map on the left, there is a tab marked “Edit”.  Hover your mouse over this button, but don’t click.  You should see a menu drop down.
• Click “Edit with Potlatch 2 (in-browser editor).
• The online editor for OpenStreetMap should open.  If a window pops up, press “OK”

Editing with in-browser editor

• You can add a point to the map by clicking on an icon on the left, and dragging it to its location on the map.  After you add the point and are satisfied that it is correct, click “Save” in the upper right corner.
• When you click “Save” your edits will be saved to OpenStreetMap.  Return to the main OpenStreetMap page by clicking on the “View” tab at the top of your browser.  You should now see any edits that you have made on the map.  If you don’t see your edits, try refreshing the page by pressing CTRL+r on your keyboard. Sometimes it takes up to 5 minutes for changes to be added to the map, so don’t worry if you don’t see your changes right away!
• NOTE:  If you are not sure about the accuracy of the point(s) you add, don’t click “Save”!  Play around with the Potlatch editor, but don’t save your changes.

Summary
Congratulations!  If all went well you now have an OpenStreetMap username and password, you know how to navigate the OSM website, and you have your first understanding of how to add points to the map.In the next chapter, we will install a desktop editor for OpenStreetMap, called JOSM, and learn how to draw maps and add places with symbols to the map.

Go to Chapter 3 – Getting Started with JOSM

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