This section provides an introduction to OpenStreetMap and the OpenStreetMap US (OSM US) Tasking Manager. In order to participate in Public Domain Map, you will need an OpenStreetMap account and be able to log into the OSM US Tasking Manager.

By the end of this section you will have:

Created an OpenStreetMap Account
Signed into the OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager
Learned how to search for projects in the OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager
Learned how to navigate a project and find project-specific instructions

What is OpenStreetMap?

OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable world map. The power of OpenStreetMap is that it empowers anyone, anywhere in the world to add information to a collective map and use the data for any purpose. You can think of OSM as the “Wikipedia of maps” – it is an online database and global community of over 5 million registered users. This community collaborates to build a free and open map of the world to which anyone can contribute and which anyone can use in their own context. All that is needed to contribute to OSM is an internet connection and email address.

OpenStreetMap can, and has, been used for a wide variety of purposes - from disaster response to recreation. It is used by thousands of companies, nonprofits, governments, and other organizations around the world including Amazon, Lyft, AllTrails, the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, and the United Nations. As a collaborative map, every contribution you make contributes to data democracy and can be used for countless applications and users around the world.

What is the OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager?

The Tasking Manager is a mapping tool designed for the collaborative mapping process in OpenStreetMap. The purpose of the tool is to divide up a mapping project into smaller tasks that can be completed rapidly with many people working on the same overall area. It shows which areas need to be mapped and which areas need the mapping reviewed. Originally built by Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, many instances of the Tasking Manager have been created to serve different audiences and purposes in the OpenStreetMap community.

All Public Domain Map projects are hosted on the OSM US Tasking Manager alongside projects that contribute directly to OpenStreetMap.

What do we mean by OpenStreetMap projects & Public Domain Map projects?

The Tasking Manager was originally developed to organize contributions directly to OpenStreetMap. Any edits made to these projects go directly to the global OpenStreetMap database. The majority of projects you will find on the OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager are these types of projects, labeled as contributing to the “OpenStreetMap database”. Because of the Public Domain Map project, OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager also now hosts “Public Domain Map” projects. Any contributions to these projects will not yet go to the OpenStreetMap database. Instead, these go to a separate “Public Domain Map database”. In the future, this database will be made available to the public and any data contributed to the Public Domain Map database will be available to be conflated or added to OpenStreetMap. ___

Getting Started with the OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager

Creating an OSM Account on the Tasking Manager

Navigate to the OpenStreetMap US Tasking Manager at tasks.openstreetmap.us. Click on the Sign up button in the upper right corner of the Tasking Manager homepage. This allows you to create an OpenStreetMap account that can be used on any platform requiring an OpenStreetMap account.
Provide your name and email address. We will use this information to guide you through the sign-up process.
A new tab will open allowing you to register on OpenStreetMap.org. Provide your account information and press the Sign up button at the bottom of the form.Please fill in all the fields in the form. We recommend using an email you have easy access to e.g. your personal email, as you will receive a confirmation email to verify your account. You will not receive any spam/marketing emails. Click the blue “Sign Up” button when finished.

Note: If an issue occurs, a problem message will appear. Make sure that the email you entered is the same as in the first two boxes and the same with your password. If the box for the user name is red, then someone else has already used the username and you have to try another. Please take note of your username, password, and the email you used as you will need to log-in with this information on different applications.

Next, please read and accept the contributor terms and agreements by selecting where you are based (France, Germany, or the Rest of the World), and clicking the blue “Agree” button on the bottom of your screen.

To activate your account, please now check your email and click on the link provided. In some cases, it may take several minutes for you to receive your confirmation email. If you do not receive an email after 15 minutes, please check your spam folder. You may also need to use an alternate email if you used a work or school email, as your administrator settings may be blocking the email from coming through.

Close the tab and go back to the Tasking Manager. Click the button to Log in. The first time you are logging into Tasking Manager with your OSM username and password from the device you are using, an authorisation message will appear. Click ‘Grant Access’ so that your OSM login details will sync to the Tasking Manager. You will notice that your username now displays in the upper right hand corner of the page.
After you’ve logged in, you will be taken to your user profile. At any time, you can return to this page by clicking on your username, then “Settings” in the upper right hand corner of the Tasking Manager to see your stats as well as update your user profile.

Exploring Projects

There are many projects active on the OpenStreetMap Tasking Manager. Some contribute directly to the OpenStreetMap database, others are Public Domain Map projects. Before diving into a Public Domain Map project, we recommend exploring available projects:

Click on the ‘Explore Projects’ button along the top of the Tasking Manager to view a list of current mapping projects.

You can view the list of projects on a map. You can switch the map on and off by selecting the toggle in the upper right hand side. Projects are clustered together on the map into circles which display the number of projects in a particular area. You can zoom into an area to view a breakdown of projects in a particular region. Each project tile on the left will describe:

The urgency of the project
The project number and name - this will often include the location, the type of humanitarian response, and the focus feature being mapped
Any important information e.g. type of mapper needed / experience level
A description of the project
The organization requesting the project
The category of the project
The level of experience a mapper needs to contribute
The percentage of the project mapped so far (dark grey in the progress bar)
The percentage of the project validated so far (red in the progress bar)
The total number of contributors

If you have a specific project to contribute to, you can always search for it in the sidebar to the left of your screen. You can search by:

Project name or number
Level of mapping difficulty
Organization
Campaign
Location
Type of mapping (features being mapped)

In the search bar, please enter “362”. This will take you to our example project. Click on the tile that appears.

Navigating a Project

This page provides specific details on the project objectives and requirements. Be sure to review this page before starting any mapping project on a Tasking Manager.

Underneath the project description you will see a series of icons. The bold icons indicate which entities to map (e.g. buildings, roads).

The overview map on the right-hand side of the project you have selected is split into squares which are colour coded dependent on the completion of the mapping in that square. If you do not see the grid on the map, click “Zoom to Tasks”.

The colours represent the following:

White: a tile is ready to be mapped and needs to be completed
Blue: a tile has been mapped and is ready to be validated
Yellow: a tile has been invalidated. This could be because an area was not fully mapped or multiple errors need to be corrected
Green: a tile has been validated. This means that the mapping in this area has been quality checked, edited if necessary, and approved. Validators will leave comments next to a tile to show the changes they have made
Grey: a tile has been marked as having bad imagery
Black padlock: a tile is locked by another user
Red padlock: a tile is locked by you

Contribute

Select ‘Contribute’ in the lower-right hand corner. After selecting Contribute, the Instructions section in the left panel provides detailed notes such as which imagery to use, how to trace specific features, and how to tag features. Briefly review the instructions for the project. You will not be mapping this project as part of the pilot, but this will give you an idea of what to expect from project instructions in the future.

Optional: Complete the Walkthrough

The first time you click ‘Map a Task’ in the Tasking Manager, you will be promted to complete a walkthrough of how to edit in OpenStreetMap. We HIGHLY recommend and ask that all new mappers complete the walkthrough.

In the pop-up window, select “Start the Walkthrough”. Complete the walkthrough.

If you do not receive the welcome message as shown above or if you would like to revisit the walkthrough in the future, you can always access the walkthrough in the iD Editor Help Menu. Once in the iD Editor, select the “Help” option on the right-hand toolbar. In the Help menu, you can select “Start the Walkthrough”.

Join the Public Domain Map - Pilot Mapping Team

To make contributions to Public Domain Map projects on the OSM US Tasking Manager, you will need to join the “Public Domain Map - Pilot Mappers” team. By joining the team via link below, you are agreeing to participate in the Public Domain Map Pilot facilitated by OpenStreetMap US and the terms as follows:

You will be participating as a volunteer and will not be compensated in any form.
Any personal information collected through feedback forms or otherwise will not be shared, nor will you be identified as a participant by name without your prior written consent.
Data contributed to the project will be publicly associated with your OpenStreetMap username.
If you provide feedback, your anonymized feedback provided may be distributed to the Public Domain Map steering committee and project partners as needed.
At this time, it cannot be guaranteed that any data contributed here will be later available in either OpenStreetMap or Federal datasets. Your contributions at this time are designed to help us refine and improve the overall workflow.

Once you have joined the team, you will be able to select from available mapping tasks open to team members.

Join the Team ➔

Have feedback? Please submit that here ➔

Public Domain Map for New Mappers