A few years ago I started working to make my town, Glenrothes, more visible on the Open Street Map. Mostly it was just roads and land use imported from public data, though a few people had added in some housing areas, addresses, and point of interest. I have steadily been adding all the missing buildings, shops, addresses, other missing POIs and cleaning up major land use blocks.

It is far from perfect, but things are in a much better state than they were a few years ago. But there are still a few areas where data needs to be added. If possible, it would be nice to address these in the coming year:

• Finish adding the remaining missing addresses – There are a lot of neighbourhoods still missing address data. The UK’s PAF still hasn’t been released under open license, so these will need to be surveyed and added manually. In clockwise order: Collydean, Pitcairn, Balfarg, Cadham, Markinch, Thornton, Stenton, Caskieberran, Stenton, and Leslie. I want to be accurate though, and the layouts of houses in same areas can be difficult to navigate, so it may take some time.
• More details for POIs like shop opening hours – Locations on the OSM can have additional metadata like contact details, opening hours, whether they are disabled accessible, and things like types of menu for restaurants. Some of this info is made available on websites, some of it may need direct surveying.
• There are lots of construction areas around town that will need to be surveyed when they are complete. New buildings and POIs to be added. The town park is also being upgraded and when it is finished next year there may be lots of changes to update, like new paths and play areas. Some of these changes have already been updated.

It would also be nice to try and convince more people I know to start using OSM data through something like the Organic Maps app. Unfortunately, this can be a difficult ask, particularly if data density can differ wildly from town to town. One particular point of contention is open maps often lack data like live traffic updates, and drivers often want this from their apps. I can’t disagree, as it is really useful info if you’re going out on a trip.

I mostly use StreetComplete for surveying, and that has had quite a few updates this year, making it ever easier to use. This year I discovered the Rapid editor which is really useful for adding data to unmapped areas in other parts of Scotland.

I hope all the OSM mappers had a good 2024, and wishing you a good 2025, too!