First edit help

Hi All,
I’m very excited to use and add to OSM. For my first edit, I started small, adding a single node for an old-growth forest of Bristlecone Pine Trees, named “Patriarch Grove”, here:

http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/546796286

The edit seemed to work; it uploaded fine, and appears on the map, but the little tree icon that appeared normal in JOSM is now so tiny it shows up as only a single green pixel, and with no label.

Can someone show me what I did wrong? I believe this should show up as a normal-sized tree icon and label. Perhaps that assumption is wrong?

Thanks,
Erik Burrows

Hi Erik,

Welcome to OpenStreetMap and congratulations on your first edit.

natural=tree is generally used for a single tree. For a wood or forest you should apply natural=wood or landuse=forest respectively to an area.

The other thing to understand is that what appears in JOSM, or Potlatch, is not necessarily how it will be rendered for the Mapnik layer or Tiles@Home layer and you shouldn’t tag for the renderer but instead use attributes which best describe the real world object you are representing.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Alex

I looked up the forest in question, looks like a wonderful and extraordinary place. Did you visit it?

I’ve been there a few times. If you’re ever in the area, I strongly recommend going. Thousand year old trees, beautiful landscapes, fun roads.

I see, sounds great. I’m in the UK so it might be a long time before I have an opportunity to visit it but I’ll definitely keep it in mind.

Well, while I was there last, I think I got some good pictures (below). I’m biased, of course, but if you’re traveling, especially looking for picturesque landscapes, it’s hard to go wrong in the Mojave/Death Valley/Sierras area of south-eastern California.

http://www.erikburrows.com/index.php?node_id=284

And from last year:

http://www.erikburrows.com/index.php?node_id=273