When I started doing a lot more outdoor activities using technical gadgets such as smartphones, GPS watches and the like I soon discovered OpenStreetMap, to which I now contribute regularly.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a online map just like e. g. Google Maps but it also is an open source database just like e. g. Wikipedia: any user in the world can use and edit the map. Other than Google this map has depth and details I have not seen in any other online map. This makes OSM a great map for a lot of things I do out there in the real world. Some parts of the world are already very well mapped in OSM, e. g. in Vienna you find not only many details such as e. g. recycling bins, but also is the map data very accurate. Map data is generally growing throughout the world and I decided to contribute as well. I decided to focus on Krk island in Croatia as I often run, hike, and cycle there on paths not yet mapped in OSM. In fact, this is what Krk looked like in 2007 in the beginnings of OSM:
It was around Christmas 2013 I started contributing to OSM when I did my first hikes and mountain bike rides in “unknown territory”. Unluckily, I forgot making screenshots, but here you can see a lot of added hiking paths near Garica:
There are still many rarely used foot paths even around Garica which I will focus on adding over the next months. Also I started editing landscape details. Krk is a very green island covered with a lot of woods which on the map does not seem to be so:
Thus I started adding the woods. There is still a lot of work to be done but this is already a good example of what Krk will look like on OSM once I am (or someone else) is done editing Krk:
Over time I hope to cover more and more of the island’s landscape. I try to be very detailed and accurate, which is why it takes me so long. But as you can see the area around lake Ponikve and south of Gabonjin and Garica already looks quite good:
