StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

aweb 2 hours ago |

I discovered that recently, it's a very fun way to contribute to OpenStreetMap, and the UI is really well-done, it's totally beginner friendly! I wish there was a way to do more than labeling though, like add simple roads and footpaths

eskori 2 hours ago | |

I have used it one (1) time in my life, ans it was my first experience with OpenStreetMap in general. It was pretty fun!

It's very intuitive and makes you learn just how detailed and specific map data can be. Can't say much about missing features since I don't event know what can be done.

Recommended experience, it's like playing Pokemon Go without the evil part :)

hadi121 1 hour ago | | |

What's the "evil" part?

weavie 1 hour ago | | |

Probably https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/06/pokemon-go-players-unwitt...

Forgeties79 1 hour ago | | |

Niantic would sell your children’s social security numbers if they thought they’d get away with it.

Ajedi32 1 hour ago | |

Usually if I need to add a footpath I use the "Create new track recording" feature to trace out the path with GPS, then come back to it later on desktop. Adding paths is pretty awkward to do on mobile, especially since there's no satellite overlay.

0l 1 hour ago | | |

FYI someone else has probably already traced this through Strava, which is allowed to be used for tracing: <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Strava#Data_Permission_-...>

nightpool 49 minutes ago | | |

StreetComplete doesn't have satellite overlays, but both Vespucci and EveryDoor support viewing satellite overlay tiles!

qmacro 18 minutes ago |

I enjoyed the simulated phone screenshots, particularly the choice of House of the Trembling Madness, a great beer stockist and drinking establishment on Lendal in York. I would like to think that the name in the input field is deliberately slightly wrong, ready to be fixed by someone. (It's "House of the Trembling Madness" rather than "The House of Trembling Madness".) Gamification at another level :-)

baumschubser 5 minutes ago | |

Just through your comment I found out that they have different screenshots for all their localization settings. Cool!

TeddyDD 2 hours ago |

Great app. There is also https://every-door.app/ that gives you slightly different set of tasks and allows you to place POI easily. I recently mapped a lot of trash cans and benches around my neighborhood while walking with my dog.

Ajedi32 1 hour ago | |

StreetComplete lets you place trash cans and benches too (among other things) using the "Things" overlay. IMO Every Door has a much more complicated UI, though it's also more of a full featured editor than StreetComplete. (Though still less so than something like Vespucci.)

deckar01 1 hour ago | |

The UX is really bad. POI loading is taking 10+ seconds to update, then any zoom or pan reorders the list of locations. Most of the missing info (around me) is just phone numbers and hours of operation, which are boring and should be trivial to collect automatically.

jllyhill 39 minutes ago | | |

The thing is that the best way to get the phones and opening hours is to walk in person and look them up. Any source for the automated collection is way more likely to be outdated/wrong than what the sign or the person behind the counter tells you. And can also have non-permissive license not compatible with the OSM license.

jorvi 13 minutes ago | | |

Raw Information cannot be licensed, and I am not sure why OSM sticks to the policy that it can.

Google Maps does not hold the rights to which opening hours Bob's Bakery keeps. If someone entered them from Bob's Bakery their site onto Maps, you are free to type it off of Maps onto OSM. Legally anyway. OSM themselves still hold the policy you can't, so you should adhere to that.

didip 1 hour ago | |

oooo what a fantastic idea. I have always wanted to map as many clothes donation boxes as possible.

ndriscoll 1 hour ago | | |

You can do that, little free libraries, water fountains, etc. all in StreetComplete as well.

freakynit 1 hour ago |

Just downloaded and made 15+ small contributions in the vicinity of my area. Very well built app. Super simple to use. And gamification is top-notch. Recommended.

hexomancer 1 hour ago |

This is very cool, I wish there was some way to use it on a bicycle though. For example, when moving into a street it could ask (using voice) if this street is paved, and I could answer it using voice too.

khernandezrt 1 hour ago |

Does it have to be a mobile app? Id love to do this when im bored at work but i dont wanna make it seem like im just sitting on my phone.

stndef 59 minutes ago | |

I think the reasoning behind this is that ideally you're at the location where you can confirm what you see, instead of maybe referring to older media or from memory.

That being said, I agree with you and would like to see more ways to access the tool!

modriano 9 minutes ago | |

You can edit OSM from its main site [0], although there's a much steeper learning curve when using the site (as you have far more freedom and it's not super easy to figure out the standard way to tag some situations).

[0] https://www.openstreetmap.org/

circuit10 1 hour ago | |

A web app would also make it work on iOS (and other non-Android platforms) at the same time

harvey9 51 minutes ago | |

You can edit OSM from their web apps. This is intended to be used in the field but I guess you could use it to find things that need fixing.

petrzjunior 44 minutes ago | | |

Adding to that: StreetComplete specifically creates only quests for information which must be checked in the terrain like opening hours, surfaces, traffic light sounds. Anything surveyable from maps and other sources should be edited using the web editors. OpenStreetMap iD is probably the easiest to learn.

hirako2000 1 hour ago |

One thing missing on osm is pictures. Would defeats Google maps if it had some, where users would feedback and bad shots would get wiped to save space. We would get the best shots the world has to offer.

jllyhill 34 minutes ago | |

There are ways to add pictures as the tags of the OSM objects

- https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:wikimedia_commons

- https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:panoramax

- https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:mapillary

Mobile apps can use this data to either give links to them (e.g. CoMaps) or display them in the app (e.g. OsmAnd)

edent 37 minutes ago | |

OSM does have a pictures layer.

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Panoramax

I use https://mapcomplete.org/ to add images of artworks to OSM objects.

netfortius 2 hours ago |

Some more info in an earlier thread [1]

[1] CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48808928

endymion-light 1 hour ago |

I really love this - fantastic that it's open source too as would love to contribute. Is there an opportunity to add fresh new sites on this?

ndriscoll 1 hour ago | |

As in can you add points of interest like shops? Yes, there's a places overlay with an add button, and a things overlay for things like benches, bicycle parking, etc. For adding buildings, roads, or paths you'd need something else.

Schiendelman 2 hours ago |

Hi! Is this yours? Would you like help porting this to iOS?

looperhacks 2 hours ago | |

Not mine, but you can check this issue: https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/issues/5421

Acrobatic_Road 1 hour ago |

Every day I take a 2 hour walk and contribute as much data as I can to OSM using this app.

hadi121 1 hour ago |

This is such a great idea. Are there ever any plans for a web app?

jmspring 1 hour ago |

Is there something equivalent for iOS?

Quot 1 hour ago | |

StreetComplete has been making steady progress on an iOS port over the past few years.

https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/issues/5421

circuit10 58 minutes ago | | |

It would be nice if they made a web app, that would make it work on iOS but also desktop and every other platform with a web browser at the same time

Quot 45 minutes ago | | |

I agree! It seems like their work on the iOS app would bring them a lot closer to web app support as well. In the iOS tracking issue, they say the main changes are moving to Kotlin Multiplatform and Compose Multiplatform, which both support web as a target.

jmspring 17 minutes ago | | |

I'll take a look and see if I can help out. Thx.

tiffanyh 1 hour ago | |

> ANDROID WILL BECOME A LOCKED-DOWN PLATFORM IN XXX

My guess is no because of the developer linking too below (and how it's always existed this way for iOS)

https://keepandroidopen.org

I wonder why this needs to be an app at all, instead of web based.

piebro 1 hour ago |

If anyone is interested in where StreetComplete is used or which quests are the most popular, you can check out: https://piebro.github.io/openstreetmap-statistics/stats/04_s...

myself248 1 hour ago |

kls0e 1 hour ago | |

scph1001.bin

Narishma 1 hour ago | | |

More like scph1002.bin in this case. 1001 is for SCEA.

santiagohzszmex 1 hour ago |

Muy bien

preetham_rangu 55 minutes ago |

Been using this for my dog walks too. There's something oddly satisfying about turning a boring loop around the block into "wait, does that bin have a lid?" Never thought trash cans would be the thing that got me into mapping.