OSM.org as map viewer, worksheet 1: Get to know the OSM.org website
OpenSchoolMaps.ch — Free learning materials for free geodata and maps
A worksheet for students - SOLUTIONS
| This worksheet introduces you to the OpenStreetMap project and its main website openstreetmap.org. You will learn to search for places and read the map there. |
Have you heard of OpenStreetMap?
Go to osm.org with your web browser. (The content of the address field will change to something like https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=8/46.825/8.224.)
You will be brought to a website. The main part of which is a map. Can you see the map section? Which area is shown?
If you have visited openstreetmap.org with this computer and browser, you will be shown the map section that was last displayed on the website.
If you are on openstreetmap.org for the first time and access it from Switzerland, you will be shown the whole of Switzerland.
If this is your first visit to openstreetmap.org, a welcome message will appear in the upper left corner. If the message has already been clicked away, here is its content again:
Welcome to OpenStreetMap!
OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and freely usable under an open license.
Hosting is supported by […].
https://www.osm.org/about Learn more | https://www.osm.org/user/new Start mapping
Read the message and then close it to return to the map.
Map Section
At the right margin, there are some dark grey buttons with white symbols. Click on the 
- button. What happened?
Zoom out: A larger part of the world is displayed, whereby the individual objects (houses, lakes, cantons,…) are displayed in a smaller size. However, labels and map symbols remain approximately the same size.
(The more you zoom out, the more details and labels are omitted.)
(If you are already fully zoomed out
(Zoomlevel 0, whereas depending on the window width, the Earth will be displayed several times), then nothing happens.)
What do you think the 
-button does? Try it out!
Zoom in
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, hover the mouse pointer over the map and scroll (slowly) forwards or backwards. What did you notice?
You can also zoom in this way
Does it matter where you hover the mouse pointer as you scroll your mouse?
Yes, the position of the mouse pointer will determine the area which you wants to zoom in to or zoom out from.
Of course, the map section can also be moved without enlarging or changing its size. reduce. Can you figure out how?
Place the mouse pointer over the map. Hold down the primary (usually left) mouse button and drag the pointer in the desired direction. (Map moves with the pointer.)
What happens when you double-click a spot on the map?
Zooms in (1 level), with click position as zoom center
Search Box
At the top left you will find a text input field for search queries. It can be places, addresses, sights and names of shops, hotels, restaurants and much more. Some other examples are:
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Search your canton
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Search your church or your district
| The search field takes care of spelling and wording. If what you’re searching is not found, it is either not in the database or what you have entered is spelled differently in the database. Just change the query and try again! |
Try finding your school, you can use the search field or simply move around the map as learned in the section above. If OpenStreetMap fails to query your school by the name or address, you can try including both.
Is your school building registered in OpenStreetMap?
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Try searching for your house. Can it be found by your address?
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If not, search for it again by moving and zooming the map. Try to find other places you know.
OpenStreetMap does not only work in Switzerland. You can also find places like New York, Tokyo and Kolkata. Important cities can be found under different names, so instead of "Tokio" you can use the English spelling "Tokyo" or the local (Japanese) "東京".
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Have you recently been on holiday (at home or abroad) or visiting relatives? Try to find the resort which you resides in. Can you locate them on the map?
Which city is called "Ciūrichas" in Lithuanian?
Zürich
A Spanish tourist asks about the way to "Ginebra". Where is she trying to go to (in Switzerland)?
She is trying to asks the way to Geneva / Genève.
However, do note that there is also a place called "Ginebra" in Colombia.
Orientation
There is no compass rose on openstreetmap.org. What is the map orientation? If necessary, you can compare a physical map with the virtual map from openstreetmap.org.
East is on the right of the openstreetmap.org map.
North is at the top of the openstreetmap.org map
South is at the bottom of the openstreetmap.org map
West is on the left of the openstreetmap.org map
Proportions On The Map
Zoom out until you can see the entire map. You will realize that Greenland and South America seems to have the same size. Could it be that they are actually about the same size? If possible, look at the globe and compare with that.
At the bottom left you will find a map scale. In contrast to physical map, there is no Scale number (e.g. 1:10'000). Can you imagine why?
The website cannot know how large your screen is and what resolution it has. Therefore, the ratio between actual sizes/lengths/distances and the sizes/lengths/distances on the screen cannot be calculated by the website.
Map Key
To see the meaning of different line colors and types on the map, click on the 
- button on the right. Also different surface types and some (not all) map symbols are listed there.
The further you zooms in, the more details are displayed on the map and the longer this map key becomes.
What do the purple lines of different thicknesses mean?
These are the political boundaries. National borders are shown thicker than cantonal borders and these in turn thicker than district and city borders.
To sumarise, in terms of thickness: political > cantonal > district > city (This information is not shown in the map key, but can be deduced from the map with some geographical knowledge)
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