Creating Projects

Not only do you need to know the basics of how the Tasking Manager works to create projects, but also the why and how to address projects that might not fit the TM and some best practices.

LearnOSM: Tasking Manager

Before creating tasks, make sure you are familiar with how the user interacts with the Tasking Manager by working through the Tasking Manager LearnOSM module.

OSM Tasking Manager

Before You Build

Before creating the project in the Tasking Manager, make sure the priorities for both the area of interest and the COD/FOD objective(s); work with the Data and Imagery roles to determine what imagery should be used and the appropriate tagging scheme.

In some cases the Tasking Manager is not a good tool for coordination, if the project is sensitive, maps features that are long and continuous like borders or waterways, or sometimes if the area of interest is small there may be too many mappers and the potential for conflict, etc. makes the objective not fit; other tools like Mapmill or TomNod microtasking platforms or just a few mappers using the JOSM GeoChat plug-in might be a better fit.

Project Creation (Steps 1 - 3)

Step 1 of project creation on the tasking manager, you select the area of interest/set the bounding of the project. There are two ways to do this:

  • Drawing by hand
  • Import a file (always try and do this, currently only GeoJSON and KML supported)

Step 2 is to choose either square or arbitrary geometry for the tasks.

Step 3 is to select the tile size, this is where experience helps as we typically want the tasks to be completed in no more than one hour, but if the task is more difficult or tedious maybe 15-20 minutes is better.

Project Settings

Once the task is created, it is by default only a draft. There are many settings and field that need to be complete before the task is published: Description Tab:

  • Fill out the name, description and set the priority and status here.
  • Instructions: Set the entities (map features) for the project, changeset comment and provide instructions here (more on instructions later).
  • Area: Modify the area of the project.
  • Imagery: Add imagery links here and set any license agreement required.
  • Priority Areas: Additionally you have 'high-priority' areas in the project, set them here.
  • Allowed Users: 'White-list' the users that can access the project - used for 'privatizing' a project.
  • Misc: Currently allows setting a due date and JOSM preset.

Making Clear Instructions

Make sure the instructions are clear and easy to understand, many volunteer mappers may not read English well, so the more simple and clear the language the less work the Validation Activator(s) will probably have.

Review

Tasking Manager instructions will be translated into all languages regularly used in HOT.

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