Comparison of editors

iD

Summary

Online editor.

Pros

• It is currently the pre-set editor for www.openstreetmap.org's 'Edit' tab, and runs in your web browser
• It has a 'walkthrough' feature and has been designed to be an easy introduction for brand new OSM contributors
• A lot of effort was put into development, with signficant attention paid to user experience
• Wiki help can be displayed directly in editor when editing tags
• You can use custom aerial imagery
• mapillary photos directly available in editor
• Strava Slide iD fork gives OSM editors access to billions of GPS tracks recorded by Strava users and allows for very precise mapping of twisted roads and trails

Cons

• It's not intended for power users (who are already excellently served by JOSM) or those who want the speed of a desktop client
• Consumes most processing power (compared with JOSM), so if the CPU/browser is slow, lags may occur
• Zooming and panning prompts a map fetch (not as fluid)
• The interface departs from normal OpenStreetMap terminology ("point", "line" and "area" instead of "node", "way" and "relation"), which can cause confusion, and editing accidents
• It is not possible to work offline

Rapid

Summary

Rapid is a web-based modern editor for OpenStreetMap. Rapid integrates advanced mapping tools, authoritative geospatial open data, and cutting-edge technology to empower mappers at all levels to get started quickly, making accurate and fresh edits to maps.

Pros

• Runs in any web browser, with fastest browser editor speed and responsiveness thanks to PixiJS based rendering
• Features an onboarding introduction for new users
• Is integrated with Tasking Manager software from HOTOSM and others for collaborative projects
• Is backed by a professional team including multiple web developers, UX researchers, and several regular OSM contributors with data and community expertise
• Developer team is more available and responsive to feature requests and evolving the editor for future use cases
• Has all features of iD editor as of April 2023, plus extra features and increased performance
• Allows editing when zoomed out to city scale
• Provides extra data sources for users to validate one-by-one, including AI-generated buildings and roads, and authoritative open GIS data
• Mapillary photos directly available in editor with special collaboration directly to Mapillary development team for future compatibility

Cons

• Not overly specialized with power user features that would be seen in JOSM
• Requires web connection and does not work offline
• Can risk users working too quickly and not taking care to validate individual objects from external sources, despite the UX being designed for 1-by-1 validation
• Is not yet visible in OpenStreetMap.org
• Lacks open data or AI data in some countries
• not mobile device friendly

JOSM

Summary

JOSM offers a large set of features and useful tools for a wide range of editing styles: It will either read in GPX tracks from your hard disk, or download them from OSM. Aerial imagery can easily be downloaded as a background for tracing. JOSM also supports photo mapping and audio mapping. Once you have completed your edits, you can upload them to OSM.

Pros

• Fast fluid panning and zooming. Near-infinite zooming for super-precise mapping.
• Highly configurable and extendible via plugins, Map Styles, Presets or Validator Rules .
• Advanced editing functionality e.g. changeset reverting.
• A big selection of aerial imagery and third-party GPS traces immediately available as backgrounds for tracing. Custom TMS, WMS and WMTS aerial imagery can be added too (please check the permissions).
• Built in validator, which checks for common mapping errors before data upload
• Can work offline using downloaded data files, and can work with local photo and GPX files
• Tags are shown to user directly. Many tags are recognized by the "presets" which then show description, a translated/localized form and links to the OSM wiki page about a tag for more info.
• Very active development. Bugs are often fixed fast and a new stable version with new features appears usually every month.

Cons

• The finer points of the interface take a while to learn.
• You have to download the software to run it, unlike the following online options (although there is a "Java Web Start" option)
• It requires Java 8 to work (not a big problem for most people).
• No help text when editing tags

Merkaartor

Summary

Merkaartor is a fully featured editor for OpenStreetMap available under the GNU General Public License and developed using the Qt toolkit.

Pros

• Has some unique features like transparent display of map features like roads and true curved roads.
• Intuitive user interface
• Binaries for Windows, Mac OS X and some Linux platforms are available. Source for the rest.
• Easy to set up satellite imagery from Bing or any other WMS/TMS source.
• Tag styles can be customized
• Save rendered maps as SVG or bitmap graphic

Cons

• Merkaartor development is a bit slow, which makes bugfixes and new features available only by grabbing the source.
• Small userbase. Developer community is tiny.
• Slow on large number of loaded gps points.

Potlatch 3

Summary

Adobe AIR desktop editor (replacement of Potlatch2).

Pros

• Not currently available via the 'Edit' tab's drop-down arrow
• Familiar interface inherited from Potlatch2 suitable for both beginners & advanced users
• Modeless user interace
• Displaying of GPS traces in a separate layer
• Some advanced features including vector backgrounds, tasks, and merging/conflation functionality for specialists
• Several aerial imagery backgrounds preconfigured and option for custom TMS imagery (please check the permissions)

Cons

• Requires a flash runtime
• does not work offline
• Beta development stage

Vespucci

Summary

Vespucci is the only full OpenStreetMap editor for Android. It is also the first one, having been available and developed since 2009.

Pros

1. mobility
2. a full editor for OpenStreetMap that works both on small (phones) and large (tablet) screen Android devices
3. supports editing with keyboard and mouse if available
4. create/edit nodes, ways, tags, and relations, with all the usual geometry related operations
5. built-in support for Imagery Offset Database
6. all editing can be done on the ground - no need to rely on memory
7. helpful lead developer who is considerate of users' input
8. useful display of all the changes you have made, down to a tag- and relation-level diff
9. support for offline editing with pre-downloaded dataset in progress

Cons

1. UI can sometimes be a little dated-looking, and clumsy/cryptic to use
2. Not currently ideal for editing of large relations (e.g. routes)
3. No built-in object history at the moment (opens osm.org history in browser)
4. Bad mobile data coverage will bring your mobile survey-edit session to a halt (unless you downloaded the area in advance; see also Pro #9)

Go Map!!

Summary

Go Map!! is an iOS app that lets you create and edit information in OpenStreetMap. Go Map!! supports editing nodes and ways and arbitrary tagging.

Pros

• Mobile
• Clean but powerful UI
• Filterable objects to improve load speeds
• Utilizes the preset library from iD
• User friendly Turn Restriction editing GUI
• Ability to clear caches for imagery, OSM data, GPX Traces and more
• Continuous OSM data download

Cons

• Can be resource intensive when cache gets large
• Clunky workflow to edit most relation types

StreetComplete

Summary

StreetComplete is a specialized editor of OpenStreetMap data. It allows to easily add some specific information.

Pros

• Mobility.
• Very easy to add predefined data - user is asked simple questions, easy to verify for somebody near object, app handles entirety of tagging and making edit
• allows to create notes
• Ability to edit without Internet connection - quests and map may be cached

Cons

• Is not intended as a general purpose editor, only adding of predefined data and answering notes is available

OsmAnd

Summary

Navigation app that allows you to add, delete or change POIs.

Pros

• Fully offline
• Relatively simple user interface
• Also supports Notes

Cons

• Node and closed way edits only (and only for common tag combinations)
• Offline means time lag: downloaded map might be old, might take some time for user to upload changes
• Editing on a mapview, not a dataview. So you might add things that are there but not rendered.
• Usually no sat pic background, so POIs might be some distance from real location.

EveryDoor

Summary

Mobile editor for adding shops and amenities, but also addresses or street objects

Pros

• Optimised to add shops or amenities quickly, for instance when walking along a street with several shops
• Ability to edit without Internet connection - quests and map may be cached
• Ample choice of presets and ability
• User can use aerial imagery or osm-carto to be sure to locate POI correctly
• Can create notes

Cons

• Cannot add tags manually if they are not in the presets
• Even on relative large screens (5.65") it might be difficult to tap the right object accurately

ArcGIS Editor for OSM

Summary

ESRI has released a plugin for editing OSM data.

Pros

• Industry standard GIS Program
• Very comprehensive GIS capabilities

Cons

• Proprietary
• "ArcGIS for Home Use" will cost you 100$/year
• Works only with ArcGIS 10
• Editing relations are not supported