Komoot maps, and therefore the route planner, use map data from OpenStreetMap, an open-source website. If you notice an error on the komoot map, such as a missing street or incorrect access permission, you can correct this error by editing it on OpenStreetMap.

Note: If you want to suggest an edit but don't want to make it yourself, you can find instructions here: Suggesting map edits to OpenStreetMap

About OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a map built by a community of users who contribute and maintain map data like roads, trails, cafés, railway stations and other information all over the world. Anyone can contribute to OpenStreetMap and the site in turn shares its data with other websites, apps, and hardware devices, so that people benefit from local information as much as possible. 

Contributing to OpenStreetMap

If you want to  contribute to OpenStreetMap you need to create an account on OSM to start editing. Now you can go to the map, zoom in to the area where you want to make changes and click on the ‘Edit’ button on the top left. This will open the ID editor, a fast and easy-to-use editor for OpenStreetMap. The iD editor also offers a great walkthrough that will teach you the basics of editing on OpenStreetMap.

Tip: When you are in the komoot Route Planner you can use the key combination CTRL (Apple: CMD) + ALT + click on the map to open the corresponding part of the map in OpenStreetMap.

Editing surface, access permission, and difficulty information

Each way or street can have certain attributes assigned to it in OpenStreetMap. Attributes could include a surface tag (e.g. ‘surface=sand’), a mountain bike classification (e.g. ‘mtb:scale=1’) or access permission (e.g. ‘foot=yes’ or ‘bicycle=yes’).

To add or change this information open the iD editor, zoom in and select the way or street. On the left side you will see the list of existing tags. When you click on the ‘i’ icon next to the tag you’ll see more information about the tag. You can add additional tags. Once you’re done click the ‘Save’ button on the top right corner of the map.

Before you start editing please familiarize yourself with the OpenStreetMap tagging system. Below we linked some relevant features. You can also read about the OSM tags here.

• mtb:scale  - the difficulty of trails for mountain biking
• How to tag cycleways
• sac_scale - the difficulty of hiking trails
• surface  - information about the surface of ways and roads
• access values - describe the legal access for ways and roads 

Add missing paths

To add a new way to OpenStreetMap open the iD editor and click the ‘Line’ button on the toolbar above the map. Position the mouse cursor where the line should begin and left-click to begin placing nodes along the way. To finish a line click again on the last node. Make sure the beginning and the end of the new way are connected to other ways and tag them correctly.

Use satellite imagery or a GPS trace to find where to put the new way. In the iD editor you can drag and drop the .gpx file into the browser window and then draw on top of it.  Note that just uploading the GPS trace does not cause the road to appear on the map, it only helps you to know where to put it.

Connecting paths

Having ways and roads connected properly is important for route planning and providing navigation. In the iD editor connections between roads are drawn with gray circles. A larger white circle appears around the endpoints of a line if they don't connect to anything. For example, to connect a line to another road, drag one of the line's nodes onto the other feature until both features snap together and the circle turns grey.

Adding points of interest (POIs)

To add a new point of interest (e.g. restaurants, petrol stations, hotels) to OpenStreetMap open the iD editor and click the ‘Point’ button on the toolbar above the map. Position the mouse cursor where the POI should be placed and click. Select the feature type on the left side and add further details like name, address, opening hours or contact information. Remember to click the ‘Save’ button in the top right corner of the map when you’re done.

Reporting a mistake or missing feature

If there is a mistake on the map and don't want to change it yourself, you can ask other OSM users to do it. When you are on the reporting web page, select the speech bubble icon on the left to add a note, or use the arrow to do so. A marker will appear, which you can move to the correct position and type a note to explain the problem.

If you are having problems finding an object, click on the little arrow with the question mark in order to see all tags at a certain place.

Frequency of updates on the komoot map

Your changes will be visible on OpenStreetMap immediately after you saved them. Before you can see your changes on komoot we need to process the data. Usually we update our map in the route planner every week, but those changes can be delayed for several reasons. It should not take longer than one month for you to see the changes you’ve made on our maps.