Using OpenStreetMaps to design a Disc Golf Course
This short guide was published on Medium and YouTube by Mapbox on how to create a ball golf course on OSM. It is useful as a quick overview of contributing to OSM without reading all the documentation on how it is supposed to be done. The summary is that you can edit OSM just like you can edit Wikipedia.
Disc Golf Course as a Map Feature on OSM[edit]
There is a whole category of Leisure activities which are can be mapped and depicted in OSM. Think "Dog Park" to "Bowling". One is Golf Course and so naturally there is also Disc Golf Course. See the overview page in the OSM wiki for Disc golf which references the tags used. Caution - the wiki is very old - authored around 2012. So despite thousands of courses, there doesn't seem to be any clear resolution on how to map them.
- leisure: disc golf course tag in the OSM wiki for details on elements and instructions for mapping disc golf courses in OSM.
- the leisure:golf course tag is for mapping golf courses.
- Here's a (BAD?) example of course mapped on OSM. I say "bad" because there is one noticeable problem right away: baskets and tee pads use the same symbol. Apparently this is a feature not a bug. The current node type for basket and tee use the same symbol!!??. There's an OSM editor called JOSM, and a style created for it that marks features with nicer svgs[1] but I'm not clear on whether those markings only appear to the editor, or are somehow embedded in the OSM node? Whatever the case may be, the 'tag info' site shows that there are ~2,137 disc golf courses named in OSM, so I'm bound to find a good example.
Mobile Mapping[edit]
Handheld GPS Units[edit]
You really can't make a map until you've collected detailed GPS coordinates. Something like a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx ($40 on eBay), GPSMAP 62s ($150 on eBay), GPSMAP 79sc ($350 at WestMarine[2]) handheld GPS unit. You don't need a dedicated GPS device. Your mobile phone could work well[3].
Your Phone[edit]
You can actually use OsmAnd to record tracks and edit OSM. See mobile mapping with osmand2 Frustratingly, the OsmAnd app limits you to 10 downloads (of maps and updates) so you either need to use the F-droid FOSS version, or use a work-around where you can download map indexes to your PC and transfer them manually to your phone.
There are many other tools that you can use on your phone. See mobile mapping with gpslogger.
Mapping on the Computer[edit]
Not only can you edit the OSM directly in your web browser, but there are desktop tools that make it a much more powerful experience. The leading tool is the Java editor, called JOSM. The most powerful editor is probably QGIS.
Using JOSM[edit]
JOSM has presets for all the most popular leisure activities - including ice hockey and curling under 'ball sports'; and also has multiple options for ball golf. Unfortunately there are no presets related to disc golf at all. We'll update this space with more info on using JOSM in mapping disc golf courses.
References[edit]
- ↑ https://josm.openstreetmap.de/wiki/Styles/DiscGolfCourse and https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/custom-map-style-for-josm-for-disc-golf-course/110688/11
- ↑ spot prices checked Feb 2025
- ↑ There are technicalities about the type of GPS radio in your phone that can make a difference. We don't go into specifics here.
