Enable "Note to self"

[rhhsm]

I often find during surveying that I'd like to make a note on the map just for myself, as a reminder of what I see and what the problem is so that I can make an edit on OSM when I get home. Of course it's already possible to make a note, but it will get uploaded to OSM, which is too "heavy" for my purpose most of the time (it will be for everybody to see, can be resolved and then reactivated, etc.). Would it be possible to make it optional to upload the note to OSM, or just keep it private in the app (on the phone of the user only)?

[matkoniecz]

What is wrong with making a public note?

It is ok to make note that you plan to resolve - it just needs to be clear what is reported as the issue, what at least in my experience is not s big burden.

What kind of notes you typically make?

For example this is my typical note - short ("building"), but clear and about something that will be better mapped from aerial image but not done with Vespucci due to some limits https://www.openstreetmap.org/note/2288660

[rhhsm]

There could be various reasons for not wanting a note to be public: privacy, not wanting to bother others, language issues (I'm a Dutchman in Bulgaria, so should I write the public note in Bulgarian which I don't master, in English, or in Dutch (easiest for me)?). If a note is private, I don't need to describe it so it is clear to others, which lowers the threshold to make one. Most of my notes would be about mistakes I found and how to correct them. I tried Vespucci a few years ago but found it quite difficult to make edits on a small screen.

[westnordost]

Maybe as a checkbox on the note creation, or extra button next to "OK"

[HolgerJeromin]

I make POIs in osmand as a todo list.

[rhhsm]

Maybe as a checkbox on the note creation, or extra button next to "OK"

Yes. I asked for this because I guessed it wouldn't be very difficult to make the upload of the note to OSM optional. It could stay saved in the app on the user's phone, and be deletable afterwards.

[HolgerJeromin]

But we need an interface to find them later even if the location is far away.

[ENT8R]

Maybe by providing a way to export the created notes in a GPX/GeoJSON file. The generated file could then be viewed using the software of your choice, I could also imagine to add the corresponding functionality to NotesReview in order to have an easy way to resolve your own private notes...

[rhhsm]

But we need an interface to find them later even if the location is far away.

"We"don't need to, it can be left to the memory of the user to remember where he took his private notes. ENT8R's suggestion sound complicated: I don't think a user should be bothered to need additional software to read his private notes. Streetcomplete's strength is its simplicity.

[cyclingcat]

I had the same idea some weeks ago - typing in a long note on a smartphone keyboard isn't really fun, so I often wished there were a possibility to leave a private note where I could use my personal abbreviations for "this item doesn't exist anymore", "the name of this POI has changed" or "cannot determine if this way is lit, come back at a later time when it's dark".

In addition to the checkbox/button to mark a note as private at creation time (this probably needs an explanation in the UI!): The publicly visible and private notes should be easy to distinguish on the SC map... what about simply giving the question mark icon a different colour (orange? pink?) if it's a private note? If the user taps on a private note he should be able to delete it.

The cycling cat

[rhhsm]

It would already help if a user could see his own notes in Streetcomplete...

[HolgerJeromin]

It would already help if a user could see his own notes in Streetcomplete...

Can you explain the use case for that?

[rhhsm]

It would already help if a user could see his own notes in Streetcomplete...

Can you explain the use case for that?

See above for the use case of "note to self". I did start using the notes feature even though I don't feel the need to share them with others, but noticed I can't see my own notes in Streetcomplete (it's now a note to "everybody except self"). Since it's also not possible to see my notes in OSM (ID) while editing (on my desktop), it would help if I could see those notes in Streetcomplete on my GSM

[HolgerJeromin]

Since it's also not possible to see my notes in OSM (ID) while editing (on my desktop), it would help if I could see those notes in Streetcomplete on my GSM

With iD and josm you are able to view you/all notes while editing.
If you need a second screen you can open osm.org on your phones browser.

[michaelblyons]

Very early in my StreetComplete use, I tried to map a polygon for a very new map location (i.e. not visible on satellite images yet). I did this by leaving myself a note at each vertex of the polygon, but I felt really dumb when I realized later that those notes are visible to everyone forever.