First, if you use the Salt Creek Levee Trail west of the Haymarket, you should know that the 100 year old bridge that burned early Monday morning is the same one the trail passes under, so it will be out of commission for a while. If you use this trail, you probably know that you can avoid the area by exiting, if coming from the south, at O St., where you’ll take the side path over the Harris overpass to 9th St., then make a U-turn heading back under to the N St. cycle track a block south. That is if you want to take as much trail as possible. From N St. turn right onto Canopy St. then ride to the arena and the trail overpass past the hockey rink to Line Drive, where you’ll merge back onto the Levee trail. Now on to that Open Street Map data that PeopleForBikes uses.
You may have seen the call by People for Bikes for cyclists to improve their city’s scores by updating OpenStreetMap data. OSM data is used to assess the quality and connectivity of each city’s bike network.The new city ratings will go out in June so they are putting a call out for those interested to take a deep dive into the tech to make sure that all newly-built or updated infrastructure is represented. This is time sensitive, so please complete OpenStreetMap edits by February 28, 2026.
From People for Bikes: “We’re excited to host a mapathon workshop that will provide guidance on how to use different OSM editing tools as well as opportunities to ask questions and learn from fellow advocates and city planners. Additional instructions, including video tutorials, are available via the Mapathon Resources link below.
OpenStreetMap 201
Advanced Bike Infrastructure Mapping With JOSM REGISTER. If you want to get started now, please see our Mapathon Resources, OpenStreetMap Editing Guidance, and Tag Guidelines.
You can also help improve the accuracy of your city’s score by filling out PeopleForBikes’ City Snapshot form by February 28, 2026.
The Great Bike Infrastructure Project tracks bike projects from initial proposals all the way to completion in communities across the United States. To help highlight the momentum and grow support for the creation of safe and connected bike infrastructure, please add local bike projects near you!”
For training how to do this mapping, read below. This is an intermediate level session via zoom. For an introductory level training, read on to the bottom. This is very time sensitive, so I hope they make it available to view later. Feb 24, 2026 01:00 PM in Central Time (US and Canada)
Description
“PeopleForBikes’ annual City Ratings measures the quality and connectivity of low-stress bike networks in thousands of communities around the world. Decision-makers and advocates use it to benchmark progress, identify network gaps, and prioritize investments. Ready to take your mapping — and your City Ratings score accuracy — to the next level? Designed for participants comfortable working with spatial data, this advanced workshop explores Java OpenStreetMap Editor (JOSM), OpenStreetMap’s powerful desktop editing tool. Learn how to efficiently scale your mapping efforts by incorporating existing geospatial data to strengthen and refine your city’s bike network and increase the accuracy of your City Rating score. This session will include a demonstration of how to use JOSM to upload your own spatial data, copy over features, and update tags. There will also be time to ask questions and troubleshoot issues as they arise. You’ll leave this session knowing how to: Navigate a basic JOSM workflow Incorporate your city’s existing geospatial data into OpenStreetMap Push edits to OpenStreetMap Looking for a more introductory-level approach to updating OpenStreetMap data? Join us for Workshop 1, which will explore bike infrastructure mapping with iD, OpenStreetMap’s browser-based editing tool. Workshop #1 – https://peopleforbikes-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/wTzleGeQRs2R03Lyv9X62g“