OpenStreetMap editing

Organised Editing statement — last reviewed 2026-08-08

GoSurvive is a location-based game built on OpenStreetMap data. It also lets players improve that data from inside the game. This page is our statement under the Organised Editing Best Practices, and it is the address our changesets link to.

Activity summary

Activity: GoSurvive in-app OpenStreetMap editing
Organiser: GoSurvive
Contact: [email protected]
Active since: 7 June 2026
Editor: GoSurvive in-app editor (Android, iOS, web)
Accounts used: Each participant’s own OSM account — never a shared or bot account
Scope of edits: Building name; one functional tag on buildings that have none
Geographic scope: Worldwide, wherever players walk
Imports: None — no bulk import or mechanical edit is performed

What participants may edit

From a building's map-data sheet, a player who has linked their own OpenStreetMap account can do exactly two things:

Correct or add the building's name — writes the name tag.
Set the type of a building that has no functional tag yet — adds one tag from a curated list, such as amenity=cafe or shop=supermarket.

Every edit is additive. The element is re-uploaded with all of its existing tags and geometry references intact, changing only the one intended tag. The editor never removes a tag and never touches geometry. Changing the type of a building that already carries a functional tag is deliberately not possible in-app — that needs human judgement and possibly destructive retagging, so the game sends the player to a full OpenStreetMap editor instead.

No import, bulk edit, or mechanical edit is performed at any point. Buildings are read from OpenStreetMap for gameplay, but the only writes are the two single-tag changes above, made one at a time by a person.

Instructions given to participants

Players are told to record what a building actually is, not what would benefit them in the game. The two are deliberately decoupled: on a building a player already owns, correcting its type is label-only — the building's in-game value, share pool and income are frozen and do not change. There is no way to profit from a false edit, which removes the incentive that would otherwise make a game-driven editor dangerous to the map.

Editing is not gated on physical presence, so our changesets do not claim source=survey. In practice players edit buildings they are standing beside, because that is when the game surfaces the option.

Accounts and attribution

Each participant links their own OpenStreetMap account by OAuth 2.0 and edits under that identity. We do not operate a shared editing account or a bot, and we never edit on a player's behalf. Access tokens are encrypted at rest and are never exposed to the client. A player can unlink their account at any time.

Changeset tags

created_by: GoSurvive 1.0
source: GoSurvive in-app editor
host: https://gosurvive.app
website: https://gosurvive.app/osm-editing
comment: Describes the specific change, e.g. the tag added or the name corrected

Limits

This is deliberate, low-volume, individually-authored editing. The following limits are enforced server-side; GoSurvive administrators are exempt, which we note here rather than leave implicit.

Per building: One edit every 6 hours
Per participant: 30 edits per hour
Daily quota: Scales with player level; locked entirely below level 50
Type changes: One per participant, per building, per year
Audit: Every attempt logged server-side with its OSM changeset ID

Data we consume

Building geometry and attributes come from OpenStreetMap, licensed under the Open Database License, supplemented by Microsoft Building Footprints. OpenStreetMap is credited in the game and on our site. In-game building values are derived from footprint area, storey count, type and local density; they are not estimates of real market value, and ownership in the game confers nothing in the real world.

Feedback and reverts

GoSurvive edits are ordinary OpenStreetMap edits and may be reviewed, improved or reverted by the community exactly like any other. We do not treat a revert as something to undo.

If you see a problem — a bad edit, a pattern of bad edits, or a participant acting in bad faith — raise it on the changeset discussion or email [email protected]. We audit every edit attempt server-side and will suspend an individual player's editing access on a substantiated report. If you would prefer we stop editing in a particular area, tell us and we will.

More about the game

Background, platforms and press material are on our press page; the full game rules are in the handbook.