Tips For Solving MapRoulette Tasks In A Small Area

MapRoulette is designed to let you map wherever the tasks are. This means that, depending on the Challenge, you can be mapping in Indonesia one minute, and in South Africa the next. We think this is part of what makes MapRoulette fun!

But sometimes, you may want to just stay in a specific area. MapRoulette lets you do that, too! In this blog post, we show you two different techniques: Nearby Tasks and Virtual Challenges.

Nearby Tasks

After you complete a task, a dialog appears that lets you leave a comment for the Challenge author, add MapRoulette Tags, and mark the task for Review. At the very bottom, you can also select where you want your next task to be: Random (the default) or Nearby:

When you select Nearby, a helpful map appears that lets you see where tasks exist within the same Challenge. If you see none, you can zoom out until you find Nearby tasks. You can then manually select the Task you want to work on next, or click Submit as usual and MapRoulette will find a Nearby Task for you.

Virtual Challenges

Another great way to work on Tasks in a small area is to create a Virtual Challenge. This is a little known but powerful feature of MapRoulette! A Virtual Challenge is a collection of Tasks you created on the fly in the Find Challenges screen. To create one, apply the Filters you want, then draw a lasso on the map to define the area you want Tasks for, and select ‘Work on X Tasks’.

MapRoulette will then take all the Tasks that fall inside the lasso you drew, and create an instant Virtual Challenge with its own link you can share. Great for just you or for a local mapping meetup!