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Back when I worked on iD (the default OpenStreetMap editor) I designed over 270 bespoke map icons to illustrate various feature types. These are free and open source. A guided gallery of my icon work is now available on my portfolio: waysidemapping.org/projects/id-...

If you've ever edited OSM, you've seen icons like these but probably haven't thought much about them. In fact, these icons are key to helping mappers understand the connection between OSM data and real-world objects.

OSM is full of jargon that beginners shouldn't be expected to know. Icons can give mappers confidence that they're using the right tags, particularly if the app isn't well translated into their language.

Prior to my custom designs, many similar features in iD were represented by identical icons. This is confusing. I tried to give each feature a unique, descriptive icon to highlight the differences between them.

I also made an effort to cultivate a consistent design language by building related icons in series, reusing common elements.