Let's put those Square merchants on the map!

Great to see you here. Below you'll find everything you need to help us tag the Square businesses that announced they now accept Bitcoin. Work at your own pace, aim for quality over quantity, ask questions anytime on Discord, and most of all: have fun while mapping!

What you'll need

A computer with two monitors (makes life easier)
Access to OpenStreetMap (OSM), Gitea and Discord
Access to Facebook & Instagram for quick verifications
Some OSM tagging experience, or the willingness to read our guide
A careful eye and a bit of perseverance

Tip: use the same handle on OSM, Gitea and Discord so we can ping you quickly if something looks odd

If you'd like, we'll pair you with a buddy who will walk you through tagging your very first ticket.

Before you start

Pop into the Discord #shadowy-supertaggers channel and say hi. We'd love to get to know you a bit before you dive in.

Step-by-step workflow

1. Log in to Gitea

2. Pick a ticket

Open any open issue → click “Assignees” on the right → choose yourself

3. Verify the merchant

Just like Bitcoin, it's "don't trust but verify". Search engines, the company website, Facebook and Instagram are your friends. Rule of thumb: website data wins.

4. Check OSM

Click the “OpenStreetMap editor link” in the Gitea ticket.

Zoom in/out to see if the place is already mapped.

Already there?

Add the following tags:

check_date:currency:XBT=

check_date=

currency:XBT=yes

payment:lightning=yes

payment:lightning_contactless=no

payment:onchain=no

payment:lightning:operator=square

Not there yet?

Only brick-and-mortar shops, cafés, offices, or other publicly accessible venues belong on OSM, purely online stores don't. If the pin drops in what looks like a house and you can't spot a shop-front, logo, or street-level sign, please mark the ticket as rejected in Gitea. If the address looks residential but is clearly shown on the company website, go ahead and add it. When a clear storefront or office sign is visible, map away!

Click “Point” in the OSM web editor and drop it on the correct doorstep.
Choose the most fitting category (restaurant, hairdresser, coffeehouse, café etc.).

Need help picking the right category? Take a look here.

Add name

Normal case, no ALL-CAPS (drop legal suffixes like LLC/ Inc./ Corp.).

Add full address

House number, Street, Suite/Unit (if provided), City, State (two capital letters) and Zipcode.

Add phone number

Use syntax +1 123 456 7890

Add opening hours

The correct syntax for opening hours is explained here. Use Yo Hours and the opening hours evaluation tool to build the string.

Add website

Optional extras if listed:

email=

contact:facebook=

contact:instagram=

5. Upload to OSM

Use a changeset comment such as #btcmap Merchant added or #btcmap Bitcoin tags added

6. Close the ticket

Add a label → click “Labels” on the right → choose status

status/pending: You're waiting on a reply from the merchant or still checking something. No worries, just set the ticket aside and pick it up again once the info comes in.
status/added: The submission has been verified and has either been added to OSM or already existed on OSM.
status/rejected: The submission could not be verified or was declined and was not added to OSM.

7. Close the ticket

Copy the OSM URL of the node into the Gitea ticket → click “Close with comment”.

That's it time for the next one!