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    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">+11 (also +42 for Carol a few days ago)<br>
      <br>
      OSM (as I saw in one comment) is coming up on 10 years old. I
      guess as a mapping person - I don't understand why there isn't a
      policy/process for imports into OSM. So far I see the process goes
      something like: <br>
      <ul>
        <li>I wish to import this data</li>
        <li>constantly quote  "imports destroy the OSM communities" with
          no clear evidence of this occurring. <br>
        </li>
        <li>question  the license with no list anywhere of what licenses
          are acceptable<br>
        </li>
        <li>No clear list anywhere about what data OSM would like</li>
        <li>References to an undefined OSM community. <br>
        </li>
        <li>Import begins or doesn't</li>
        <li>Imprt completes or fizzles<br>
        </li>
      </ul>
      <p>There are a lot of smart people on this list. Serge has done
        wonders for cleaning up the process.  While Geographic Data is
        all different - it's fundamentally the same. Develop a policy
        for imports. Develop tools. Develop some sanity on this process.
        List what data that would benefit OSM.....or keep the process
        exceptionally foggy and ill-defined for some reason.  <br>
      </p>
      <p>Randy<br>
      </p>
      <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-
OK Import your data----------------
Randal Hale, GISP
North River Geographic Systems, Inc
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.northrivergeographic.com">http://www.northrivergeographic.com</a>
423.653.3611 <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:rjhale@northrivergeographic.com">rjhale@northrivergeographic.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:rjhale@northrivergeographic.com"><mailto:rjhale@northrivergeographic.com></a>
twitter:rjhale
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://about.me/rjhale">http://about.me/rjhale</a></pre>
      On 02/07/2014 06:29 AM, Johan C wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
cite="mid:CAD=7VoseC7VVjgT56As59zoaUFVCxexZJ5gvZbBJFNiFdfsogg@mail.gmail.com"
      type="cite">
      <div dir="ltr">
        <div>Imports are bad when: "<span
            style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">In this
            case, an import cannot happen when there is no local
            community to keep it actual."</span></div>
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>I could have written the following lines Pieren used two
          days ago: "<span
            style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">When a
            country or a </span><span
            style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">municipality
            is publishing and opening its address database, it's also </span><span
            style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">not
            falling from the sky. This data is also the result of many </span><span
            style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">contributors,
            skilled workers, collecting and keeping the data </span><span
            style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">up-to-date
            (at least, trying to)."</span></div>
        <div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br>
          </span></div>
        <div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">In
            The Netherlands we have a law for keeping address and
            building data up to date. By that law the entire government
            (local, provincial and and country level) are obliged to use
            and update that single database on a daily basis. It's also
            used for addresses when citizens receive financial support,
            when the tax authorities deliver mail, when passports are
            updated etcetera. Maybe there are more than 1.000
            professionals in the Netherlands working fulltime on keeping
            this data accurate. I would count that in as being (a sort
            of) part of the community. Unfortunately, except for
            Nominatim, the current technical structure of OSM does not
            make it possible to use that data directly in Mapnik, in the
            planet downloads etcetera. So at the moment I'm very glad
            that already 7 community members (and rising) in The
            Netherlands are enthousiastic about importing this data into
            OSM.</span></div>
        <div><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px"><br>
          </span></div>
      </div>
      <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
        <br>
        <div class="gmail_quote">2014-02-07 Jo <span dir="ltr"><<a
              moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:winfixit@gmail.com"
              target="_blank">winfixit@gmail.com</a>></span>:<br>
          <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
            .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
            <div dir="ltr">
              <div>
                <div>OK, the value of imports. There is value in imports
                  as long at it's not a mere dump of loads and loads of
                  data we cannot hope maintain as a community.<br>
                  <br>
                </div>
                What we need is a staging area where available data can
                be made available, ready to be merged in. Then when
                contributors feel like adding it, they can do so object
                per object with the advantage of being able to compare
                several sources and imagery and what already existed in
                OSM.<br>
                <br>
              </div>
              <div>In this case, an import cannot happen when there is
                no local community to keep it actual.<br>
              </div>
              <div><br>
              </div>
              Polyglot<br>
            </div>
            <div class="gmail_extra"><br>
              <br>
              <div class="gmail_quote">2014-02-07 11:46 GMT+01:00 Dan S
                <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
                    href="mailto:danstowell+osm@gmail.com"
                    target="_blank">danstowell+osm@gmail.com</a>></span>:
                <div>
                  <div class="h5"><br>
                    <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
                      .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">2014-02-07
                      Johan C <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
                        href="mailto:osmned@gmail.com" target="_blank">osmned@gmail.com</a>>:<br>
                      <div>> 2014-02-07 Jo <<a
                          moz-do-not-send="true"
                          href="mailto:winfixit@gmail.com"
                          target="_blank">winfixit@gmail.com</a>>:<br>
                        ><br>
                        >> Real newbies won't even realise they
                        are there, so how could it bother<br>
                        >> them.<br>
                        >><br>
                        >> Real old hands can make use of them to
                        validate or conveniently download<br>
                        >> data.<br>
                        >><br>
                        >> So I fail to understand what the big
                        deal is with associatedStreet<br>
                        >> relations. Contributors are not dumb
                        and incapable of learning.<br>
                        ><br>
                        ><br>
                        > Well, there is a lot of documentation*
                         that the associatedStreet relation<br>
                        > is difficult for newbies.<br>
                        <br>
                      </div>
                      Maybe we could talk about the value of _imports_?
                      The change of topic<br>
                      to associatedStreet means we're now off-topic for
                      this list, and<br>
                      there's no benefit in opening a second can of
                      worms.<br>
                      <span><font color="#888888"><br>
                          Dan<br>
                        </font></span>
                      <div>
                        <div><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
                          Imports mailing list<br>
                          <a moz-do-not-send="true"
                            href="mailto:Imports@openstreetmap.org"
                            target="_blank">Imports@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
                          <a moz-do-not-send="true"
                            href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports"
                            target="_blank">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports</a><br>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </blockquote>
                  </div>
                </div>
              </div>
              <br>
            </div>
            <br>
            _______________________________________________<br>
            Imports mailing list<br>
            <a moz-do-not-send="true"
              href="mailto:Imports@openstreetmap.org">Imports@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
            <a moz-do-not-send="true"
              href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports"
              target="_blank">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports</a><br>
            <br>
          </blockquote>
        </div>
        <br>
      </div>
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      <br>
      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Imports mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Imports@openstreetmap.org">Imports@openstreetmap.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports</a>
</pre>
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