<div dir="auto">I can run all the shapefiles through qgis simplify tool if this resolves the issue...</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Fri., Jan. 18, 2019, 4:08 p.m. Nate Wessel <<a href="mailto:bike756@gmail.com">bike756@gmail.com</a> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
  
    
  
  <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
    <p>With default settings in JOSM, sure. In the import I was working
      on, we used a Douglas-Peucker algorithm with a 20cm threshold
      (before the import started) and it worked beautifully. We had many
      points that seemed to have been introduced in the shapefiles as
      some kind of data artifact - they didn't add any detail to the
      shape at all. This procedure removed almost all of them with no
      discernible reduction in quality. <br>
    </p>
    <div class="m_7176009870857990757moz-signature">Nate Wessel<br>
      <span style="font-size:10px;color:#777">Jack of all trades, Master
        of Geography, PhD candidate in Urban Planning<br>
        <a href="http://natewessel.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">NateWessel.com</a></span>
      <br>
      <br>
    </div>
    <div class="m_7176009870857990757moz-cite-prefix">On 1/18/19 4:03 PM, James wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite">
      
      <div dir="auto">dare you to run simplify tool on anything remotely
        round, it will make it look like garbage</div>
      <br>
      <div class="gmail_quote">
        <div dir="ltr">On Fri., Jan. 18, 2019, 3:49 p.m. John Whelan
          <<a href="mailto:jwhelan0112@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">jwhelan0112@gmail.com</a> wrote:<br>
        </div>
        <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
          <div style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:12pt" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
            <div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Verdana">The import
              mailing list was pointed to the correct page of the wiki. 
              The initial post was to say this is what we were thinking
              of and there was a comment saying we needed to change the
              comment line.<br>
              <br>
              >There is no mention of this proposed import on the
              import catalogue<br>
              <br>
              <br>
              The import process was reviewed by the person who set up
              the Ottawa import did we miss that step on the Ottawa
              import as well?  Neither was it raised as a concern on the
              import mailing list. I think this is very minor and can be
              corrected.<br>
              <br>
              We learnt a fair bit on the Ottawa import and my
              expectation is since we are using experienced mappers to
              do the import conflation would be either handled by them
              or the building not imported. We aren't using new mappers
              in a mapathon here and with experienced mappers then I
              think you have to trust them.  The world isn't perfect.
              Think in terms of service level.<br>
              <br>
              >There are 2X more nodes than needed to represent the
              building accurately.<br>
              <br>
              The problem with correcting this is you are introducing
              approximations.  This will vary according to the source
              and this can be simplified or corrected once its in OSM. I
              think this is a different issue of a mechanical edit that
              needs to be considered separately.<br>
              <br>
              If we are concerned with database size then I suggest we
              change the instructions to say put the source comment on
              the change set rather than on the building outline.<br>
              <br>
              Cheerio John<br>
              <br>
              <br>
              <span>Nate Wessel wrote on 2019-01-18 3:06 PM:</span><br>
              <blockquote type="cite">
                <p>John, <br>
                </p>
                <p>You seem to be playing the long game with this data -
                  it sounds like you've been working with this a lot
                  longer than I have, and you've put in the time and
                  effort to help make this actually-quite-incredible
                  dataset available to us. I don't want to stop the
                  import from happening - quite the opposite. I just
                  want to make sure that the time is taken to do this
                  right. OSM deserves that. Your (our) long awaited
                  victory will be the sweeter for our patience now. <br>
                </p>
                <p>There are several specific issues I see where the I's
                  are not crossed, nor the t's dotted. I've mentioned
                  several already, so I'll try to be brief (I really
                  need to get back to working on my dissertation).</p>
                <p>1) There was extremely limited discussion on the
                  imports mailing list. The initial email did not make
                  clear the scope of the project. I read the email and
                  did not think twice at it, thinking it was entirely
                  about Ottawa. The link in that email was actually to
                  the Ottawa import, and not this one, which seems to
                  have been only in draft at the time.
                  <a class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/imports/2018-November/005812.html" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/imports/2018-November/005812.html</a><br>
                  As such, this project has NOT been reviewed by the
                  imports list, which is a requirement for proceeding
                  with the import.<br>
                </p>
                <p>2) There is no mention of this proposed import on the
                  import catalogue (<a class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Import/Catalogue" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Import/Catalogue</a>)<br>
                  which is required in the imports guidelines. I suspect
                  many other guidelines have not been followed. <br>
                </p>
                <p>3) The wiki page describing the import is not
                  adequate to assess the quality of the data or of the
                  proposed import. See for example:
                  <a class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Canada/Canada_Stats_Canada_Building_Outlines_Import/Plan#Risks" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Canada/Canada_Stats_Canada_Building_Outlines_Import/Plan#Risks</a><br>
                  The import guidelines call for a description of how
                  conflation will be handled. The fact that two of the
                  major importers seem to have a substantial
                  disagreement about how to handle existing data
                  indicates this was not well discussed and I can see
                  that it isn't well documented. <br>
                </p>
                <p>4) The buildings need to be simplified, quite a bit
                  actually. Most buildings have multiple nodes
                  representing straight lines. This bloats the database
                  and makes things harder to edit by hand later. There
                  are probably 2x more nodes than are needed to
                  represent the data accurately, making it harder for
                  editors and data consumers to work with down the
                  road.This is a simple fix that will save countless
                  hours later.<br>
                </p>
                <p>... I could go on, but I think this is plenty
                  sufficient to justify pressing pause on all this. <br>
                </p>
                <p>Again, I don't in any way want to disrespect the work
                  that has gone into this effort already. We're all
                  volunteers here and I know how much time this all
                  takes. However. importing all/most of the buildings in
                  Canada is a monstrously large task, which will have to
                  dance around a lot of people's toes. We should expect
                  this to take a really damn long time if we're going to
                  do it right. We need to have the patience to learn
                  from experience, from critique, and from the wisdom of
                  the people who've learned from flawed imports in the
                  past and have devised guidelines and processes so that
                  we can have better experiences with this in the
                  future. <br>
                </p>
                <div class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008moz-signature">Nate
                  Wessel<br>
                  <span style="font-size:10px;color:#777">Jack of all
                    trades, Master of Geography, PhD candidate in Urban
                    Planning<br>
                    <a href="http://natewessel.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">NateWessel.com</a></span>
                  <br>
                  <br>
                </div>
                <div class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008moz-cite-prefix">On
                  1/18/19 2:24 PM, john whelan wrote:<br>
                </div>
                <blockquote type="cite">
                  <div dir="ltr">
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">My
                      background is I'm a retired civil servant who has
                      written and overseen procurement documents and
                      fairly large procurements.  Dotting the is and
                      crossing the Ts are my speciality.</div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">There
                      are two parts to an import.  The first part is the
                      part played by the import mailing group.  They
                      confine themselves to is the license correct and
                      do you have a reasonable plan.  In this case the
                      license is one of the few that has been confirmed
                      by the Legal Working Group of OpenStreetMap and as
                      such no questions were raised about it on the
                      import mailing list.  We have methodology that has
                      been used before successfully with the Ottawa
                      building outline import. There were major
                      discussions both on talk-ca and the import mailing
                      group before that import took place and we took
                      note of the issues raised and addressed them.  The
                      licensing issue goes back about eight years to
                      when I was talking to Federal Government Treasury
                      Board and explaining their Open Data license did
                      not align with OSM.  That is why their license is
                      now known as 2.0.</div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">The
                      second part is the local group makes the decision
                      to import they are the authority no one else.</div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">Apparently
                      you were not part of the talk-ca when the
                      discussions took place which would have been the
                      time and place to raise concerns.</div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">When
                      the Ottawa import was done there were one or two
                      places where the existing buildings and the import
                      overlapped.  In the instructions on the import
                      there are instructions to cover this. Specifically
                      there is a validation step.  I seem to recall the
                      error rate was of the order of 1% and I expect
                      this latest batch to be roughly the same.<br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">If
                      you can identify which municipalities data is of
                      poor quality then I'm sure we can remove these. 
                      For the most part these are from the foundation
                      plans recorded by the municipality using
                      professional surveying techniques.</div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">Would
                      you like to clarify exactly where I failed to dot
                      the Is and cross the Ts please.</div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">Many
                      Thanks</div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">John<br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                    <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                  <br>
                  <div class="gmail_quote">
                    <div dir="ltr" class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008gmail_attr">On Fri, 18
                      Jan 2019 at 13:37, Nate Wessel <<a href="mailto:bike756@gmail.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">bike756@gmail.com</a>>
                      wrote:<br>
                    </div>
                    <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
                      <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
                        <p>Hi John, <br>
                        </p>
                        <p>As Steve has said, you seem to be the only
                          one suggesting that thousands of import
                          committees might need to be formed. Certainly
                          I'm not suggesting that.</p>
                        <p>My understanding of OSM import procedure (and
                          wiki-style projects more generally) is that
                          imports should operate in an essentially
                          consensual way where possible. The goal is to
                          build consent and bring people on board with a
                          project or a change by addressing their
                          concerns in a meaningful and respectful way. <br>
                        </p>
                        <p>I think that I have made some substantive and
                          troubling claims about the quality of the data
                          being imported. I've pointed out that this
                          project has not followed the import procedures
                          that were produced by a community of mappers
                          larger than just those in Canada. <br>
                        </p>
                        <p>So to respond to your implication, I am in
                          some sense the one reviewing the project, just
                          as I would welcome you to find ways that my
                          own contributions could be better. If you want
                          my credentials for reviewing your work, here
                          they are:</p>
                        <p>1) I am an active contributor to OSM in
                          Toronto, where I live (and elsewhere)<br>
                        </p>
                        <p>2) I am currently helping to lead a building
                          import in Hamilton County Ohio that has better
                          addressed some of the issues I see this import
                          struggling with. I can help you do the same.<br>
                        </p>
                        <p>3) I've been doing research in GIS for a long
                          time now, though I don't need that to tell you
                          that the issues I've described are hardly
                          insurmountable technically or even all that
                          difficult to fix. It would take maybe one
                          day's hard work to get the technical side of
                          this right. <br>
                        </p>
                        <p> I think Canadian OSMers will agree that we
                          can take a pause to get things right on such a
                          massive import. If they don't - if I'm shouted
                          down or better, if my critiques are adequately
                          addressed, then I will leave you to finish the
                          project in peace. I might even lend a hand if
                          all goes well, as I sincerely hope it does :-)</p>
                        <p>Best,<br>
                        </p>
                        <div class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008gmail-m_4868754124937657174moz-signature">Nate
                          Wessel<br>
                          <span style="font-size:10px;color:rgb(119,119,119)">Jack
                            of all trades, Master of Geography, PhD
                            candidate in Urban Planning<br>
                            <a href="http://natewessel.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">NateWessel.com</a></span>
                          <br>
                          <br>
                        </div>
                        <div class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008gmail-m_4868754124937657174moz-cite-prefix">On
                          1/18/19 1:11 PM, john whelan wrote:<br>
                        </div>
                        <blockquote type="cite">
                          <div dir="ltr">
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">I
                              know of no other way to contact him but he
                              made an interesting comment that the
                              project is on hold in the wiki pending
                              review.</div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                            </div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">Would
                              he care to comment on who is supposed to
                              be reviewing the project?</div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                            </div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">My
                              understanding is that the import was
                              raised in talk-ca before it commenced for
                              comment and these were generally
                              favourable.  I took that as the local
                              mappers to Canada had been consulted and
                              they are the "local mappers" authority in
                              this case.</div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                            </div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">I
                              understand he has concerns about local
                              mappers making decisions but in Canada we
                              have been importing similar data through
                              CANVEC for some time.  CANVEC data comes
                              from a number of sources including
                              municipal data.</div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                            </div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">Is
                              he suggesting that each of the 3,700
                              municipalities in Canada should form a
                              group of local mappers who can make
                              individual decisions on whether their
                              municipal data should be imported and we
                              should end up with 3,700 import plans?</div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                            </div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small">Thanks
                              John</div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                            </div>
                            <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
                            </div>
                          </div>
                          <br>
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                          <pre class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008gmail-m_4868754124937657174moz-quote-pre">_______________________________________________
Talk-ca mailing list
<a class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008gmail-m_4868754124937657174moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Talk-ca@openstreetmap.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Talk-ca@openstreetmap.org</a>
<a class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008gmail-m_4868754124937657174moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca</a>
</pre>
                        </blockquote>
                      </div>
                      _______________________________________________<br>
                      Talk-ca mailing list<br>
                      <a href="mailto:Talk-ca@openstreetmap.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Talk-ca@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
                      <a href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca</a><br>
                    </blockquote>
                  </div>
                </blockquote>
              </blockquote>
              <br>
              <div class="m_7176009870857990757m_887281844982557008moz-signature">-- <br>
                <div>Sent from <a href="https://www.postbox-inc.com/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=siglink&utm_campaign=reach" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,157,247)">Postbox</span></a></div>
              </div>
            </div>
          </div>
          _______________________________________________<br>
          Talk-ca mailing list<br>
          <a href="mailto:Talk-ca@openstreetmap.org" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Talk-ca@openstreetmap.org</a><br>
          <a href="https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca</a><br>
        </blockquote>
      </div>
    </blockquote>
  </div>

</blockquote></div>