<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 7:15 PM, Richard Fairhurst <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:richard@systemed.net" target="_blank">richard@systemed.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div id=":1ey" class="" style="overflow:hidden">Don't be fooled by the siren voices of the wiki. What's in the database is<br>
valid because it's formed by consensus. What's on the wiki too often isn't.<br>
Any fool can invent their own scheme, write "this is how you do it" on the<br>
wiki, and most of them do. Wiki users have rationalised their behaviour by<br>
promoting a voting scheme, but as this can lead to major changes being<br>
approved by just a handful of people, it doesn't have any particular<br>
legitimacy.<br></div></blockquote></div><br>Some thoughts (certainly no critique on your way of working).</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">The wiki is IMHO the only place where different (country) communities talk to one another. What is the value of a great tagging schema for e.g. canals, when it is only discussed on talk-gb ? </div>
<div class="gmail_extra">When communities (country or city centric) reach a consensus on a certain way of tagging but do not communicate this to the rest of the world, they make the same mistake as the "wiki"-people you criticise. "A handful of people reached a consensus".</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">Right now the wiki (and perhaps the tagging mailing list) seems to be only place where different communities meet and communicate.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">
The danger is that data consumers have to read all the different mailing lists to see how a certain feature is tagged in a particular country or region (Dresden cycleway tagging comes to my mind, or the exit-to which is popular in the USA).</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">Even with a wiki, some country specific things might get interpreted incorrectly, eg. the UK-specific "designation" or "landuse=village green" tags.</div><div class="gmail_extra">
<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">I totally agree with you that communication with other mappers is key, but it does not end at the border of a country.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">I also refer to a talk on SOTM EU 2014 by Kirill Bondarenko: OSM: World Map or Set of Local Maps? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2gYKOYLgd8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2gYKOYLgd8</a></div>
<div class="gmail_extra">which is about the same problem.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">And the presentation of Frederik Ramm on the usage of mailing lists, where the same topic (highway classification) pops up in every country.(sorry can't find the link).</div>
<div class="gmail_extra">And how sometimes the same topic pops up in different fora and mailing lists (e.g. osm notes problems, tagging of unsurfaced roads, child-care tagging). </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">
I'll admit that there are some barriers to overcome: language, understanding of the country-specific law, habits, etc. as well as time that people want to spend on discussing a topic.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra">So, please continue to document on the wiki, even when you add a line "For UK purposes only", so people elsewhere can at least learn how you do it.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra">regards,</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">m</div><div class="gmail_extra">p.s. sorry for the incoherent list of thoughts and the bad English. I still hope you get some ideas from it.</div>
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