[Talk-us] Uploading all Post Office Drop Box locations in

[Frederik Ramm]

Friends,

Hillsman, Edward wrote:
> The websites for these companies do not show all of the boxes I have
> mapped from direct observation.

There's an important message in what Ed writes ;-)

It is probably a natural hacker instinct: Map one drop box manually, ok. 
Map two, accetable. Map three and you shoud really think about obtaining 
a list and automating the process!

I suggest to resist that urge and map drop boxes by hand. There may be 
license issues, or the data may be too old, but even if it were current 
and in the public domain I'd hesitate. It may seem a tedious task but 
this is how maps are made - go out there and survey something. POIs are 
extraordinarily easy to survey, anyone with a decent mobile gadget can 
do it. Use it as an opportunity to get people interested!

(Maybe you can elicit from USPS the *number* of drop boxes in a given 
area, so you have an idea about how complete OSM is. You can even make a 
game of hunting down the last missing drop boxes...)

OSM is about people, not data.

Sorry, I know it sounds patronizing. But someone had to say it ;-)

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"