<div dir="ltr">I thought this might be a big problem at first, but now I think it's probably a net good thing.<div><br></div><div>In Southern California, I saw about 40 users join in the first 24-48 hours after the video was posted (Dec 22), who immediately started mapping footways and similar. A few were bad, most improved the map incrementally, if not with great skill, completeness, or accuracy. The rate of new people joining and adding footways and similar has gone way down since the first 24 hours.<div><br></div><div>I just now used Overpass-Turbo to check for new footways in the past ~2 days in all the western U.S. (to just west of San Antonio, not including Alaska and Hawaii), zoomed in briefly on each locality in turn, and found with this quick ad hoc eyeball survey only two users who were obviously gaming OSM for Pokemon Go in an unhelpful way. I'll address them or send them to DWG. All the others looked reasonable upon a first pass, although I might have missed a few. Some I didn't see may already have been cleaned up, of course.</div><div><br></div><div>So the potential problem is big, but I think the actual problem is not too big, and can probably be contained with our current level of effort. Meanwhile there are tons of incremental additions that are probably net improvements to the map, and a few of these folks will continue to improve the map over time. I've already seen a few of these new users branch out into non-Pokemon-related improvements. Plus it gives OSM wider awareness.</div><div><br></div><div>One other thing to look out for, which most people are doing well, but a few are doing inappropriately, is changing school grounds from amenity=school to =college or =university. See <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/5jv1c4/i_think_i_figured_out_why_pokemon_never_spawned/">https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/5jv1c4/i_think_i_figured_out_why_pokemon_never_spawned/</a>. I had to change one secondary school back to =school after an apparent Pokemon user changed it to =college. I also changed one community college from =school to =college when I noticed it was mistagged while looking at new footways drawn there. Hope it helps them have fun with their game. :)</div><div><br></div><div>I've also seen fake parks, piers, lakes, and similar area objects get added in an apparent attempt to help Pokemon. Footways may be the most common manifestation of this wave of activity, but not the only one.</div><div><br></div><div>Fun fact: On 12/22 I actually stumbled across a deletion of the footway added in the video, before I was aware of the existence of the video and the Pokemon-related editing. That issue is since resolved. The videographer is pretty local to me, and in the video he hikes in hills I know. A brush with a weird kind of notoriety, I guess.</div><div><br></div><div>David</div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 26, 2016 at 3:44 PM, Rod Bera <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rod@goarem.org" target="_blank">rod@goarem.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><br>
<br>
<br>
-------- Forwarded Message --------<br>
Subject: Re: [OSM-talk] Beware Pokemon users<br>
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 00:40:18 +0100<br>
From: Rod Bera <<a href="mailto:rod@goarem.org">rod@goarem.org</a>><br>
To: Andy Mabbett <<a href="mailto:andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk">andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk</a>><br>
<br>
Hi Andy,<br>
<br>
I get what you mean,<br>
<br>
and I acknowledge that though I consider OSM should be put first this is<br>
not the case for everyone, and this is fine.<br>
<br>
But here things are going one step further: it's about deliberately<br>
putting non-existing features and/or mis-tagging features, which amounts<br>
to vandalism.<br>
A new kind of vandalism, as we could be overwhelmed by the number of<br>
"users" doing it in various places for a coinciding purpose.<br>
To me this is quite new.<br>
<br>
I hope this won't happen.<br>
<br>
And I won't comment your appreciation over "geographical practices".<br>
Every one is welcome to practice geography their own way...<br>
As long as we are talking about geography, i.e. depicting what is<br>
(really is, not what Pokemon hunter wish were) on or around the surface<br>
of Earth.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Rod<br>
<br>
On 26/12/16 13:19, Andy Mabbett wrote:<br>
<span class="">> On 26 December 2016 at 11:36, Rod Bera <<a href="mailto:rod@goarem.org">rod@goarem.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>> Systematic bias put into the OSM base towards maximising benefits for a<br>
>> minority of users is a threat.<br>
>> Especially when the primary interest of these users is not OSM in itself.<br>
><br>
</span>> Most edits to OSM benefit only a minority of users<br>
><br>
> Most editors of OSM - including me - do so because we have a primary<br>
> interest which is not OSM itself.<br>
><br>
> Shall those of us who edit OSM because we have an interest in a<br>
> locality, or a use-case, all stop editing, and leave OSM only to those<br>
> for whom it is some form of geographical masturbation?<br>
<span class="im HOEnZb">><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Rod Béra, MCF Géomatique / Lecturer, Geomatics<br>
et SIG pour l'Environnement / and Environmental GIS<br>
Agrocampus-Ouest|65 r.Saint-Brieuc|CS84215|35042 Rennes cedex|France<br>
<a href="tel:%2B33%20%280%29%20223%2048%205553" value="+33223485553">+33 (0) 223 48 5553</a> - <a href="mailto:roderic.bera@agrocampus-ouest.fr">roderic.bera@agrocampus-ouest.<wbr>fr</a><br>
<br>
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