[OSM-dev] Google Map Maker

[Sjors Provoost]

Andy wrote:
>>In short, if Google and the OSM community are open for it, there is
>>huge potential for collaboration. Google can provide the OpenStreetMap
>>community with the massive scalable infrastructure they need and
>>OpenStreetMap can provide Google with a community, map making
>>experience and great tools.
>
> The problem is that Google haven't come and spoken to OSMF at all. There has
> been complete silence on this. I only see the shark swimming in circles
> here, it wants the meat and it's going to use all its power to get it. If it
> had any interest in collaborating with OSM and its community there would
> have been a dialogue. There has been none.
>
> I don't see anything positive in this announcement for OpenStreetMap, on the
> contrary I think our efforts are being shafted.

When it comes to Google, there is no 'them'. As far as I have noticed,
Google is pretty decentralized and their employees are not using
Getting Things Done either. There is a fair chance that the people
working on this particular project simply never talked to the people
that Steve talked to, or were just so enthusiastic about their project
they forgot to contact us. I prefer my
done-in-hurry-and-sloppy-communication theory to your
shark-in-the-water theory. So far there is no solid evidence for
either of them.

But like I said at the end of my post: it doesn't matter; there is a
huge supply of people with disposable free time in this world and we
are just using a fraction of that time.

Sjors