[OSM-dev] Notes - OSM improvements BoF at SOTM PDX

Martijn van Exel m at rtijn.org
Tue Oct 16 19:48:01 BST 2012


On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 8:48 PM, John Firebaugh
<john.firebaugh at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Tom Hughes <tom at compton.nu> wrote:
>> Exporting raw data was never the primary purpose of the export tab - it was
>> really added to address the constant request for the ability to export
>> images of an area.
>>
>> The data export things was something I threw in because I could, and for
>> most purposes people should be looking elsewhere for raw data.
>
> Should they?
>
> The general consensus at the BoF was that some (many?) people do first
> look to the export tab for raw data, and leave confused by its
> interface and limitations. It's unfortunate that for a project whose
> guiding principle is open data, actually getting that data proves to
> be a challenge for those not familiar with the various OSM satellite
> sites. And so the thought was that the export tab is due for a
> redesign and a rethink, and it should guide people interested in
> exports at a particular size to the appropriate place, if not offer a
> download directly. The challenge, of course, is to characterize the
> various use cases, determine what the appropriate source and format is
> for each case, and see how and if it is possible to build something
> that can satisfy many different needs in a way that's not so complex
> that it deters just as many interested people as the current interface
> does.

I'm really sorry to have missed that session at the conference, but
I'm happy to see that it gets carried forward to the list quickly.

I agree with John that there is a need for a clear path for folks to
the various data consumption options. I believe the Export tab should
really be the Data tab, with options for
* immediately downloading the current map extent as XML, full history
XML, PBF and whatever other formats people want,
* viewing the data as an overlay (now in the edit menu)
* and a link to more data consumption options which could be something
like https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dASGp5U0jRNZ3Kzb-LtzeOtUACqlLVh9GZdiKTftTOQ/edit
(feel free to edit).
The latter should not be a separate page but rather a div popup or
something like that.
-- 
martijn van exel
http://oegeo.wordpress.com



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