[Imports] Importing Arkansas data

[Ian Dees]

On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Michael Leibowitz <
michael.leibowitz at intel.com> wrote:

> On 03/28/2011 01:16 PM, Ian Dees wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 3:01 PM, Michael Leibowitz <
>> michael.leibowitz at intel.com <mailto:michael.leibowitz at intel.com>> wrote:
>>
>>        Here is a popular perspective from the OSM community, "If
>>        parcel data
>>        can't be measured, confirmed or improved by OSM editors, why
>>        import
>>        it?"  Use it as an overlay somewhere, somehow.
>>
>>
>>    What makes postal codes different?
>>
>>
>> In my mind only a few (major) things:
>>
>> - If I remember correctly, in the UK postcode data were (are?) not free
>> (in any sense of the word), so someone decided to start trying to collect
>> that data. I think it was one of OSM's first "project of the unit-of-time"?
>> Either way, it was a good thing to get the community together and give an
>> example of what free and open data mean.
>>
>
> That's true of the UK.  Postal code (zip code) data is also in the US map.
>  It's generally free in the US.
>

This is not true. The Zipcode Tabulation Areas (the things currently
imported into OSM) are generated by the Census for record keeping and have
very little to do with the actual boundaries of zipcodes. The real zipcodes
are controlled by the USPS and sold to businesses with a restrictive
license.


>
>  - Post codes are vastly different in size than parcel data. Parcel data is
>> (usually) property boundaries on the order of <2 acres. These are small,
>> 4-node polygons that have little use other than a county's tax collection
>> and property owner's dispute resolution. The tons of nodes and ways make
>> editing difficult, don't necessarily line up with building boundaries
>> (buildings frequently cross a parcel boundary), and don't necessarily
>> contain addressing information.
>>
>
> I disagree with your assessment of utility.  It is helpful to know the
> bounds of an address, which a parcel often gives.  That's why many maps
> include it.  You do raise a valid point of buildings often not being exactly
> within a tax lot.  I'm curious how other mapping providers solve this
> problem or if it is effectively a non-problem.
>

Can you give some examples of why you might want to know the bounds of an
address? In every case I can think of you want to know the point (for
routing). I can think of some cases where you might want to know the extent
of a building (e.g. a shopping mall) to know what POI are contained therein,
but I can't think of a use for parcels.


>
>  - Most importantly, OSM mappers can not make the data any better. By their
>> very definition, any changes to the imported parcel data make them invalid
>> and useless. If OSM participants can't improve the data then it should not
>> be in the OSM database.
>>
>
> Are importers not OSM participants?
>

They are, but I don't see that relating to any of my questions. Once an
importer brings the data in to OSM it is immediately stale. In the best case
someone will keep the parcel data up to date with future data dumps from the
municipality. In the worst case it grows stale, people move the nodes
around, remove tag data required for future updates, delete pieces of it
because it's annoying, etc.
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