[Imports] Update: Somalia places imported; roads up next

[Frederik Ramm]

Schuyler,

Schuyler Erle wrote:
> TL;DR: I imported almost 9,500 populated place names into OSM from a
> 2010 UN dataset, after removing duplicates with existing OSM data and
> with the UN dataset itself. I would like to import the admin1 and
> admin-2 boundaries from the UN as well, and I would appreciate
> suggestions on how to proceed. HOT has also been donated a decent
> looking highway dataset for Somalia, and I have a plan for importing
> that, following a brainstorming session on #osm. Sorry for the
> crosspost.

I'm sure you are putting a lot of work into this and you mean well.

If you do all this because there is practically no hope of there ever 
being a functioning volunteer OSM community in Somalia, and therefore we 
(or, more precisely, whoever wants to use OSM data in Somalia) need to 
use UN and other assorted third-party data, then go ahead.

If, on the other hand, you are doing this because you hope to 
"kick-start OSM in Somalia" then I believe there is a very big danger 
that imports on such a scale will stifle rather than encourage the kind 
of growth we want. Yes, OSM will become more usable quicker, but people 
will have the attitude that OSM is done by "them" not "us".

What you are doing here is a replacement, not a foundation, for normal 
OSM activity, and nobody must be allowed to publicly present such an 
import as if it were somehow "kick-starting OSM" or as if it were the 
way in which OSM works normally.

If there is any chance of OSM working normally in a place like Somalia 
at all. It might be that whatever is done in Somalia would always be a 
"them not us" thing.

Bye
Frederik

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