[Imports] Buildings & Address in Washington, DC, USA.

Katie Filbert filbertk at gmail.com
Fri Jun 6 06:47:03 UTC 2014


On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 4:04 AM, Alex Barth <alex at mapbox.com> wrote:

> Jason -
>
>
> On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 6:35 PM, Jason Remillard <
> remillard.jason at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi David
>>
>> Given that this is using the same process as the NYC import, what
>> lessons/changes are planned to avoid the same problems encountered in NYC.
>> I think NYC had to be paused a couple of times, it was not perfect. It
>> would be dumb to do everything exactly the same.
>>
>>
> This is a good question and I should sit down and write up the import
> process and lessons of NYC better. Here's a quick brain dump:
>
> - The technical approach w/ NYC is sound, I would do it again: make the
> import repeatable, slice up tasks in pieces, offer those pieces in tasking
> manager, upload manually, validate manually.
> - Be prepared to stop and go. It's the nature of the beast. Based on the
> complexity of an import there will be things that go wrong. You'll have to
> be able to stop the import, go back and fix any issues you already
> committed to the database. For the same reason it's incredibly important
> that your conversion process is easily repeatable. You'll go back, fix and
> rerun. Next time we'll be able to catch a lot more gotcha's I'm sure but
> I'm also sure we won't catch all of them.
> - Share everything in the open - all code and issues for the import are
> here: https://github.com/osmlab/nycbuildings/
>

that's great :)


> - Make ample time to engage within community, be prepared to slow down
> where necessary to clear conversations as they come up. Our conversations
> took more time than I thought they would and in hindsight I would make more
> time for in person event or meetings.
>

+1


> - Make sure expectations of all involved are clear. This is something I
> could have done a better job of. For instance, that we at Mapbox were going
> to engage very directly in the upload process wasn't fully clear for
> everyone. At the same time I think it was important for us to initiate this
> import having the human resources to finish it up. There are already too
> many imports that aren't finished.
>

I think it's better to take time and have the community more directly
engaged vs. paid folks.



>  - An import is actually not all that conducive to be a community
> building project, especially not a large one. Imports are technically
> complex, require experience with OpenStreetMap and commitment by those
> involved. Community involvement is absolutely clutch, at the same time
> doing an entire import is grinding work so people will loose interest over
> time.
>
>
Not convinced that the community can't handle the task.  Task manager is
ideal to split up the work and is motivating.



> At this point the NYC import is almost done in terms of data added. We are
> now doing additional rounds of validation. As always it is open for
> participation: http://tasks.openstreetmap.us/job/2
>

it's quite discouraging to get involved when paid mappers are involved, imho

having to "apply" to participate is also odd.  it's fine if newer people
want to contact and get an introduction but experienced mappers need not
apply, imho.

Cheers,
Katie



>
>
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-- 
Katie Filbert
filbertk at gmail.com
@filbertkm / @wikimediadc / @wikidata
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