[Imports] NYC building + address import (was Re: Buildings & Address in Washington, DC, USA.)

Mikel Maron mikel_maron at yahoo.com
Fri Jun 6 19:08:42 UTC 2014


> Yes, and I don't actually believe we have " a situation"  outside of you desperately wanting to turn this in to one.

Not really interested in creating problems where there are none. I guess if another Board member thinks this is a situation, they can add it to your next agenda. 
 
> Given that we are not privy to the communication prior to the blocks, until I hear or see something different, I have to assume that the 
> DWG has not suddenly gone rogue and is telling us what really happened. You seem to be assuming without any obvious reason that the 
> opposite is the case.

Perhaps that's the problem here. Maybe we should be privy to it.

-Mikel

* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron


On Friday, June 6, 2014 2:54 PM, Simon Poole <simon at osmfoundation.org> wrote:
 

>
>
>
>Am 06.06.2014 20:40, schrieb Mikel Maron:
>
>> As said above, I don't think policing individual employees of a 3rd party (including sending them individual messages etc) is a reasonable 
>>> use of our limited resources, particularly when they are non-responsive and would suggest simply blocking the whole organisation going 
>>> forward.
>> 
>>Nor is it a reasonable action of the Chair of the OSM Foundation to suggest "blocking" MapBox. I'm not defending MapBox or the import, but seriously, you are Chair of our Board and think that's ok communication from your position? And that's your main response to the situation?
>>
>>
Yes, and I don't actually believe we have " a situation"  outside of you desperately wanting to turn this in to one.
>
>
>>  "not giving a changeset comment, or not giving enough information in a note "
>>
>>
>>Simon, read the blocks in question. These were only the reasons given. Perhaps what we ultimately have here is simply poor communication from the DWG. And now the Chair of the OSM Foundation.
>Given that we are not privy to the communication prior to the
    blocks, until I hear or see something different, I have to assume
    that the DWG has not suddenly gone rogue and is telling us what
    really happened. You seem to be assuming without any obvious reason
    that the opposite is the case.
>
>
>Simon
>
>
>
>>
>>-Mikel
>>
>>
>>* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron
>>
>>
>>
>>On Friday, June 6, 2014 2:33 PM, Simon Poole <simon at osmfoundation.org> wrote:
>> 
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>While I don't find it acceptable in the first
                        place that we are policing individual employees
                        of a third party instead of the employer taking
                        the responsibility and carrying the consequences
                        of misbehaviour, I can see how we got in the
                        situation. 
>>>
>>>I would suggest that the DWG produce a short
                        report on what has taken place so that we get a
                        more complete picture, in particular given that
                        we do not have any background in the case of
                        sorein.
>>>
>>>That said, I do not see an issue with the events
                        wrt the NYC import as they unfold on github,
                        given that the mappers in question were not
                        blocked for " not giving a changeset comment, or
                        not giving enough information in a note ", but
                        for not responding to the DWG, but maybe the
                        report can shed some more light on that. 
>>>
>>>As said above, I don't think policing individual
                        employees of a 3rd party (including sending them
                        individual messages etc) is a reasonable use of
                        our limited resources, particularly when they
                        are non-responsive and would suggest simply
                        blocking the whole organisation going forward.
>>>
>>>Simon
>>>
>>>Am 06.06.2014 18:43, schrieb 'Mikel Maron' via
                        board-with-guests:
>>>
>>>> The only thing that I've found that they do respond to consistently is being blocked by the DWG.
>>>>
>>>> 
>>>>That is disturbing to hear.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>User blocks are a tool of last resort, when someone is doing serious harm to OSM. Like deleting objects randomly.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>That just doesn't compare to situations like not giving a changeset comment, or not giving enough information in a note. Minor issues. These are not conventions to be enforced by blocking.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>http://www.openstreetmap.org/user_blocks/465
>>>>
>>>>http://www.openstreetmap.org/user_blocks/471
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>The DWG has a great responsibility to OSM, to be appropriate and measured arbitrators of data issues. The great deal of the work done by the DWG is beneficial, and I appreciate it. I was among the group that originally convened the DWG, and happy that we have this function with the OSM community. However, in some recent circumstances, the DWG is taking its responsibility much further than our collective and official expectation, and is simply abusing its authority in cases of clear of conflict of interest. And we lack accountability of when the DWG goes too far.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>So, I'm calling on the Board to take up the issue of setting clear limits on the the activities of the DWG. 
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Mikel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>* Mikel Maron * +14152835207 @mikel s:mikelmaron
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>On Friday, June 6, 2014 12:31 PM, Alex Barth <alex at mapbox.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>On Fri, Jun 6, 2014 at 6:29 AM, Serge Wroclawski <emacsen at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 8:55 PM, Alex Barth <alex at mapbox.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
The issue of responsiveness is straightforward. When a community
>>>>>>member finds a problem
                                                  with how something is
                                                  mapped and we go
                                                  through
>>>>>>the speicifc steps
                                                  outlined in the import
                                                  process, and the
                                                  individual
>>>>>>community members
                                                  creating the problem
                                                  are notified, I think
                                                  there's a
>>>>>>reasonable expectation
                                                  that they'll stop.
                                                  Maybe they'd respond
                                                  to OSM
>>>>>>messages, or respond
                                                  to notes that they
                                                  created, or respond to
                                                  github.
>>>>>>My experience is
                                                  consistently that with
                                                  your mapper staff that
                                                  they
>>>>>>simply don't respond
                                                  to any of these. The
                                                  only thing they've
                                                  responded
>>>>>>to is DWG intervention
                                                  (ie blocks).
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>As stated earlier. Working on getting better responsiveness in place. I think we've made good first steps. Let me know any time you run into specific issues.
>>>>> 
>>>>>
>>>>>>That's a really huge
                                                  hammer to have to
                                                  bring down, but the
                                                  alternative
>>>>>>is that there's bad
                                                  data in OSM.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The second issue is
                                                  cleanup, which ties
                                                  very much into the
                                                  first one.
>>>>>>There would be no big
                                                  problem with waiting
                                                  days and needing to
                                                  contact
>>>>>>three or four people
                                                  before getting a
                                                  response, if the data
                                                  didn't
>>>>>>stay bad. But instead,
                                                  we see data that was
                                                  put in badly and has
>>>>>>stayed bad. It's
                                                  really a mess, which
                                                  could have been fixed
                                                  if the
>>>>>>attitude had just been
                                                  to go a bit slower and
                                                  when someone brings up
>>>>>>an issue, to take it
                                                  seriously and not
                                                  ignore it until days
                                                  later
>>>>>>(importing with the
                                                  problem in the
                                                  meantime).
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>The data we're importing in NYC is very very good. Sure, it's not 100 % without problems, no data is, but it is absolutely _not_ "a mess". We have stopped and reviewed and fixed the import and imported data time and again - often on your request. We just 100 % don't agree on the overall assessment here and I'm not sure how you can get to the perspective you're sharing above. If there are specific problems, please flag them on the tracker github.com/osmlab/nycbuildings and we'll review.  
>>>>> 
>>>>>Consider this... I still haven't seen an affirmative statement that
>>>>>>you're going to use
                                                  paid mappers, yet the
                                                  subtext is that this
                                                  is what
>>>>>>will happen. If you're
                                                  going to use paid
                                                  remote mappers, just
                                                  say so.
>>>>>>Just say "This is our
                                                  plan." 
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>The DC import plan is not saying anything about the Mapbox team mapping on it because that's right now not the plan. I'd love to see the DC government lift this themselves - this would be an amazing story. I'd be happy to help though if needed.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
In regards to NYC, I've said very clearly at the first community import session in NYC that our team will be mapping too. You've confirmed hearing this to me earlier I hope you still remember but you also said that it wasn't clear to you to what extent we'd engage. It's my regret that I didn't spell out clearer what this meant to me. 
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Look, I want to build over time an excellent data team helping to make OpenStreetMap the best map in the world. I want them to be hands on with improving data in OpenStreetMap in the most responsible way possible. For initiating an import like the one in NYC I would love also the next time not only to work with community closely to make sure it's done right and responsibly, but also have community directly help hands on do the import. At the same time, I also need to be able to say it's done in a certain time (NYC stands to take about 9 months total, that's longer than I thought, but fine) and I need to be able to guarantee that it's being finished at some point. I don't ever want to be associated with a half-imported dataset. So if Mapbox takes the initiative on an import, we will always have to be ready to see it through ourselves rather than let it peter out. Again, talking about the grunt work here. I am open for feedback from A-Z throughout the
 process and I've also learned that engaging community means doing things at a certain pace - for instance you remember that the initial time schedule for the NYC import was way too ambitious.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Again, to be very clear, the DC proposal comes from the DC government and I'm right now not thinking that this is an import where Mapbox needs to take the ultimate responsibility to see it through, and again, I'm more than happy to see whether we can help David Jackson and team if needed.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Alex
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>>Imports mailing list
>>>>>Imports at openstreetmap.org
>>>>>https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/imports
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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