[OSM-newbies] Conversational gambit: New to OSM?

[Nick Allen]

Hi,

Although I've been involved for well over a year now, I still subscribe
to 'newbies' as it is the best place to learn (I can occasionally help
as well).

I agree with Dave about the descriptions on the mailing lists. I'm
afraid it's not the only place that descriptions are lacking. The wiki
pages on 'relations' have given me a few hours of browsing in an attempt
to get my head round it all.

The wiki is very informative at times, but presents problems as well as
solutions. I've intended to update some of the information there, based
upon what I found I needed, but this in itself presents more challenges,
as I'm having to learn about updating wiki's.

BUT ...  The strength of OSM is the fact that there is always more to
learn. It's one of the few hobbies that has kept me engaged for hours
each day;
surveying, 
learning what to do with the data collected,
surveying again 'cause I now no more of what is needed,
learning where & how to see my updates
GPS's - what they can & can't do 
.... the list goes on.

The secret seems to be the Wiki & the mailing lists. The search engine
on the wiki doesn't always seem to produce useful results, normally
because the amount of information is so great that I've asked the wrong
question. The pace of change sometimes leaves the wiki behind as well.

In summary, for me
Wiki - can it be simpler? 
mailing list - newbies is good, keep it up thanks
mailing list - one with just the major changes to look out for would be
good (in my case I subscribe to Talk GB hoping for something, but find
that the sheer volume of e-mails can be daunting & most of the
information is useless to me). Some kind of low volume list (once a week
only?) of major updates would be helpful. Perhaps it could concentrate
on one issue each week if there are no updates, such as how to tag a
junction with restrictions (make sure the wiki is up to date & link to
that section).

Keep up the good work & sorry for rambling.

Regards

Nick (Tallguy)

On Mon, 2009-10-05 at 17:02 +0100, Dave F. wrote:
> Dave F. wrote:
> > Richard Weait wrote:
> >   
> >> 3. What is the trickiest part about starting with OSM, for you?  Can
> >> you suggest how to make this tricky thing less-tricky?
> >>
> >>     
> Further idea:
> 
> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo
> 
> The descriptions for this list are not very, err... descriptive. Some 
> have none at all & others just requote themselves: eg
> 
> *Geocoding* <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/geocoding> - 
> Discussion of geocoding.
> 
> Well, yes, precisely :)
> 
> Seeing this is one of the first thing a newbie is likely to come across 
> when trying to find help I think it needs to be more helpful.
> 
> Cheers
> Dave F.
> 
> 
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