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

[delibab delibab]

I first heard of OSM on the FLOSS weekly recording.

I had a GPS, my local town was largely a 'blank canvas' - so I thought
I better do something about it. Also the physical part of OSM
(traveling around by bike or foot collecting traces) was an appealing
aspect.

There is a lot of great info on the wiki, but finding exactly what *I
was looking for* was somewhat challenging. As others have said, a
'real beginners guide' would be useful. Concise best practice
guidelines for a beginner would have been useful (I know it would be
contentious trying to get the community to reach a consensus on best
practices! cough..)

Fortunately I found a local OSM mapper who was kind enough to answer
my basic questions and point me in the right direction. Perhaps there
are merits in this 'mentor approach' for other new users?

Few other ideas, some 'dafter' than others, crossed my mind..
- what about a sandbox? Somewhere new users can try things out without
fear of 'screwing up' some magnificent junction (or whatever)
- Example lists. Links to examples of junctions, roundabouts,
'complicated whatever's' - somewhere the new user can go see good
examples of how a more experienced person has carried out 'x' or 'y'.
- Virtual real time training session. Use some online collaboration
tool, something like Dim Dim maybe. A 'training schedule' is set -
experienced user then comes on shows how to 'something', questions can
be asked.

Perhaps some of this stuff already exists - if it does, the fact I did
not come across it says something (what exactly - I don't know! :-)


On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 5:39 AM, Richard Weait <richard at weait.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 9:44 PM, Dan O'Hara <detectist at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>> oops - I was also looking at GPS accuracy today
>>
>> Amended link below
>>
>> Here is the link (37kb)  -  http://senduit.com/a38f0d
>> I gather this is a site for temp uploads?
>
> That link had expired by the time I got to it.  If you like, send it
> to me and I can add it to my site for semi-permanent hosting.
>
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