[Osmf-talk] Paid Mapping / WikiPR like issues in OSM?

[Oleksiy Muzalyev]

Hello,

The great advantage of the OSM is that a company can add not only its
own location on the map but of its customers too.

Besides, one can add not only an icon of a pharmacy, a hotel, a fuel
station, etc. on the map, but also a lot of useful data. Such as
contact:phone, opening_hours for the whole year, contact:fax, URL,
website, contact:email, Internet access, note, name in local language,
name:en, etc.

It all would be the legitimate data, but in 99% cases this data is not
present yet at all.

There is a lot an average company can do to improve its geospatial
presence without resorting to publishing fraudulent data.

A GIS specialist could publish a company's valid data correctly, conduct
a survey of the premises, map roads in the area, traffic signs, traffic
lights, parking with access data, capacity, etc.

If it is a public transportation company then there is even more GIS
work to do. For example, to plan a route between two addresses there
should be all addresses on the map first. To make the map addressable is
a lot of work.

I mean there is a massive problem of a lack of normal valid data on the
map too.

brgds
O.

On 28.11.2013 09:15, Martin Vonwald wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I'm less afraid of paid mappers which add a lot of data. If the data is
> correct and follows our guidelines it's fine. If not, we'll fix it
> sooner or later.
> I'm more afraid of small, subtle changes made. The more OSM data is used
> for various reasons the more likely some people are tempted to
> "optimize" it for their own benefit. I could give here some examples why
> to do it and a lot of possibilities how to do it - neither I'll do on a
> public mailing list. In my opinion this sort of "data optimization" will
> be the biggest challenge for OSM in the future.
> 
> regards,
> Martin