[Osmf-talk] DWG survey on organized editing

[Paul Norman]

The Data Working Group is conducting a survey as part of its work on a
policy covering paid mapping.

When OpenStreetMap started, it was largely a project of hobbyists
contributing to OSM in their spare time. They chose freely what to map
and which tools to use, and they took individual responsibility for
their contributions.

The continuing growth and popularity of OSM have also brought more and
more organised mapping efforts, mostly in the form of companies setting
up paid data teams to improve OSM data in specific regions or for
specific use cases, but also unpaid groups like school classes that are
directed to work on OSM.

These organised mapping efforts are an integral part of today's OSM
contribution landscape and, when done well, help make OSM better and
more widely known.

In order to ensure good communication, and a level playing field,
between individual community members and organised editing groups, the
OSMF Data Working Group has been tasked with developing guidelines for
organised groups. These guidelines will above all set out some
transparency requirements for organised groups - things that are already
voluntarily followed by most groups today, like informing the mapping
community about which accounts edit for the team.

We have prepared the following survey with a few questions about such a
policy to give us a better understanding of what the mapping community
expects from such a policy. The survey is aimed at everyone editing (or
planning to edit) in OSM, whether as individual mappers or as part of a
team, and your answers will help us in fleshing out a draft policy.

Within the scope of the survey, and the policy to be written, we define
paid mapping (or paid editing) as any editing in OSM performed by
someone who is told by a third party what to map (and potentially also
how to map it) and who receives money in exchange. We define other
organised mapping (or editing) as any editing that is also steered by a
third party, but where no money is paid.

The survey is available at https://osm-dwg.limequery.org/741554

-- 
Paul Norman
For the OSM Data Working Group