[Osmf-talk] Data Was: Re: Tiles

[Brian M. Sperlongano]

I would encourage everyone in this thread to think for a moment about what
it means to be "in the OSM community" versus "an outsider". There is an
idea snaking through the discussion that people who contribute as editors
are inside the community and represent the sole valued contributors.
Further, I'm hearing a belief that people (or companies) who *use* OSM data
are "outsiders" or "takers" that are using the precious resources
contributed by the editors. If you view OSM from the perspective of
"givers" and "takers", let me offer a different perspective.

OSM is useful BECAUSE people (organizations, companies, apps, services)
take OSM data and do useful things that ultimately improve people's lives.
Further, these useful products, bundled with an awareness that they're
based on OSM, drive people to become contributors to improve their
experience using the app or service. Every time someone uses [random
examples] Strava, Geocaching, or AllTrails, and they see a problem with the
map and figure out how to edit it and make it better, folks, that's what
success looks like in my book. Applications that use OSM data, including
those that use OSMF-funded tile servers, fundamentally help our cause by
proliferating awareness of a public-editable map. Driving users of OSM data
away from the community is a great way to make us less relevant.

I wish there were just as much focus on attracting OSM data users as there
is on attracting individuals to edit the map. Both are important and
contribute to the goal of free and open geodata.

That all being said, I also understand the real-world reality that servers
and bandwidth cost money and that we have to limit what we can make
available from a pure cost and resources perspective. That's just smart
management. I applaud the OWG for continuing to thread the needle on making
OSM and its adjacent services free and open to the extent possible while
preventing excessive use that harms other users or exceeds our ability to
provide.
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