[Osmf-talk] Data Was: Re: Tiles

[Japheth Osumo]

*`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.`*

This is precisely why I joined OSM and continue to contribute in my small
way. Was using an application based off OSM then noted some errors. The
application was so useful i felt motivated to improve the underlying data..
Am locked in with the fact that I can directly improve something for my own
use and others in an open ecosystem.

On Mon, Jun 5, 2023, 7:45 PM Brian M. Sperlongano <zelonewolf at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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.
>
> _______________________________________________
> osmf-talk mailing list
> osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/osmf-talk
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/attachments/20230606/df0dc3ea/attachment.htm>