[Osmf-talk] Applications creating notes

Fri May 19 00:12:09 UTC 2023

Do we already have a thread about horror stories with map notes?

TL;DR If a map note is coming from a signed up and logged in OSM user
(i.e. who will be getting email and is responsive to our queries for
clarification) and if it includes a verifiable source of information
such as photographs or websites, we welcome any and all input we can
get.

Unfortunately, one or the other is usually lacking, which is why we
have to either close these or ignore them and leave them open for
years. In a small minority of cases, we have to lecture newbies who
mean well through this quirk of a messaging platform as they are
usually unwilling or unable to join another, more proper messaging
platform where we could educate them properly and it is generally
difficult to schedule time over Jitsi and BBB with them as well this
way. We view this as a pretty big churn of potential map editors.

On Fri, May 19, 2023 at 12:00 AM john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >validator community
>
> I'm lost, who are these wonderful people and what do they do?
>
> It reminds me of a flowchart that has a box, "Then a miracle occurs."
>
> How do you know if something has been validated by someone who knows what they are doing?  Or even been validated?
>
> I've been known to run my eye over an area that has a HOT project and check for errors.  I didn't check any boxes on the project though.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Cheerio John
>
> On Thu, May 18, 2023, 17:50 Christopher Beddow <christopher.beddow at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Could it help to not make feedback go direct to notes, but instead to some other open repository of suggested edits?
>>
>> Either way, garbage will pile up but it's worth analyzing and finding the gems. Users can choose to consult these off platform notes, or professional editing teams coming into a region, and algorithms can even help filter the likely spammy ones from high value, if wanted. Anonymous but high volume of raw data waiting to be converted to info or discarded. Though that seems what notes are already good for, but usually they are higher value, though often overlooked and hidden by default.
>>
>> But the point does stand: crowdsourcing is at its best when users care about the impact, are very engaged, and make careful, thoughtful edits. Growing that type of user is a clear best achievement. But growing the validator community, who can reliably act on high volumes of information is also an approach.
>>
>> On Thu, May 18, 2023, 21:37 Brian M. Sperlongano <zelonewolf at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 18, 2023 at 3:19 PM Alexander Heinlein <alexander.heinlein at web.de> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> regarding bad or missing data:
>>>> We should probably create a (much) stronger focus on user feedback. Especially for users of commercial OSM-based software.
>>>>
>>>> Just an idea: All commercial OSM-based data users _must_[1] provide an user feedback channel. This means there _must_ be a way to create map notes, like there is already in various apps (Maps.Me, OsmAnd etc) in order to report missing/wrong POIs, addresses etc. Anonymous reports will probably be enough. Likewise, commercial OSM-based routers _must_ ask the user at the end about their experience. To make parsing easier, provide some typical answers additionally to a free-form text field. These answers could be: Report non-existing or impassable roads, report unnecessary detours, report wrong speed limits etc.
>>>>
>>>> Users must be able to dismiss these dialogs, i.e. skip the possibility to provide feedback. But they must have the most easiest way to provide feedback if they feel to do so.
>>>>
>>>> Of course this will create a certain amount of garbage input. But it will also create valuable input to improve our map data. And it will allow non-mappers to actually make a difference and to give them a certain idea about how OSM works.
>>>
>>>
>>> I operate a site that is heavily based on OSM data. I have explicitly avoided building a capability for users to report problems with the map and piping that to notes precisely because of the garbage input problem. Instead, I just point them to OpenStreetMap and point out that any user can edit it, and I've ended up with a small number of users that actively and competently edit OSM as a result. I've seen enough horror stories from other apps spamming notes that I under no circumstances want to be a participant in perpetuating that problem. Also, since my site is a "completeness tracker" (running every street in a city), it's become a fairly effective tool for comprehensive on-foot surveys of streets in places where my users are active.
>>>
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>>
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