[talk-au] Uploading traces (Was; Hi all ...)

[Ian Sergeant]

Ross Scanlon wrote:

> Why should I.  No where in osm does it state that a GPX file has to be
> uploaded.

You can, quite obviously, not upload the GPX file if you don't want to.
>From seeing how many ways are marked as surveyed, and how many GPS tracks
there are loaded, it is obvious that many people don't.

Two things, that should feed into your reasoning..

Firstly, other OSMers do use the uploaded GPS tracks, and it is never
obvious when a track has been derived from a simplified GPS trace in JOSM.

If I am mapping a road with my GPS trace, and there is an existing way in
OSM that differs frm my track, I am inclined to move the road to my GPS
trace, especially if I feel my trace was accurate and I have traversed the
route twice (good visibility, lots of points, good accuracy reading on the
GPS).  I think I know how accurate my trace was, and I have no real idea of
the source of the previous trace.  My reasoning is that my trace is at
least as accurate as the previous reading from which the way was traced.

If I see five traces there before mine, and they all agree and mine appears
a little off, I'd be inclined to leave the way alone.

Therefore, uploading tracks may lead to a more accurate map, with little
downside.

Secondly, come the day when MegaMap Inc, decide to sue OSM, due to a part
of the map looking suspiciously derived from MegaMap's products, the
existance of GPS traces in OSM may assist greatly in defending against that
threat.

But, if you have already considered those two factors, then either upload
or don't, your choice, but hopefully that answers part of your question,
"Why should I?", assuming it wasn't rhetorical.

Ian.