[Talk-ca] A message aimed more at Ottawa

[OSM Volunteer stevea]

John Whelan says:
> Thoughts?

There are obviously "deep thoughts" going on regarding how OSM can document and provide better geo data, routing and maps for Canadian cyclists:  my hat is off to the serious "front-loading" going on here and I wish to encourage it so that it may flourish.

Simultaneously, much can be said about getting (and having) a "basic workable framework" which provides useful information of the above sorts, right now.  As I look at Ottawa area bicycle tagging (both infrastructure and routes, as they are two different kinds of OSM data entry; the former as good tags in infrastructure elements the latter as good tags on route relations) I find this framework satisfactory (though I am not local).

To take a "first best practice" approach, I might suggest that a milestone be defined for a "1.0" version of what is attempting to be achieved.  This might be what I find as I do this sort of OSM work (and consulting about it) in the USA:  getting to a reasonable harmony between what local jurisdictions define and document as both bicycle infrastructure and bicycle routes, and whether those data are well-represented in OSM.  Ottawa might be there, it might not, but if you don't know that, it becomes difficult to measure progress and better plan for the ambitious future you have.

Weather-related local conventions are a new twist I am not familiar with (being from California), and I wish you luck in having those emerge to be useful to your local (and eventually, regional and national) cyclists.  Other (similar) concerns like "level of stress" (which seems to be deeply-ingrained as part of the "bicycle parlance" in local government) and "bikability," level of riding comfort, appropriateness for younger or less-experienced riders, etc. are topics which have been well-explored.  As I mention, sometimes these turn into either new tags, new tagging schemas (some more successful, some less) and new renderers (e.g. the Mapzen bike routing links I offered earlier quickly evolved from a v1 to a v2, with substantial feedback-generated improvements).  Those are real-life stories which show that there is a somewhat-long path:

Existing bicycle infrastructure -> maps (hard- and soft-copy) published by local jurisdictions -> routes of this infrastructure (ditto, though sometimes these are "more independently developed") -> data of these sorts (plural!) getting into OSM -> renderers which use these data (OpenCycleMap, waymarkedtrails.org, mapzen...) -> routers which use these data (e.g. cycle.travel...).

That path/workflow bubbles up from the roots of streets and routes folks bike on and the feedback loop of local jurisdictions to make/develop/improve/document these, all the way to a savvy biker running an iPhone app that produces the "perfect route, today, because it is snowing lightly, and my daughter is accompanying me to the park we are biking to" with the swipe of a finger.  Obviously, there is a LOT "in the middle" there, and that "big middle" will be both the same (structurally, within OSM and its conventions of tagging and building renderers and routers) and different (in the case of "we have speed limit data and traffic volume and snow-day data here").

Seek out the existing "wheels already invented" (some within OSM, some not).  Learn from those what didn't work and what might be repurposed to work and work well.  Use the good tenets of OSM (consensus, plastic tagging which can well-accommodate new strategies like "how do I bike on a snow day?" and the "soft" aspect of software to build renderers and routers (should you eventually get there, and I believe you will).  The future of bicycling in Ottawa (and Canada) looks like it is going to LOVE OSM and all it has to offer these efforts!

Get to a consensus of "local (government's view of bicycling) 1.0 is now OSM 1.0" and then put the pieces together of what will be (I can feel it in my bones!) a terrific 2.0.  And 3.0 and beyond.  However, nothing ever happens without a good plan, and good planning and good project management is what will get you there.  The solid backbone and structure of OSM is the vessel, and Ottawa and Canada are very well on your way to fantastic bicycle geo data and tools.  The rest of the pieces come from dialog, consensus, good community building, good planing and good implementation.  Go!

SteveA
California