[Talk-GB] Mapping the unloved and unwashed

[Brian Quinion]

> Should we investigate buying aerial photography for some of these un-loved
> places which would allow us the capture the base road structure and
> land-usage prior to any actual visit and speed things up a lot? The
> photography that Mikel and eye have been sorting out for Gaza Strip is
> costing $11 (£7.50) per sq km for 2 meter accuracy, 1 month old colour
> images (with the associated rights to derived mapping from them).
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Palestine_Gaza

Please, please NO!

Mapping an area after it has been traced is:

a) almost as much work as without the tracing (you still have to go
down each road to look for missed features)
b) very unsatisfying because it doesn't look like you have achieved anything

I hate doing area that have been traced, I even hate doing areas that
*I* have traced.

It is however nice to fill in extra details that can only easily be
done from aerial images like building outlines and other large
features - I'd love to buy some aerial imagery for Sheffield for
instance - but only once the basic mapping is *finished* please!

> Thinking ahead,  should be set up an Aerial photography team who sort out
> the purchasing and hosting of commercial photography as and when required?

I can see the point, but do this with great care please or I'm sure
you will loose some dedicated mappers.

--
 Brian