[Talk-GB] OSM Analysis New Data and bot

[Richard Fairhurst]

Graham Stewart wrote:
> This keeps getting raised and I'm not sure how true it is.

If you import data into an area that already has an active community, you
likely won't damage the community (though you may piss them off). OTOH, you
probably don't _need_ to import data because there's already an active
community.

If you import data into an area that doesn't already have an active
community, the community will spring up more slowly or not at all. Example:
USA.

Even when a community does eventually coalesce, it will be dysfunctional
because it hasn't gone through the collective learning experience. This is
why, I think, the USA is still having really basic problems like "which
roads are trunk and which are primary?" and "how do we write refs?". We
sorted that out in the UK ages ago, because as we all went out there and
mapped, we learned from each others' experiences. (I remember, for example,
the time we used to tag NCN refs as ncn_ref=NR42 or somesuch.) 

If you want an example closer to home, I'd suggest the South-West Midlands,
where Droitwich has been done almost entirely from OSSV, yet continues to
languish bereft both of mappers and rich detail. Worcester was growing
nicely until the OSSV fairies arrived: there's still a little activity, but
the rich map is no longer growing at the rate it was. Yet as soon as you
reach the nearby Birmingham conurbation, you have a much richer, actively
maintained, more useful map. 

cheers
Richard



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