[Talk-GB] OSM Wiki UK pages

Jez Nicholson jez.nicholson at gmail.com
Wed Apr 10 14:04:08 UTC 2019


Hi all,

For my sins, and for being in OSMUK, I volunteered to review the UK pages
on OSMWiki. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_United_Kingdom Here
are my conclusions:

1. It being a wiki, it takes care to not tread on other peoples' toes.. I
may have mildly perturbed a few people but I don't think (I hope) I caused
any deep resentment...I feel that UK specific pages 'belong' to us (you,
me, every UK mapper) and can more confidently edit them (still hesitantly)
than global pages.

2. There were many uncategorised and orphan pages. These are now all in the
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Category:United_Kingdom category page.
This should answer the question, "what pages are managed by the UK OSMers?".

3. The category structures are often too deep and sub-divided to be useful.

4. There are many pages, probably too many.

5. Many pages were created in the early days of OSM and now state
out-of-date information. This gives a bad impression to new users. Many
pages are simple enough to convert into past tense, or update after
researching. It's a living, breathing document and not a history book.

6. Creating a new page to share and document your personal projects can be
useful, e.g. I published my work in the open as
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_the_United_Kingdom and
got valuable input.

7. There is no clear naming scheme for pages. I've used "xyz in the United
Kingdom" so that they show in alphabetical order but other schemes are
available. If pages include a '/' then this splits them into a rigid single
hierarchy...but what should that hierarchy be?

8. ...and finally... it is easy to complain about the OSM Wiki, but it is
ours to edit and improve. Any failings in the UK pages, at least, are ours.
I urge you to find a subject local to you and update it, cities are a good
place to start. Tread lightly to begin with and build up. Use the Talk tabs.

Regards,
             Jez
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