[Talk-ht] Need Help Managing Mapping Requests

Fri Jan 29 13:53:02 GMT 2010

Thanks Rafa for that detailed analysis and some signposts towards improvements. Totally agree that if we think about the different roles people will be coming to OSM with (responder/datauser, experienced mapper, new mapper, etc), we'll do much to improve the experience.

Also great to see the dialogue on particular focus items, and glad the talk-ht list is taking on coordination quickly.

I'm about to board my flight, will try to circle back and contribute more substantially, on the other side from Nairobi.

Cheers
Mikel

 == Mikel Maron ==
http://mapkibera.org/
+254 (0) 724899738
mikel at osmfoundation.org

________________________________
From: Rafa Gutierrez <soundofrafa at gmail.com>
To: talk-ht at openstreetmap.org
Sent: Fri, January 29, 2010 8:49:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Talk-ht] Need Help Managing Mapping Requests

All, 

I couldn't agree more and this left us stuck for quite a while before we could get editing. Here are my thoughts so let me know what you think.

Mikel wrote:
> We lack a single clear place where mappers can come to find what kind of
> tasks are most urgently needed,
> who else is working on these tasks, the status of the task, and who to
> notify if something is completed.

So what it sounds like is that the WIki page needs to serve as a start page for volunteers WHO ARE NOT in Haiti. There should also be a separate page for Responders on the ground in Haiti. That way there are two main links that everyone can distribute quickly. I see these as two separate efforts for starters.

> Currently, elements of this are spread throughout the Haiti WikiProject
> pages. Mea culpa, I contributed to this
> state of affairs as well.

Mikel, all the information is pretty much here and you've done an incredible job. It just takes time and patience to search it. I think if you throw a header on the top of the page with links to the two pages just mentioned, then the rest can be part of the historical record as well as non-critical details.

Here's where I see these sections going:

For CrisisCamps:

> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Mapping_Coordination#Requests_from_Responders
This should include this blurb but also serve as a jumping off point for why it is important to map for the intended audience.

> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Mapping_Coordination#What_needs_to_be_mapped.3F
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Tasks_and_Ideas#Mapping_Tasks
These two sections are related and should be combined. The headers should be something like:
* What Needs to be Mapped
* What Has Already Been Mapped
Once you decide on what you are going to map or edit, there should be tutorials if you are unfamilar with OSM. Nearly all the volunteers with us last week had little to no experience with OSM so that was a stall. I'd urge CrisisCamps to have Geospatial folks get familiar with it before coming. The videos are a great start!

One of the tools I've been using is the Haiti Crisis Map from Telascience. If you know what and where you are looking for, it has most of the valuable layers right there. I think this should be pushed first for newcomers. Lastly, it would be good for people to learn about tagging and understand how it can be useful as metadata.

And one more thing about Tasks - these are Tasks now, not Tasks and Ideas. We can link to creative ideas in another section for things like Twitter feeds and KML outputs. Until it's proven and has a clear Task that someone can follow, it belongs on the sidebar because it clutters things up.

> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/Status
This is the weakest point of this effort and one that needs some reconciliation. There are two ways to update status that I know of: the OSM Matrix and OpenStreetBugs. I don't think anyone anticipated this mapping party to get this big and now we're scratching our head. For now, Status should point to these two tools but with the caveat that they are not up to date. We made an effort to start with the OSM Matrix and look for low status sections to edit but were finding it out of date. I think what needs to happen is make the Status a separate Task - a sort of QAQC Task. One could quickly turn on UNNAMED ROADS and see if the status in the OSM Matrix reflects this and start updating the OSM Matrix. The OpenStreetBugs can also be a Task in itself but it looks like it usually needs feedback from someone on the ground in Haiti for OSM Mapping errors. 

> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_Haiti/News
This is a sidebar but knowing when critical imagery becomes available is good information to have. Still, lower priority.

For Responders:
This should have extensive how-to's for those in the field. I've been out of touch with this but looks like there are some good resources floating out there that need to be consolidated on one page. Things like:
* Uploading OSM into Garmins
* Twitter settings for geolocating
* Walking Papers!
* How to report mapping errors

As far as consolidating this into one page, this may break a bunch of links down the pipe so I'm not sure if doing it this weekend would be good given the CrisisCamps that will be looking for this material. It could be made in parallel so nothing gets broken and we can start on this ASAP. Thoughts on that?

> In this role, if this person became occupied with other work, they'd need to
> let us know here on talk-ht so someone else could take over.

I'm happy to help if there are others who can check my work unless this is already being done. Also, it would be good if there was a way to contact all the authors who have contributed to these Wiki pages so they may redirect their efforts to the updated site.

> Essentially, this needs to work something like an informal ticketing system.
> I believe this could be managed in the wiki
> for the time being, and lessons from the crisis applied for better systems
> in future responses.

Again, the OSM Matrix or OpenStreetBugs should provide this. Also, every Unamed Road is one big checklist but the names are so hard to get at from the scanned paper maps. It would be great to get more feedback from people with Walking Papers out there. Ok, I'm rambling now. I've got more feedback and discussion on Portland's process last week here: 
http://wiki.crisiscommons.org/wiki/Portland01232010#If_you_are_a_geo_hacker_or_GIS_geek:

Feel free to use this for your own CC if you're having one this weekend. Hope this helps and I'd love to hear folks thoughts on all this.
- rafa 

On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 9:59 PM, <talk-ht-request at openstreetmap.org> wrote:

>"Re: Contents of Talk-ht digest..."
>
>
>>Today's Topics:
>
>>   1. Re: Need Help Managing Mapping Requests (Margie Roswell)
>>   2. Re: Need Help Managing Mapping Requests (Sam Vekemans)
>>   3. Re: Need Help Managing Mapping Requests (Mikel Maron)
>
>>*snip*

-- 
>503.705.6592
@rafamoustafah - me
@geografa - geospatial me
http://www.google.com/profiles/rafamoustafah - my profile
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