[Talk-us] parcel data in OSM

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 29.12.2012 05:38, Russ Nelson wrote:
>   > The moment it makes its way in to OSM it becomes incorrect. There is
>   > *absolutely* no way to improve the data once it's in OSM, so it should not
>   > be in OSM. Period.
>
> That's a great theory, but I don't think many people subscribe to
> it.

I think that is more than a theory. Weren't you the one who proposed to 
import some kind of park boundaries, years ago, and implement mechanisms 
to make the geometry un-changeable - reasoning that any change being 
made by mappers could only be for the worse?

The idea didn't get a very warm reception then, and I don't see why 
things should have changed.

OSM is not a geodata delivery vehicle that you should abuse to publish 
third-party GIS data. I know it is tempting - so many county GIS 
departments, each with their own data collection, difficult to discover 
and use - but it is a role that OSM cannot, and should not attempt to, 
fulfil; not least because the sheer amount of such data would dwarf that 
which we have surveyed and which we can reasonably hope to care for.

If you want a geodata delivery infrastructure, set up a separate service 
- based on OSM technology if you want - and collect third-party data 
there. Mix it with human-surveyed and curated OSM at the rendering stage 
if you want.

> There is no point in having this discussion again unless you're going
> to bring up something new.

Exactly.

> and lots of opinions. You're welcome to express
> yours, but you're not welcome to claim it is or should be the ruling
> opinion.

It is, and should be, the ruling opinion that data that cannot be 
sensibly edited by mappers shouldn not be in OSM. OSM is for editing, 
not for mirroring stuff that is edited elsewhere.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"