[Talk-us] Potential vandalism in Northern California (Pokémon Go?) (Andy Townsend)

OSM Volunteer stevea steveaOSM at softworkers.com
Sat Dec 30 01:28:26 UTC 2017


Before we (Albert, Andy, others) discuss changing how we tag legislative references, OSM might reflect on the fact that it has a history (as of course any import does, whether widely discussed or done in the dead of night by a single volunteer).  Simultaneously, what we call a leisure=park blends and mingles with protected_area, this is a wide-open, worldwide discussion.  Moving targets, fuzzy definitions, changing and newer semantics:  these are relatively smaller problems in OSM.  Yet, solving these simultaneously is part of the cost of OSM growing.

Major is the difference between landuse and landcover.  (The root of many misunderstandings which turn into disagreements).  We continue and continue to discuss this sticky topic, in my opinion because it is easy for well-meaning people who have misunderstandings as to landuse and landcover continue to disagree, that is a predictable outcome of such semantic blurring.  As volunteers edit with our geo-editors using multiple and more-visual layers (satellite and/or aerial imaging), this semantic blurriness likely continues.

Sticking to the definitions which evolve in our (relatively slow-moving and hence with a stickier consensus) wiki both has worked and does work.  Let's keep doing that.

While I understand Pokémon Go vandalism (PGV) happens in OSM (and I ask neither forgiveness nor permission as I deftly remove it, as I know it when I see it), and that likely means a "watch search" or "heightened awareness" for PGV can cause some surprising understandings/interpretations/visual parsings of leisure=park when seen.  These are different, though related, topics.

When waters get muddy like this, talking about them first in a forum like here helps:

1)  Let's agree that what our wiki says in leisure=park defines what we mean by "a park is a park, like this, even if it doesn't seem like that is what other parks look like, exactly."  In other words, what OSM says is a "park" is a short definition, but it is an elastic one which encompasses a big and generous solution space to include parks.

2)  Landuse is not landcover and vice versa.

SteveA
California



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