[Talk-us] State of the map in Iowa / Athletics data

[Mike Thompson]

Karson,

Thanks for your assessment.  Unfortunately, I suspect that there are large
parts of the US where the quality and completeness of the OSM data is
similar to what you observed in Iowa.

Perhaps it is already happening and I am not aware of it, but in my
opinion, I think it would be a good idea for the OSMF and US chapter to
coordinate outreach to get more mappers involved. Post secondary education
institutions would be a logical place to start, but I am sure we can come
up with a number of other groups and institutions. As I recall, back in the
day, CloudMade had "ambassadors", and while funding may not be available
for paid ambassadors, volunteer positions with the work coordinated
centrally might be feasible.

I also think a systematic assessment of data quality, (perhaps a slightly
more formalized version of what you have already done in Iowa) if it isn't
already happening, would be a good thing as it would let us know how well
we are doing in producing a usable and useful map for various types of
users, and would focus our outreach efforts.

Regarding your sport specific observations, you might consider editing the
wiki (including the addition of any photos you might have of these
facilities) so that other mappers can benefit from your knowledge.

Just my two cents,

Mike

On Mon, Oct 26, 2020 at 3:37 PM Karson Sommer <karson.sommer at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Over the past month, I have mapped across the state of Iowa, attempting to
> add athletic facilities which were absent from the map. I went county by
> county, using Overpass to identify where likely locations were, ie parks,
> schools, etc. I checked each of these locations and added any pitches that
> were not already present. Additionally, if I came across any major or easy
> to correct issues, I went ahead and fixed the problems.
>
> My objective was to improve the quality of athletic facilities across the
> state so that I can use the data for a school project.
>
> Since I visited pretty much every incorporated city in the state, I had
> the opportunity to gauge the state of the map across Iowa.
>
> Some of my general observations:
> 1. The vast majority of cities have had 0 edits other than imports and
> mechanical QA edits.
> 2. TIGER did not include alleys. Many cities did not have their alleys
> drawn in. Waterloo/Cedar Falls has a population of ~120,000 and still did
> not have their alleys drawn in.
> 3. There are still tons of nodes that should be converted to areas. Some
> schools, cemeteries, parks. The majority of protected areas are still nodes
> despite the DNR owning significant quantities of land. Compare OSM to
> https://iowadnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f9161b90cddb4fcfb35a96901882a4b7/
>
> Some sport specific observations:
> 1. There are still tons of unpaved running tracks in Iowa, mainly at small
> schools. In my years of running, I have only ran on a single cinder track.
> 2. Most rubberized tracks are black, then red, then blue. There were a few
> purple tracks. A very unusual colored green track,
> https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/783085755
> 3. There are very few irregular shaped tracks. Here is a rubberized,
> rectangular track, https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/773898697
> 4. Baseball fields come in all sizes and shapes. Some small towns of 100
> people have high quality fields.
>
> Just thought I would share my notes in case anyone was interested.
>
> Thanks,
> Karson
> karsonkevin2
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