[OSM-talk] OSM issues: timestamps

[Etienne]

On 7/24/06, matthew-osm at newtoncomputing.co.uk <
matthew-osm at newtoncomputing.co.uk > wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I've known about and been contributing to OSM now for about 3 weeks. I
> thought
> about creating maps from my GPS tracks two or three years ago, but didn't
> know
> where to start, so I was really pleased when I was introduced to OSM. I've
> been
> really enjoying mapping my area, and it's given me some needed exercise on
> my
> bike, too, which is good (except my bike chain broke yesterday afternoon
> :-(
> _too_ much exercise is obviously a bad thing!).
>
> But... I'm quite saddened by the amount of squabbling and flaming that I
> see on
> this list. It seems strange to me that there are lots of people creating a
> really great system and software, but don't seem to be able to get on
> together.
> Is this really the case?


Actually I think the vigourous debates that you are seeing is generally a
good thing.  It shows that a lot of people are interested in the project,
have lots of uses for the data, care about it and want to help by expressing
their views.

OSM is still in its formative stages.  There should really be a big label
somewhere that says "OpenStreetMap - version 0.3 - beta".  It astonishes me
how much mapping has actually been done already and its a credit to the
founders of this project that so much has been done with so little by so few
(to paraphrase someone else).  At the rate it is going there's a good chance
the whole of the UK will be mapped before we get to version 1.0.

What we do seem to be missing is any mechanism for moving from vigourous
debate to consensus and resolution.  This is something that I think OSMF
should be a facilitator for.  All of the current issues have been discussed
at length on several occassions and will continue to do so if we don't have
a mechanism for settling them.

Etienne

Anyway, I've got some ideas about these "anonymous" and "privacy" issues,
> but
> I'll have to find some time to write them down. A question I have been
> wondering
> about for a while, though, is why do the uploaded GPX files require a
> timestamp?
> Surely there is no need to collect it, and from what I have heard
> indirectly it
> is not a required field for the trackpoint part of a GPX file.


I am happy for people to see where I have been (if I upload the track to the
> server, that is) and if someone wants to know where I live then they can
> just
> use whois. However it seems more of an issue of what time I went there.
> Especially as things such as speed can be calculated*, or "X was at this
> place
> at this time". What if I programatically fudge the timestamps to make them
> meaningless?
>
> Sorry if this has been covered before I started; I can't find anything in
> an FAQ
> apart from "my data doesn't work... that's because you didn't include the
> timestamp".
>
> Thanks!
>
> --
> Matthew
>
>
> * No, I don't break the limit that often, but however hard any of us tries
> it
>   will always happen at some point or other.
>
>
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