[OSM-talk] "OSM mapping is difficult" (was: privacy policy)

[Barnett, Phillip]

Hi Imi,

Don't take it so badly :-)

JOSM is a great tool, as is the underlying OSM API's/ database etc. 
But, it took me a while to get to grips with JOSM - it's certainly not
something you pick up in five minutes, and I'm still not sure of all the
features - and I work with new software all the time. 

OSM and JOSM and GPS between them have absolutely lowered the bar to
entry into GIS and mapping, and I'm very excited about that. But it
hasn't yet become idiot-proof, and I'm not convinced we want absolutely
everyone on board OSM, at least, not yet. We need to make the system
more robust/verifiable before that happens.

People keep on about Wikipedia - OSM isn't comparable with that. Most
parts of the world map that I hope OSM will eventually become will be
surveyed ONCE ONLY. People will never resurvey a 'completed' area of the
map - they will look for blank spots first. If the person who draws out
the initial maps makes a few small errors, or is just plain sloppy, how
do we pick that up? Like it or not, early adopter types, as I presume
most of us are (hey, we've got GPS's, like Open Source, subscribe to
mailing lists - we're geeky and pedantic) are the best people to at
least draw the base map - main streets etc.

Wikipedia is very visible - if you read an article with an obvious
inaccuracy, you can correct it easily. 
BUT I don't see how you can pick up errors in a map so easily, by eye. 

Verifiability is what's needed. And a Wiki-type interface, where I can
look to see the history of the area I'm interested in, would help. Ie,
was it all done by the same person, in a few days? Or did someone sketch
out the initial rough map, and then someone else filled in the detail
months later? Or has one user come along after months of static
inactivity and drawn several new roads - or changed the route /name of
several roads suspiciously.

That sort of thing is what I'd like to see.

Phillip

-----Original Message-----
From: talk-bounces at openstreetmap.org
[mailto:talk-bounces at openstreetmap.org] On Behalf Of Immanuel Scholz
Sent: 28 July 2006 13:59
To: talk at openstreetmap.org
Subject: [OSM-talk] "OSM mapping is difficult" (was: privacy policy)

Hi,

> OSM mapping is difficult - I suggest we should be raising the bar to 
> participate, rather than lowering it, at least in the early stages.

If this is the case, then we failed misserably.

If OSM if something other than an approach to make mapping and using the
stuff easy for all, then it is time to start another project with the
goal to "make mapping and using the maps easy for all", maybe with lower
secondary goals (e.g. loosing applications that require tighty
structures).


Or maybe I am in the wrong community?


Ciao, Imi



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