[OSM-talk] Google launches "Indigenous Mapping" workshop

Roy Wallace waldo000000 at gmail.com
Wed Dec 23 22:25:07 GMT 2009


On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 6:51 AM, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
>
> ... I view all this Google activity not with the same
> skepticism that others seem to have. I think someone who is mapping for
> Google is still better than someone who is not mapping at all!

That's not skepticism, but it's a good point :)

> It takes
> enormous resources to (where reqired)
>
> - explain to people what maps are ;-)
> - make them understand that maps are not god-given or a government thing but
> you can (help) make them yourself
> - train people to look out for the things that are important for map making
>
> A population that has these skills and this knowledge is a much more fertile
> environment for OSM to flourish in - even if that initial awareness has come
> from Google.

But what if that population then consists entirely of Map Maker users?
Is that really beneficial for OSM? I know what you're saying, but it
is reasonable to expect Map Maker users to jump ship to OSM? Is that
even what we should be hoping for?




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