[OSM-talk] immutable=yes Fwd: DEC Lands

[Matt Toups]

Russ Nelson wrote:
> On Mar 9, 2009, at 3:07 PM, Matthew Toups wrote:
>>  If we can't change the data, what's the point of having it in OSM?
> 
> Having consistent metadata and a consistent single-source API.

Interesting reasons, not exactly what motivates me the most about OSM,
but I can see how that might be of interest.

You didn't answer the first part of my question -- Why?  Is the reason
this data should not be editable because Robert Morrell says so?

>>>> On what bases would someone with no formal training, no legal deed
>>>> description, or survey map have to determine if a State boundary is
>>>> correct or incorrect. Simply holding a GPS receiver does not give
>>>> someone authority.
>> This sounds like many arguments against wikipedia -- of *course* only
>> highly trained professionals should be allowed to edit an  
>> encyclopedia!
> 
> Note his title: Surveyors get VERY VERY grumpy whenever they hear that  
> people with a GPS receiver are using it for positional recording.   
> VERY grumpy.

Yes, I see.  So should OSM take the "wiki" out of "The Free Wiki World
Map" because it makes certain people grumpy?  I'm not sure why I should
care so much about what these people think.

>> We can't change what OSM is all about just because somebody else (who
>> happens to have some geodata we might want to import) doesn't like it!
> 
> You're arguing that we shouldn't change OSM because we can change OSM??

That sounds clever and ironic, but of course is not what I'm saying.
Changing tags is one thing, yes of course that happens all the time.
But you are talking about making it so that nobody other than you can
edit this data, and I am saying that conflicts with what I think OSM is
all about.

I'm arguing that making OSM data immutable because these people from DEC
think it ought to be is a bad reason to break an important property of
OSM.  Now, if data needs to be immutable to deal with abuse or
vandalism, that could be a much better reason, but that's not what we're
talking about is it?

-- 
Matthew Toups, OpenStreetMap.org Regional Community Ambassador
matthew at cloudmade.com || 504-684-4OSM (4676) || Skype: MatthewToupsCloudMade