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

[Russ Nelson]

On Mar 9, 2009, at 4:11 PM, Ulf Lamping wrote:
>
> OSM is about to have a *free* database. Saying "your not allowed to
> change the data" is *not* a free database as I understand it.

For this particular case, it's not that you're not "allowed" to change  
the data -- it's that it makes no sense to change the data.  The data  
is an assertion by the DEC of what lands it manages.  By definition  
nobody can change that data -- because then it wouldn't have the same  
meaning.  And as the fellow points out, there's nothing you can  
determine from examining the site which would give you reason or  
information necessary to change the data.  You could find a sign not  
on the boundary -- but that would mean that the sign was wrong -- not  
that the boundary should be moved.

But this raises a larger question.  I have some reason to assert a  
claim of authority for railroad data for New York State.  How would  
you react to me staking a claim on NYS railroad data in OSM, saying  
"fair warning: if you edit any railroad data in NYS, I will revert  
your changes unless I approve of them."  Obviously the potential  
exists for a revert war, but given that I have a reasonable claim for  
my authority (e.g. http://rutlandtrail.org/list.cgi), why would  
someone else edit data that I am more expert in?

Yes, this is a very high-level topic; much higher than any import.     
Is there room in OSM for people to make more authoritative edits than  
other people?  On what basis are we to evaluate the quality of edits?   
How do we know if a particular edit improves or degrades the accuracy  
of the map?

--
Russ Nelson - http://community.cloudmade.com/blog - http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:RussNelson
russ at cloudmade.com - http://openstreetmap.org/user/RussNelson