[OSM-talk] SteveC should decide

[Gervase Markham]

On 03/10/09 04:00, Matt Amos wrote:
> are you suggesting that the best way forward is for some authority to
> decree that there is One True Way of tagging noname roads and forcing
> all mappers, editors and renderers to support it?

No, the best way forward is for some authority to decree that there is 
One True Way of tagging noname roads, and for mappers, editors and 
renderer authors to go "fab, that makes my life a lot easier" and choose 
to follow it.

At the moment, people are deathly afraid of the second half of your 
sentence, and so think that makes the first half impossible.

> it might be helpful if the wiki documented the guidance of experienced
> mappers, rather than the free-for-all of half-baked ideas that it
> seems to have become.

Quite :-)

> then why suggest placing any one person in an exalted "leadership"
> position?

Because sometimes, occasionally, a benevolent dictator (a phrase used by 
lots of open source projects) has to break deadlock and dictate. Things 
are working well when that power is used very, very rarely, but it needs 
to exist. Mozilla has two - one code, one non-code, and I can't remember 
the last time they had to break a deadlock in this way. But it's vital 
that they _could_.

> if mappers tag the way they feel is best and the tool authors (i.e:
> nonames layer) consume the tags in the way they feel is best then the
> two will converge, as long as everyone keeps an open mind and refrains
> from childish antagonism.

I think that is unrealistically optimistic. How long have we been going, 
and why hasn't it happened yet?

Gerv