[OSM-talk] Bing maps is misplaced

[Steve Bennett]

On Thu, Dec 9, 2010 at 11:50 AM, Richard Fairhurst <richard at systemed.net> wrote:
> But _intensive_ tracing can and does kill people's motivation. Doesn't
> matter whether you think the people are misguided or pompous, it happens.
> I've seen it in Worcester, in the East Midlands, in Northern Ireland.
>
> The result is that, rather than having the best map available, we merely
> have (especially in the case of OS OpenData) a carbon copy of a map you
> could download from somewhere else - and pissed-off mappers who no longer
> want to make it any better.

Excellent. Finally a rational argument against tracing in certain
situations. We could even begin to formulate policy:

"Tracing imagery in areas where there are active local mappers using
ground survey methods can kill enthusiasm and stunt the final quality
of the map. Consider asking on the appropriate mailing list before
doing it, particularly in densely populated areas."

OTOH, I have to say that almost everywhere is going to end up mapped
at the first level (what can be easily seen from the air), and it will
be an interesting challenge to motivate people to fill in those
secondary and tertiary layers of detail.

> But if you have an itchy mouse finger and it's cold outside, why not choose
> one of the a million and one other ways to make the map better - without
> endangering the enthusiasm which is OSM's greatest asset?

Speaking for myself, I actually really enjoy aerial tracing. Asking me
not to do it would be endangering *my* enthusiasm :) I enjoy going
outside as well, but I tend to find going out of my way to collect GPS
traces gets inconvenient, quickly. And I have issues with driving
hundreds of kilometres to do something that could be done remotely.

> There's so much to do. It's got to be more efficient for tracers to tackle
> the bits that _aren't_ being catered for by local mappers.

To be honest, this conflict never even occurred to me before. I don't
know whether it's particularly relevant to me though - Australia has
an enormous land/mapper ratio. And I can't imagine getting any grief
from some poor sod who was just desperate to get out on his bike and
locally survey yet another bloody new outer Melbourne housing
development.

Steve