[OSM-talk] A plea for meaning ful changeset comments

[Ed Avis]

Pieren <pieren3 <at> gmail.com> writes:

>About the 'why', I can already tell you :- if someone displaces 20 nodes, the
>'why' is because this person things that his source is more accurate than the
>previous contribution. The 'why' is a more accurate source.

Indeed - and all that's needed is to mention this source in the comment.

'Adjusted road positions based on GPS traces'

>- if someone adds 100 buildings in an empty area, it's because this person
>found a source for those buildings.

'Traced buildings from aerial photo' or 'from OS map' or from whatever
source you used.

>- if someone renames a pub or a restaurant, it's because this person thinks
>that his knowledge is more recent than the previous contribution

In that case perhaps no special comment is needed, though myself I'd still
add a note saying 'I walked past this pub and the name has changed'.

Yes, of course it is obvious that the reason for making a change is "I have
better information" or "I believe that the new version is correct".  But that's
not what is meant by the 'why' of the change; rather, a useful hint about where
the data came from, so that somebody else remapping the same area can make an
informed decision about whether his or her data, in turn, is better quality
than what's on the map.

-- 
Ed Avis <eda at waniasset.com>