[OSM-talk] Response to A critique of OpenStreetMap

Al Haraka alharaka at gmail.com
Fri Oct 15 12:13:10 BST 2010


On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 1:35 PM, Ed Loach <ed at loach.me.uk> wrote:
> Elizabeth wrote:
>
>> No, I cannot create the nice map.

I do not want to be so blunt, but I do not know any other way: then
stop complaining about the map.  Or anything an OSM user can complain
about at OSM, for that matter.  This is an open data project, so I
have been told.  Like many open source projects that it relies upon,
specifically the tools used to render and manipulate OSM data, the
ecosystem upon which it relies is meritocracy.  The people you have
take issue with do have the power because they have the knowledge and
skills to create these tools or refine them.  If you do not like the
current tool set, and you are not part of a significant plurality of
users and developers who can enforce such a change, you have to learn
to make your own.  I am sorry, but that was, is, and always will be
the way open source works, at least in my mind.  I have my own
opinions on OSM quality, but then again I am not yet a component OSM
contributor, web developer, or system administrator.  It is not my
place to judge until I understand the tools well enough to critique
them accurately on a technical level (nice is not really specific
enough for me), and then modify them or make new ones in the event a
significant number of people in the community disagree with me.  The
point of the community is to leverage your skills with the skills of
others.  That way, we have a high competency level in multiple
dimensions.  If you do not like one component and cannot fix it
yourself, it is bizarre for me, personally, to insist others conform
to your wishes.  I have believed that open source and open data
projects specifically let go of that thinking so that skilled,
inspired people can focus on what they want without organizational
problems where unknowledgeable people higher in a hierarchy get in
their way.  Hence OSM and many other groups try to keep the hierarchy
very flat (some do, anyway).  I do not mean to be rude about this, but
it is obvious to me.  I am not sure if needs to be spelled out.



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