[OSM-talk] Ongoing bulk uploads of GPS traces?

Sam Wilson sam at archives.org.au
Sat Oct 16 04:59:07 BST 2010


  On 16/10/10 10:01 AM, Richard Weait wrote:
>> I'd also double check that there aren't privacy concerns - gpx traces
>> contain time information - is your company happy releasing that? Would
>> it compromise them? Do the drivers get a say?
> Good point.  If privacy or business practices are a concern, you might
> munge the timestamps a bit.  IIRC, OSM requires timestamps and will
> ignore files without them.  Also IIRC you can use gpsbabel to set the
> timestamps in your file to one second gaps beginning at unix epoch, so
> that would give your vehicles outrageous speeds during 1970.
>
> Also you can choose the privacy settings for your traces to prevent
> sharing the timestamps.
>
> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Visibility_of_GPS_traces
>
>

Yeah, I'd thought about this.  I've been playing with gpsbabel, and 
figuring out the whole workflow, including timestamp munging.  I was 
going to upload as 'private' tracks; are there any drawbacks to doing so?

We've got, it looks like, the last three months or so of tracks from 
about twenty vehicles, and I can break the data up into whatever chunks 
I want.  I've been working with one track file per seven days, which 
seems to be about a 6-8MB gpx file.  Would this be okay to upload?  Is 
there any issue with it containing only one track (i.e. there are some 
connections between points that are hundreds of kilometers apart).

As for the drivers: they know the vehicles movements are being logged, 
and they know that I'm working on making their maps better; there 
wouldn't be any problem with getting their permission, but I'm not sure 
it's necessary -- there's no way to link any part of the logging to any 
particular vehicle, or driver.  Hmm... there will be a concentration of 
points near drivers' homes... but then again, also near every place they 
stop as well.  Is this something to worry about?

I should have an official sign-off on the uploading sometime this week.

- Sam.



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