[OSM-talk] Zero tolerance on imports

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 02/21/2011 04:03 PM, Peter Budny wrote:
> Those of you who think all automated or semi-automated data
> contributions are harmful to OSM are dooming this project to never be
> able to grow to become a leading source of mapping data.

It is a common fallacy to believe that good map data could somehow, 
magically, be produced from computers that evaluate GPS tracks, camera 
recordings, or aerial imagery.

If this were possible, then Google et al. would be 10 times as good at 
doing it as we are.

The strength of OSM is the people on the ground. If you try to eliminate 
them from the equation you're left with an average quality, patchy map - 
and not the great map of the future that you seem to envisage. We want 
to make the map of the people, where everyone participates and feels 
responsible for his part in the work. This is not the Great Government 
Data Dump.

> Last year, as part of a school project, I built a robot that will
> automatically create route relations for all the state highways in the
> US, being careful not to change or duplicate existing data.

[...]

> The code would be in use already if not for a few people running around
> panicking about my devil-robot and its witchcraft.

Maybe you haven't been able to demonstrate the added value your 
mechanical edit would bring to the database? I mean, if it can be 
determined by a robot, then surely it would be redundant to have it in 
the data again?

Bye
Frederik