[OSM-talk] Source tags and changesets (was ... ODbL ...)

[Jochen Topf]

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 10:06:13AM +0200, Pieren wrote:
> [...]
> then compensated by local survey or aerial imagery. The result is that many
> contributions are often a mix of different sources.

Actually thats what OSM is all about. A mix of many different sources. Thats
why the source tag was moved from objects to changesets. And even there it
often doesn't make any sense.

The source tag can sometimes be some help in figuring out the history of an
object. After it was entered in OSM we have a complete history, before that the
source tag can sometimes help. But it is far less useful in practice than many
think. Exactly because the data almost always is a mix of many sources. In many
cases source tags on objects are even misleading, because people don't change
them when they change data, so the data only shows one source when it has many.
Its better to not have them at all.

OSM is not a collection of data of different sources, it is something new that
can only exist if people give up the idea that they own separable parts of it.
If somebody does not like the idea of his contribution going into the melting
pot as an unseparable part, he should not contribute.

Jochen
-- 
Jochen Topf  jochen at remote.org  http://www.remote.org/jochen/  +49-721-388298