[OSM-talk] GNIS quality improvement, was: USGS Topo maps

[Josh Doe]

On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 2:10 PM, Greg Troxel <gdt at ir.bbn.com> wrote:
>
>  On that matter -- I've been working on an idea for a GNIS microtasking
>  platform. What it would do is:
>
>  * Show a random non-improved GNIS point in your neighborhood - name +
>    map
>
>  * Allow you to 1) drag the point to the correct location, 2) flag it
>    as no longer existing or 3) flag it as incorrect name.
>
>  * The collected improvements would be pushed to OpenStreetBugs or
>    something similar.
>
> That makes sense, but how do you deal with logging the modifier of the
> data - is this a webapp, and do people log in with OAuth?

I think the best microtasking apps are ones that don't require any
registration, as you want the lowest barrier to entry. This of course
means the user won't be making the actual changes to OSM, but rather
an OSM contributor will review and make the changes themselves.
Alternatively, you could create an OSM account for the "microtasking
platform" (I think Wheelmap.org does this), and wait for every point
to be corrected at least N (perhaps 2 or 3) times, and to be within
some tolerance of each other (perhaps 10 meters) (I believe the Bing
microtasking app does this for building entrances).

It would be nice to also allow OSM registered users to make the
changes immediately, you just don't want to force everyone to create
an account.

> I wonder if you can make this a JOSM plugin.

That would be nice, but it's definitely no longer a microtasking app,
at least not in my view (meaning it's not a web app).

-Josh