[OSM-talk] OpenStreetMap Future Look

[Matt Amos]

On Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 7:20 PM, Paweł Paprota <ppawel at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> Ideally people from the ecosystem would be willing to write some code to
> integrate their cool projects into the main site. That is clearly not
> happening.

sure, ideally. it doesn't happen often and there are a wide range of
reasons for it, often simply that integration into the site requires
completely different skills from implementing the original cool
project, or that it seems too complex or time-consuming to do so.

finding out why and trying to improve the situation are parts of why
EWG was set up. but, as you said before, sometimes "it's not the
greatest way to discuss major features". but surely better than not
discussing them at all?

>> i think we can be more optimistic than that - we're all trying to
>> improve OSM, so rather than endlessly discussing all the negative
>> things, perhaps we could get back to doing what we enjoy: writing
>> code / mapping / etc...
>
> Sure, that's always good but note that another thread about OSM's future
> ends in basically no conclusion. Or rather the conclusion seems to be
> that all is fine and the future is secured with the current approach.

in any large project and whenever a group of people get together there
will be differences in view, and it is often difficult to get
consensus (sometimes even more difficult than integrating software).
but just because it is difficult doesn't mean that the result isn't
worth trying to achieve: these threads (and WG discussions) are part
of the process of approaching the future - one can't expect a single
meeting or discussion thread to satisfy everyone, or necessarily come
to any solid conclusion at all.

cheers,

matt