[OSM-talk] EWG policy on including features end users versus mappers

[Jason Remillard]

Hi Peter,

>
> When you talk about Users, who are you talking about? To me, the users of
> openstreetmap.org are a) mappers, who use the site to veryfiy their work and
> b) people using (or aiming at using) the data in their projects, mashups,
> products or papers.
>
> I, personally, don't see my neighbour, planning a trip to his parents, as a
> user of openstreetmap.org *although* he may be a user of the
> openstreetmap-data, nicely presented in another project.

Lets look at some of these downstream projects.

In the US, craigslist is a huge site using OSM data right now. 60
million different people a year. Note, nowhere does it say that can
EDIT the map and fix a mistake by going to osm.org site. How is
somebody supposed to know that?

http://boston.craigslist.org/search/aap?useMap=1&zoomToPosting=&query=&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=&bedrooms=

Next up foursquare.

https://foursquare.com/explore?cat=food&near=Pepperell%2C%20MA

Again, users of foursquare don't have a clue that they can edit the
map! You need to click on the "about this map" link and land into a
very technical blog post that mentions OSM at the end, again without
telling people that can EDIT the map.

Now, I am very happy that these companies are using the map data, I really am.

You can't expect the downstream data users to carry our water for us.
We need a map that lots of people use, with a big fat EDIT button at
the top. Dumping features from OSM.org because they might be useful
for a weekend trip is shooting ourselves in the foot. Could you
imagine a world where Wikipedia had a bunch of good looking consumer
facing sites without edit buttons with just subtle hints back to a
editor only site. We are geo wiki, lets not be afraid to act like one.

Thanks
Jason.