[OSM-talk] GeoChat plugin for JOSM

[Ilya Zverev]

Frederik Ramm wrote:
>
> Zverik,
>
> On 10.05.2013 10:29, Ilya Zverev wrote:
>> http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/JOSM/Plugins/GeoChat
>
> That sounds great. I always wanted to have something like that!
>
> I have some thoughts about it - not meant to criticize, I'm really
> looking forward to seeing this used more widely!

I've got so much criticism on Russian forum, your points are quite 
polite suggestions in comparison :)

> * Are "private" messages really "private" in the senses that only the
> user logged in as the recipient will receive them? If not, maybe 
> rename
> to "directed messages" or so.

Yes, they are absolutely private: only a user with a fixed uid can read 
them, and uids are meant to be kept private. In other words, while API 
relies on user names, internal messaging works on user ids, so only a 
client who knows a recipient id can read their private messages. And a 
sender, of course.

> * If this catches on, there will soon be demand for some kind of
> authentication - that keeps me from joining the chat under the name
> "Zverik" or so ;) maybe it could be implemented with OAuth, where the
> server would check with the OSM server whether the logged-in user has
> the same user name in OSM, and then notifies clients whether a 
> certain
> user name is "authenticated" or not. People could still use any name 
> but
> clients could make them show up in grey or so if they're not 
> authenticated.

Since this chat instance is aimed at OSMers, verification could be made 
mandatory. But 1) I'm not sure how to do it right, without requiring 
users to authentificate against the chat server; most users are still 
logging in via username or e-mail. 2) Very few people use nickserv's 
name protection, and I doubt taking another user's name would have 
serious consequences.

Oh wait, I'm getting ideas on how to do it right. Still, I am not 
introducing verification until there has been a case where it could 
matter.

> * I don't yet understand how messages are located. You seem to be 
> using
> point coordinates only, so if i write something is that always mapped 
> to
> the centre of my curren viewpoint? If I zoom out and have a 50x50km 
> area
> on my screen, will I only see the messages pertaining to a 20km 
> circle
> in the middle of my screen? - I have a feeling that maybe the plugin 
> and
> protocol might benefit from extending this to use rectangles in 
> sending
> as well as polling for messages.

All messages in a bbox R*2 km wide centered on a user's position are 
returned. If you zoom out past "zoom 10" or its equivalent in JOSM, 
public chat pane is turned off: it was made for local chat, and not as a 
general talk box. A radius value of 20 km (actually, 30 now) was 
determined by measuring a lot of distances and checking mapping parties 
areas, and I don't intend to increase it. Users requesting bigger radii 
usually are satisfied with my plans to include IRC in the plugin with 
automatic regional channel selection. Also, private chats are not 
restricted by visibility radius.

> * Auto-login for the plugin would be great.

Just added it :)

> * Maybe announce on JOSM's "message of the day" to get more people to
> try it out?

I'm all for that, though this is for JOSM maintainers to decide: 
"message of the day" is a quite powerful page, and I'm not sure I should 
advertise my plugin(s) on it.

> Great work!

Thanks!

IZ