[OSM-talk] Detrimental to the OSM database

[Lester Caine]

On 23/08/14 09:47, Lester Caine wrote:
> On 23/08/14 09:16, Mateusz Konieczny wrote:
>>     I object to someone telling me that a road needs 'smoothing' ... it may
>>     well have very well mapped source data, and someone who does not know
>>     that will be stripping data simply because it does not follow the
>>     programmers arbitrarily defined rules.
>>
>> And that is why it is checked by humans, using aerial imagery and not
>> changed by unsupervised software.
>>
>> Armchair tracing roads from aerial images is really helpful, with rare
>> exception of well mapped areas with active community.
> 
> In some areas we are beyond the aerial imagery so as long as people KNOW
> that the fine detail they are being shown is wrong then OK, but this may
> well be well mapped detail not something that actually NEEDS 'smoothing'
> ... especially when the selection of imagery available does not always
> line up exactly with one another. I'd rather not see some of the list on
> maproulette applied to the UK and I'm sure other European countries
> would feel the same? We have some very fine detail now being mapped and
> any smoothing algorithm wuold have to be very cleaver not to affect that.

I've had a look at a few of the 'tasks' flagged by maproulette. The
first few were quite normal bends in roads and nothing worth doing, but
the next couple were substantially more work, and smoothing was not the
problem. The whole area was very poorly mapped, with straight lines for
roads and tracks that were substantially more complex. iD was even
offering to 'straighten them'. So OK it's flagging up areas that need
work, but only by default. Around here finding a straight road is the
challenge :)

http://openstreetmap.us/iD/release/#background=Bing&map=17.00/-83.15249/36.43657
is the one I'm currently on and leaving as it's impossible to see any
detail in iD ... how do people cope with the dark images?

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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