[OSM-talk] Using Notes in France

[Andreas Labres]

On 29.07.14 22:32, Jóhannes Birgir Jensson wrote:
> Map Notes are in my mind a to-do list obvious problems that require surveying
> on the ground

I disagree with this (principle idea). Notes were created as an easy means for
non-mappers (or less experienced mappers) to give some kind of hint where they
don't know how to fix the problem themselves. For instance, you (as a
non-mapper) look at the map, see the street has no name, but you know for sure
that this street is named bla. You have no clue how to edit OSM, but you can put
a note saying "this street here is named bla, there is a sign there saying this,
I saw it yesterday". Then some mapper will fix it for you.

The comment feature is a nice idea to ask back if something is unclear. But it
is broken by idea, as the original - anonymous - poster will never ever come
back and see it. OTOH it is misused (IMO) by experienced mappers for discussions
that should take place somewhere else (ML, forum, e-mail, Stammtisch,...).

But Notes are neither personal notes nor "commands" to the crowd ("go survey"). IMO.

Coming back to
> I was surveying some area in France earlier this year and found a spot with
> missing street names 

I don't know about France, but here in Austria there are residential roads
(especially in rural areas) that don't have names. I tend to put a noname=yes
tag but where comes the idea from that there is something *"missing"*?

Of course, a foreign mapper could stumble upon this and ask - via Notes - why
there are no name tags. And the answer should be that there are no street names
there  (and perhaps tagging a noname=yes).

But if the names exist and are really missing because nobody ever looked there
any closer, a Note expressing this doesn't help anything.

/al