[OSM-talk] Some thoughts against remote mapping

[Jóhannes Birgir Jensson]

An app developer in Botswana I've been in contact with has made the 
first app made in Botswana that uses OSM, Kabby Cab for the 
entrepreneurial Kabby system (independent mini buses) in Gaborone and 
he's working on expanding it into an app for ordering taxis and more. As 
anyone knows getting something like this off the ground requires willing 
participation from everyone else, but now they have the tools to start 
working towards it.

The app is at 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keneilwe.kabbycab

I'll let your insight work on finding out the beneficiaries of such 
locally made apps for local services.

Astounding to have to argue for better maps, simply astonishing. As for 
the "blank slate is the only way to get dedicated mapping community" 
then we are doing great aren't we? 10 years old and we have millions of 
small active mapping communities... or do we.

Building infrastructure happens in many places, not just for map data 
but also in all the meta data around that data, workflows, feedback and 
more. All things that are being worked on in various ways and many of 
which are designed to give people better feedback and encourage them to 
contribute more. The blank slate has had a decade and its done well in 
many areas, but I for one don't see it as feasible to give it another 
two decades to see if the theory, based on gut feeling, works in the 
rest of the map.

--JBJ



Þann 14.6.2015 18:36, skrifaði Bryce Nesbitt:
> On Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 6:12 AM, Jóhannes Birgir Jensson <joi at betra.is 
> <mailto:joi at betra.is>> wrote:
>
>     Who said anything about Westerners? Projects like mapping entire
>     Botswana and Lesotho is not for HOT issues, acute distress. It is
>     for making it easier for the local economies to grow, to use maps
>     like the Western world does to great effect.
>
>
> Do you -- or anyone -- have any evidence at all as to who /reads/ and 
> /uses/ the OSM maps in these areas?
> Is there any evidence at all it's "local" people.  Or is it all 
> western aid agencies?
>
> Are the OSM maps even in a format that local people or local 
> businesspeople find useful?

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