[OSM-talk] Some thoughts against remote mapping

[Jóhannes Birgir Jensson]

Þann 15.6.2015 10:07, skrifaði Marc Gemis:
>
> On Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 4:37 PM, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org 
> <mailto:frederik at remote.org>> wrote:
>
>        I'm known for being critical of armchair mapping by people with no
>     personal connection tho the area being mapped. Whether done for
>     fun, for
>     money, or to help, I think that in most cases it is a bad idea
>     that runs
>     against the spirit of OSM.
>
>
> I wonder what you think of "holiday"-mapping. Does not have this the 
> same problems as remote mapping ?
> I'm thinking here of e.g. Overlanders that will map campsites and 
> other tourist information on a otherwise possibly empty map in Africa 
> or Asia.
> But I also thought that there are other popular holiday destination in 
> e.g. Europe that were mapped by tourists instead a locals.
>
> Do you see this as a problem as well ?
I'm assuming no. I watch changesets in Iceland and we get a fair number 
of tourist changesets, which we welcome (and fix if needed - spelling 
mostly).

In 2009 Frederik gave an interview to Steve Coast where he said his 
biggest fear was that OSM would go towards elitism - that only certain 
people would be allowed to map. I'm hoping he hasn't changed his mind 
(although that is of course everyones prerogative). 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN1pjZsL1mA

Defining areas to be local and to only be touched by locals and, worse, 
forming their own unique cultural mapping style (buildings are now 
lines, roads are areas etc) that would be incompatible with the rest of 
the map, these things would be a form of elitism, no outsiders allowed.

There is no remote mapper that I know of that believes they can produce 
a better map than a local can, as I've categorized it in my tool then 
mapping is at least a two phase action, one that can be done remotely 
and the other locally. Sharing the remote burden all over the world 
instead of a small local populace, probably with limited internet 
connectivity, hardware and leisure time - to me that can only be a good 
thing.

No village left behind.

--Jói