[OSM-talk] MAPS.ME edits - partly sub-standard

[Andy Townsend]

On 21/06/2016 10:12, joost schouppe wrote:
> The scope for growth of our community with Maps.me is phenomenal. Of 
> course there is room for improvement. But it's never going to be easy 
> to lower the barriers to participation without losing quality.
>

I don't think that it's an explicitly MAPS.ME problem - it's a "new 
mappers" one.  There have been "ban iD", "ban Potlatch" etc. complaints 
since those editors have existed, and new mappers using JOSM are just as 
likely to make a mess of things as with other editors, but the resulting 
fallout tends to be rather more nuclear.

That said, there may well be some mileage in the ideas below:

> Some ideas:
>
> - maps.me <http://maps.me> should probably stick to simple-to-map 
> objects when it adds data. Complicated stuff should go in a note.

> - if the maps.me <http://maps.me> data is old, any added object should 
> be a note by default

We get "notes by default" from other apps that use old data (e.g. 
Navmii) and in that case it's just as annoying to deal with - actually 
more so in that case as the notes are anonymous.

> - maps.me <http://maps.me> should investigate why response is so low 
> to changeset comments. Maybe OSM messages can be integrated in the 
> app? Maybe added info should be Note by default until they have 
> responded to a test message sent through the OSM messaging system. 
> (though in my experience response to any OSM message is low, not just 
> maps.me <http://maps.me> users)

I'm not convinced that the reply rate from MAPS.ME users is much lower 
than other new mappers.  As you say, new mappers often don't reply - 
probably because they think of OSM as a map or a database rather than a 
community, and databases don't in general talk back to you.  However, 
that's just a gut feeling on my part - someone would need to go through 
changesets and discussions and count up to be sure.

The same options are available with unresponsive MAPS.ME users as with 
other users - try and contact them via changeset discussions, and if 
that doesn't work drop a mail to the Data Working Group explaining the 
problem.  We can send them a message via the "block" mechanism that they 
have to read before they can continue editing (without actually stopping 
them from editing for any length of time).  Usually the problem is a 
language barrier one, or they're just not getting emails because they 
don't monitor the account they signed up with, or they're just "not very 
communicative", and once it's clear that the problem won't go away of 
it's own accord they'll engage positively.

> - maybe we should have a manual review system in place for ALL maps.me 
> <http://maps.me> changesets, until someone marks the account as 
> "experienced"

That's pretty much what's happening already (just not with MAPS.ME users 
only).  In many places around the world new mappers are either 
explicitly welcomed or helped along through their first few edits. 
There's even been a recent help question about using whodidit for the 
purpose:

https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/50331/how-to-search-for-go-map-editor-in-whodidit

Cheers,

Andy

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