[OSM-talk] Could JOSM be dumbed down?

[stevea]

On Jan 19, 2022, at 2:54 PM, john whelan <jwhelan0112 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hence I wondered if a new wrapper or a way to limit the complexity might make it more fashionable?  And need less clean up afterwards.

The "wrapper" is good pedagogy that laser-focuses on "the basics" and what might be a good subset for Lesson 1:  for example, buildings using the buildings_tool plugin is a perfectly satisfactory choice.  Really, you could teach somebody to drive you to the hospital in an emergency (OK, in an automatic transmission automobile) by pointing-and-saying "gas pedal, brake pedal, steering wheel...and what you've seen me and others do while driving..." and you'd live to tell the tale.  This takes some courage on both of your parts (teacher AND student), but if you've got it, use it.

> ...but getting through to the HOT mappers seems difficult because they have the perception JOSM is too difficult for new mappers.

It might SEEM difficult, but it isn't when you tell them to "mentally ignore" what might otherwise be complex and/or confusing.  (You don't need to use turn signals and two defroster circuits to bolt to the hospital!)  JOSM is NOT "too difficult for new mappers," I and Martin (and many others at similar Mapping Parties and on the other end of video / YouTube tutorials...) have already both discovered and even proven.  So, blow to smithereens the roadblock that JOSM is too difficult, it isn't.  Yes, I'll agree this takes careful teaching and "partitioning" (away from complexity, directly towards — laser-precisely — the lesson at hand) in your goals and actual pedagogy, but the idea of "too complex" is only a perception.  And as we already know, perceptions are not reality.