[OSM-talk] Concern over untagged ways and map roulette

[John Whelan]

I've stumbled across a couple of mappers who have been deleting untagged 
ways identified by map roulette.

Is there any guidance I can point them to?

They aren't easy to spot as the evidence disappears quite quickly but 
I've seen a section of waterway quite visible on Bing or Mapbox mapped 
but untagged that has been deleted, I've seen paths into villages 
visible on Bing or Mapbox again deleted.

The other issue is the imagery they are working from might be out of 
date and I don't like deleting things just because they aren't shown in 
Bing.

Sometimes deletion of an untagged way is correct, I've done it myself 
when the untagged way maps a waterway that is already mapped, or a 
highway that is already mapped but this is deleting when there is 
nothing underneath.

Sometimes I come across a settlement where there might be fifty 
buildings mapped but not tagged.  My thoughts are it really is better to 
tag them than delete them.

Thoughts?

Thanks John