Re: [Talk-us] license changes

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, Feb 13, 2016 at 7:24 PM, Steve Coast  wrote:
> Any license change process, or anything remotely close to it, should be open 
> and transparent. It should involve the community from the start and any 
> company that wants to participate too.

I'm aligned with that.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Help with OSM Presentation

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, Apr 18, 2015 at 10:00 PM, Clifford Snow cliff...@snowandsnow.us wrote:
 I'm doing a presentation at Linuxfest Northwest in Bellingham, WA in hopes
 to gain new mappers. To help me with the presentation, I'd like to hear from
 you. Below are some questions - answer all or just a few.

 What about OSM surprised you most?
The amazing diversity in the interests of new contributors.  I meet
new OpenStreetMap contributors every month, and the interest that
brings them in to meet us differ widely.

 What is should I absolutely not leave out of the presentation?

1) Go outside and survey your neighbourhood. There is nothing better
that you can do for OpenStreetMap, than behave as though you are
tending a shared garden.
2) Time for questions.  I have trouble with this because I like to talk. :-)
3) It's Fun. It's Free. You can help.  One of the earliest tag lines
used in the project.  True then. true now.

For the Linuxfest audience, you might want to add something about the
hundreds (or thousands) of F/LOSS projects that intersect with the
OpenStreetMap project.  You certainly can't be expert about all of
them, or event list them, but the Linuxfest audience will want to be
reassured that they can probably find a library for their preferred
development environment.

Break a leg!

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Last few days. State of the Map: Call for Venues 2016

[Richard Weait]

Dear All,

The Call for Venues to host State of the Map 2016 is open for a few more days.

Do you wish that your town / region could host State of the Map?  It
isn't too late.  Get a team of locals together and assemble a bid.

Have a look at the example bids, and the bids submitted so far.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_Of_The_Map_2016/Call_for_venues

If you have any questions about preparing a bid and/or hosting State
of the Map, contact the State of the Map Working Group
t...@stateofthemap.org


Best regards and happy mapping,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] North Carolina Outer Banks

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, Apr 4, 2015 at 4:49 PM, Jeff Klein jeff.klein...@gmail.com wrote:
 If I am correct, probably confused, the map sets only go as far east as -76 
 West, which excludes the Outer Banks of North Carolina. How do I get maps 
 that go further east?

Dear Jeff,

Are you asking about the garmin files that are found here?
http://daveh.dev.openstreetmap.org/garmin/Lambertus/2015-03-29

They are extracted from OpenStreetMap data and converted to the format
for those devices.  If something is missing, like a swath East of some
line, then it was likely left out deliberately, for some reason. (Or
by mistake, like failing to recognize the awesomeness of Southern
Shores, NC, and the Duck Woods Country Club. Sa-lute!!!)

If you would like help with a specific CONSUMER of OpenStreetMap data,
and there are many of them, please say which one you are referring to.
If you are talking about Dave's wonderful garmin extracts, then you
might try one of the larger file formats that span more than just the
continental US.  You also might send Dave an email and ask if he would
consider moving his bounding boxes for you, to include the area that
interests you.

And, yeah, the outer banks are awesome.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] On advocacy. (Rant-ish) Was: Retagging hamlets in the US

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Mar 18, 2015 at 4:01 AM, Greg Morgan dr.kludge...@gmail.com wrote:
 On Tue, Mar 17, 2015 at 2:58 PM, Richard Weait rich...@weait.com wrote:

 3) New mapper fixes the BadHamlet and starts mapping their favourite
 restaurants, bowling alleys and coffee shops.

 This is a great idea but I believe that you have the experience backwards. I
 can only speak for myself but as a new mapper but I had no interesting in
 fixing things.  I mapped features of interest or where I found the most
 rewards.

By all means keep doing what works for you.  Build on the suggestions
from many sources, of how best to talk to your friends / colleagues /
neighbours and get them mapping.

And, thanks!  It's not a new idea, of course.  This is the same way
Steve Coast started OpenStreetMap; talk to people you know and get
them to map things near them.  This part hasn't changed at all.

What has changed is that we have it way easier than Steve did in the
early days.  We can point to working renderings of OpenStreetMap data,
we can point to applications that consume or even edit OpenStreetMap
on most any device imaginable, we can point to tutorials and blogs
about this or that arcane aspect of the project that holds the
interest of our colleague, but perhaps not ours.  We can even point to
mailing lists and IRC channels in dozens of languages for help when we
don't have exactly the right words in common.

It's way easier to get a potential new mapper started today than it
was when Steve started all of this, over a decade ago.

What hasn't changed is that advocacy is a deliberate choice.  You have
to decide to do it.  But that decision can be as easy as reaching out
to a old contact on your favourite social network,saying, What's up?
and asking if they want to know about the mapping thing you do.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Retagging hamlets in the US

[Richard Weait]

My initial reaction to any automated edit is to break out in a rash.
Can we use that image to promote mapping best practices?  :-)

Goal: A new local mapper in each BadHamlet

Method:

1) Create an overlay that displays the hamlets as ugly, rash-like
spots.  It could even be a rash that allows checkouts a la tasking
manager.

2) Encourage mappers to do outreach in each spot.
- Mapper in Oregon sees that there is a BadHamlet in Massachusetts,
adjacent to their old hometown / alma mater / vacation spot.  Mapper
reaches out to their old classmates / colleagues / neighbours to find
one or more new mappers in / near that hamlet.

3) New mapper fixes the BadHamlet and starts mapping their favourite
restaurants, bowling alleys and coffee shops.

Benefits:

We get new local, mappers, in areas that aren't getting as much
attention as they might.

Mappers have a fun reason to reach out to folks they might not have
contacted recently.incorrect hamlet

Mappers have the opportunity to do some fun outreach to potential new
mappers for the first time.

Results:

The BadHamlets get fixed.

Potential objections:

Outreach is too hard, a mechanical edit is way faster.
I don't like outreach, I want to use software tools.
That will take forever.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Mappy hour tomorrow!

[Richard Weait]

On Mar 8, 2015 10:43 PM, Martijn van Exel m...@rtijn.org wrote:

 Hey all,

 It's time for Mappy Hour tomorrow! I changed the time slot to 11am
Pacific / 2pm Eastern,

Thanks for organizing these, Martijn. They're fun. :-)
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Call for Venues Open; State of the Map 2016

[Richard Weait]

The Call for Venues for State of the Map 2016 is now open.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_Of_The_Map_2016/Call_for_venues

Build a team for your city and bid to host the OpenStreetMap conference.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Your opinion about SOTM US

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Mar 2, 2015 at 11:40 AM, Martijn van Exel m...@rtijn.org wrote:
 Hey all,
[ ... ]
 The main thing I would like to know more about is the types of
 talks you would be interested in, or even specifically which people or
 organizations you would want to see a talk from.

Easy!  Same as I always ask / hope for. :-)

1) I want to see deeply technical / specialized presentations specific
to OpenStreetMap.  Talks that wouldn't be suitable at
non-OpenStreetMap conferences.  So, talks on optimizing a rendering
stack, a la SotM-EU.  Or on tagging scheme alternatives, such as
SotM-Girona.

2) Given the audience at DC, I'd say you'll need a beginners track.
So many people I met there had no understanding of how to do a foot
survey, and no understanding of why that is the most valuable and
interesting data in the OpenStreetMap database.  So, yeah.  Some
really fundamental basics. Why and how to survey.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] OSM on Science Friday

[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 11:48 AM, Mike Thompson miketh...@gmail.com wrote:

 Is there a place in the Wiki where media pieces like this have been
 cataloged?

Here?
http://wiki.osm.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap_in_the_media

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Hartford CT mappers?

[Richard Weait]

Yo!  Who's there?  Doing anything next weekend?

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Tagging addresses on area's

[Richard Weait]

That would depend on the navigation app in question, wouldn't it?  If
we mappers include more data, well structured, complete and up to
date, app developers will be more inclined / motivated to make their
apps work with it, I would think.

I think, based on your email, that you and I are mapping malls in a
similar fashion.

Add the whole building with address, name, etc, then add nodes for
each shop or other amenity.  Include the unit number on the node if
that is also available.

This approach seems to work well with hotels (with internal
restaurant) condo residences with ground floor retail, etc.

Best regards and happy mapping,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] admin level for US states

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 8:00 AM, Martin Koppenhoefer
dieterdre...@gmail.com wrote:
 I wonder why US States are tagged as admin_level=4, wouldn't it be more
 consistent with the rest of the map to have them tagged as level 3?


Based on which uses of admin_level=3?   A quick scan of the wiki shows
admin_level=4 as states or provinces for several countries.

I guess the biggest reason they are admin_level=4 now is, that seemed
like the way to go in 2009[1], but that wouldn't prevent a change for
a compelling reason.

[1] wiki history of the admin_level page goes back to 2009, the tag
use in USA could pre-date that.
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:boundary%3Dadministrative

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] OpenStreetMap Geo Week

[Richard Weait]

From US Local Chapter Blog.
Nov 13 2014
by Eleanor Tutt

http://openstreetmap.us/2014/11/osm-geo-week/

Beginning this weekend, teachers, students, community groups and map
lovers, in the US and around the world, will join together to
celebrate geography and make maps with OpenStreetMap, the free and
openly editable map of the world.

OpenStreetMap Geography Awareness Week - a collaboration between
OpenStreetMap US, National Geographic, MapGive, the Humanitarian
OpenStreetMap Team, and Missing Maps - takes place November 16-22
(with a few early bird Mapathons November Saturday 15, because when
you've got the urge to make a map, it's tough to wait an extra 24
hours!) This year's Geography Awareness Week theme is 'The Future of
Food' and participants will be mapping everything from local food
resources such as food banks and community gardens to farmlands and
orchards in the countries affected by the recent Ebola virus outbreak.

So how do you get involved?

If you're in the Washington, DC area, make sure to come to the
flagship OpenStreetMap mapping party on Friday, November 21st, hosted
by National Geographic, and help put food resources on the map.

Not near DC? No problem! You can find an event near you or you can
plan your own event using the OpenStreetMap GeoWeek Event Planning
Guide.

There will be a lot going on next week, so check back at
osmgeoweek.org frequently and follow all the happenings on twitter
using the hashtag #osmgeoweek.

If this month will be your first time contributing to OSM, welcome and
happy mapping! And if are an experienced OSM contributor, remember
that mapathons and events are a great way to get friends and neighbors
involved in mapping. Invite new people, offer assistance as needed,
and let's grow our community and our map at the same time.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] OSMF AGM election results

[Richard Weait]

Hi all,

Thank you to all of the candidates.  Offering to spend your time and
energy acting on behalf of the group is an act of generosity.

The OpenStreetMap Foundation held the 2014 AGM yesterday including
votes on several matters including the election to the board.

The results are summarized on the wiki. Official results will be on
the Foundation web site in future.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/AGM14

I've added some background on STV (voting method) because it is the
first time I have been involved in it.  Learn along with me at my site
 http://weait.com  in several recent articles and several more on the
way.

I hope that you have found some inspiration and motivation from the
election cycle.  if so, please act on that new energy and contribute
to the project by:

* mapping your neighbourhood.  :-)
* starting a regular local event for (new) mappers
* writing and publishing some awesome code
* writing and publishing some awesome documentation
* joining a Foundation Working Group to act on behalf of groups of mappers

None of these require standing for election or waiting for another
election cycle to complete.

Best regards and happy mapping,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Tagging a seasonally closed roads with uncertain spring opening

[Richard Weait]

seems access=seasonal isn't in wide use but would be correct.

At first glance, I'd prefer a tag that works to get the message out
correctly all the time.  So, access=seasonal or similar.  That would
work for a consumer who received the data when the road was open, but
tried to navigate when the road was closed.

an additional 
seasonal:access:link=http://dot.highway-pass-status.example/gate-7/;
would be super helpful, if such a service exists.

http://taginfo.osm.org/search?q=access%3Dseasonal

faking it, to get it to render on a particular map is not
recommended. So, highway=construction, or similar, wouldn't apply.

I imagine that other communities with mountain passes will have
considered this,  perhaps ask on talk@ and hope for a reply from a
mapper in the Alps, etc. :-)

Easy for me to say from my frying-pan-flat glacial-run-off plain.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] SotM-us 2015

[Richard Weait]

I see that the call for venues for SotM-us 2015 closed two weeks ago,
but I don't see any bids.  Are the bids private?  Was the call
extended?

Best regards and happy mapping,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] SotM-us 2015

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Oct 24, 2014 at 6:21 PM, Alex Barth a...@mapbox.com wrote:
 Richard -

 The bids were submitted private. As soon as the board will reconstitute
 after the elections we'll take a decision on the next location for State of
 the Map US. FWIW, I personally don't see a reason to not share the
 submissions together with the board decision, but I'd love to get the
 permission from the submitters and my board colleague's approval for this.

Cool.  Looking forward to it!

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: SotM Buenos Aires Program published!

[Richard Weait]

-- Forwarded message --
From: Richard Weait rich...@weait.com
Date: Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 5:56 PM
Subject: SotM Buenos Aires Program published!
To: osmf-t...@openstreetmap.org t...@openstreetmap.org


Hello all,

Have a look at the State of the Map Program for Buenos Aires,
Argentina.  And then get your tickets and book your flights!

http://www.stateofthemap.org/program

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Mappy Hour tonight

[Richard Weait]

Super. Thanks for doing these Martijn!

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Statistics of board candidate edits

[Richard Weait]

Darrell, Paul did say that it was a rudimentary analysis.  It is.  It
is just one lens through which one might view the candidates.  Their
candidacy statements are another lens.  Your interaction with each
candidate on lists, at conferences, and through social media is
another (or another three) lens(es).

Of course you are free to disagree with him.  One might suggest that
an experienced board member may have forgotten what it is like to be
a beginner and thus would be less able to understand and address the
challenges faced by new mappers.  I agree with this statement to a
point; not every experienced mapper is an effective coach for new
mappers.  Measuring and evaluating that hypothesis would be a
challenge.  :-)

Darrell, you say that you can’t think of a reason where number of
edits made by a board member matters matters one iota. I believe that
Paul addresses that directly in his statement, When considering the
qualifications of someone on the board which sets direction for the
local chapter, it is certainly useful to their experience as an OSM
contributor in the US.

I also see the benefits of the supplemental skills list that you added
in your email Darrell.  I wouldn't argue against a candidate who
brings useful supplemental skills, such as the ones you list.

That said, it is my understanding that some of those tasks are already
handled, in part, by other volunteers.  If I remember correctly, the
DC event organization team included several non-board members.  Also,
it is my understanding that the bulk of local events in the US are run
by local volunteers.  Both of those are true on the international
scale when you look at OSMF, and the Working Groups.

Paul, did you take alternate accounts into consideration, or only one
uid per candidate?

Best regards,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] US Chapter board elections - time is running out!

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2014 at 4:42 PM, Martijn van Exel
mart...@openstreetmap.us wrote:
 Hi all,

 With just a few days to go, we only have two names on the ballot for
 the upcoming US Chapter board elections. We have all five positions up
 for election, so this is clearly not enough!

It seems unusual that only one of five incumbents is running again.
Have the other current board members stated that they aren't going to
run for re-election?

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] US Chapter board elections - time is running out!

[Richard Weait]

I presume that candidates would add themselves on the wiki, here?

http://wiki.osm.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/United_States/Elections/2014

I further presume that self-nomination is acceptable, as both
candidates have done so.  :-)

DO consider adding yourself to the ballot.  If you enjoy
OpenStreetMap, you can enjoy contributing to a local chapter, or even
the OSMF board.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [OSM-talk] SOTM in Buenos Aires: Call for Papers

[Richard Weait]

Oops. Don't know how this got missed.

CfP Buenos Aires closes soon.  Get your talk proposals in.


-- Forwarded message --
From: Frederik Ramm frede...@remote.org
Date: Thu, Sep 4, 2014 at 5:15 PM
Subject: [OSM-talk] SOTM in Buenos Aires: Call for Papers
To: Talk Openstreetmap t...@openstreetmap.org


Hi,

   I just noticed that this mailing list hasn't had an announcement for
that so even if I'm not involved with the conference (*) here's a
reminder that you have another 10 days, until September 14th, to submit
presentations for this year's international State of the Map conference
in Buenos Aires.

Details are here: http://stateofthemap.org/CfP

Spread the word!

Bye
Frederik

(*) other than being a participant, that is!

--
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frede...@remote.org  ##  N49°00'09 E008°23'33

___
talk mailing list
t...@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Lafayette LA mappers? address import?

[Richard Weait]

Hello Mappers,

Do we have active mappers (with an interest) in / near Lafayette,
LA?[1]  How do you feel about address data for that area?  Would you
participate in improving that data?  Would you like to lead that
effort?   More details, and all follow-ups please, to imports@ and
imports-us@.

I've been given ~100k address points for Lafayette LA, along with
license permission for inclusion in OpenStreetMap under CT/ODbL and
future licenses.  The publisher requires a don't blame us waiver
that we may include in the wiki. :-)

A quick scan of the central area of Lafayette shows approximately 14
addresses that include addr:housenumber=*.

A very quick preliminary scan of the data reveals:

- addresses are ALL CAPS and need expansion of RD, ST, ETC.
- addresses are points and appear to be approximate building centers.
There are exceptions.  There are address points on what might be a
main portion of a building.
- there is at least one address point on the pitcher's mound of a ball
diamond, and not on the club house building.
- address points seem sensible based on existing road rendering and
aerial imagery, for the area I looked at.

So, if you are interested (and especially if you have local
knowledge), please follow and participate on imports@ and imports-us@.

Best regards and happy mapping,

Richard

[1] I'll ping those that I see in the user map as well.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] OpenStreetMap Foundation Corporate Membership

[Richard Weait]

Since February 2014 your company can support OpenStreetMap Foundation
with a corporate membership.  The first corporate members were
announced today.

https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2014/07/20/welcome-corporate-members/

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Beach routing

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Elliott Plack elliott.pl...@gmail.com wrote:
 OSM US:

 I've been using some routing engines to map fitness routes (e.g. Strava)
 that use OSM data. Along our US coasts, there are beaches. The beaches I'm
 familiar with are popular with walkers and joggers to go up and down the
 shore, since access is generally open to anyone along the water's edge. I'm
 considering adding a `highway=path` along the beach to facilitate this. I'd
 add the connections to the walking paths between parking lots and the beach
 as well.

 For uninterrupted strips of sandy beach, would a path be appropriate to
 indicate walkability?

Adding a single arbitrary path where an area exists seems a bit of a
hack. I recognize that part of the problem that you are trying to
address is that routers aren't routing across areas. And that is
surely a difficult problem to solve.  Is the creation of arbitrary
fake-paths a worse problem than not being able to route with specific
routing software?  Perhaps.

A similar situation exists in (micro-)mapping golf courses.  Some
courses have cart paths with discontinuities.  Often those
discontinuities direct you to drive the cart (or walk, I'm not
judging here) on the fairway, until the next section of physical
cart path begins.  In that situation, I only map the real path, not
the virtual path.

The another similarity is that users will select different paths for
different reasons. Beach walkers may divert towards interesting items
on the beach, or away from waves, washouts or debris.  Golf players
will be guided by course rules, weather rules and the location of
their ball.  The golf player is probably more likely to complete a
predictable circuit.  Beach walkers might follow an out and back of
entirely arbitrary length.

Using a router to select a, let's say, 5km stroll, out and back on a
beach, seems of limited utility.

I suggest, no path on the beach.  Map a boardwalk where one exists,
by all means.  And adding those access ramps / paths is awesome.  ;-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [OSM-talk] NOTICE: Upcoming Maintenance - Some services will be down

[Richard Weait]

see attached notice of scheduled maintenance.

Thank you, sysadmins, for your endless efforts on our behalf.


-- Forwarded message --
From: Grant Slater openstreet...@firefishy.com
Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 12:22 PM
Subject: [OSM-talk] NOTICE: Upcoming Maintenance - Some services will be down
To: annou...@openstreetmap.org, Talk Openstreetmap
t...@openstreetmap.org, OSM Dev List d...@openstreetmap.org


On Saturday 5th of July 2014 between 09:00 and 19:00 (GMT / UTC) we
are moving our servers hosted by University College London to another
data center.

The following services WILL be affected:

* Search (nominatim.openstreetmap.org) will be unavailable. [1]
* Slower map updates / Reduced tile rendering capacity. (Yevaud outage)
* OSM Foundation websites and blog.openstreetmap.org will be unavailable.
* Taginfo (taginfo.openstreetmap.org) will be unavailable.
* Development Server (errol) will be unavailable.
* Some imagery services will be unavailable. (GPX Render, OS
Streetview, OOC, AGRI, CD:NGI aerial)

Other OpenStreetMap provided services should not be affected - all of
the following are expected to function normally:

* www.openstreetmap.org web site WILL allow edits as per normal (iD or
Potlatch).
* API will allow map editing (using iD, JOSM, Merkaartor etc.)
* Forum
* trac (bug-tracker)
* help.openstreetmap.org
* tile serving (View The Map  Export)
* Wiki
* mailing lists
* subversion and git (source code repositories)
* donate.openstreetmap.org

Technical: We are moving all the servers listed here
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Servers#UCL_-_In_Use to a new UCL
data center. The current building is being closed soon for
refurbishment. The new data center has better server racks, power
feeds, cooling and faster networking.

[1] Searches through the website will still work - we will redirect
them to another nominatim instance temporarily.

Sincerely
Grant Slater
On behalf of the OpenStreetMap sysadmin team.

___
talk mailing list
t...@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Standard (mapnik) toolchain/processes: can we teach these better?

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 2:24 PM, stevea stevea...@softworkers.com wrote:
 I appreciate Simon's response that it seems that the really coolish
 (people, processes...) happen in what often seems like a bubble: that is
 exactly what I was referring to.  It's like the Cool Kids have their
 insider club, a world of their own, THEN there are The Rest of Us.

[ ... ]

Pssst.  Hey, You.  You over there feeling left out.  Want to know the
secret to joining the cool kids?

The secret is, you're already a cool kid.

Disappointed?  Don't be.  You're already one of a small percentage of
the world population who knows how to improve their local geo data and
share it through OpenStreetMap.  Think that isn't a select group?
Think again.  Only 30 - 50% of those who think they might like to
contribute by signing up, actually contribute their first changeset.
Only a few thousand people per day contribute, out of a planet of 7
billions.  Pretty cool.

Want to be even cooler?

Become a coder of some sort.  Contribute code to one or more
OpenStreetMap-related software projects.  You think mappers are a
select group?  They are.  Now let's count coders who contribute on a
daily basis.  It isn't a few thousand per day.  More like a few
dozen[1].  And those are divided among dozens of projects.

So pick a project that interests you; any one you like.  Rendering,
storage, UI, translations, accessibility, web site, QA, anything at
all in the huge and varied OpenStreetMap tool chain and contribute.

- find a long outstanding bug and check to see if it is (still) reproducible.
- write some documentation for a beginner.
- improve performance.
- test a patch on different hardware.
- triage a new bug.
- compare some similar applications and write a review.

Or even pick a project that you think needs to do more outreach, and
help it do that outreach.  Follow their project communication
channels, and translate their bug reports, feature requests and design
discussions into something suitable for a wider audience, then publish
it to the appropriate wider comms channels.

Learn more about what interests you. Share what you learn with others.

An OpenStreetMap tag line from some of the early mapping party banners read,

OpenStreetMap.org
It's fun. It's free.  You can help.

[1] /me waves hands to distract from wild guess number.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] ODBL for Spatial Analysis

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 11:40 AM, William Morris
wboyk...@geosprocket.com wrote:
 Please let me know if I should direct this at a different list, but I
 have a basic question about the implications of the ODBL:

 OSM is brimming with great POIs and network features; I'd like to use
 some of these categories to answer broad questions like How far is
 this customer from the nearest park/school/whatever? Unfortunately,
 I'm not precisely sure of my legal obligation once I've answered that
 question. Specifically, would I be required to contribute the location
 of the customer back to OSM? If not, does that still hold when I
 upscale it to millions of customers?

 Thanks for the assistance, in any case. I know this is a somewhat
 contentious issue for the community, and I'd rather not make any
 assumptions.

ODbL isn't contentious among OpenStreetMap contributors at all.  We've
all agreed to ODbL as a matter of course, in getting our contributor
accounts. Sounds like you've been mislead by somebody with a bone to
pick.  Ignore them.  :-)

The right mailing list for license-realted questions or discussions is
legal-talk@[1]

On the face of your question, I would be surprised if OpenStreetMap
would want to know the current location of an individual.  That seems
to fly in the face of the respect for individual privacy that
OpenStreetMap demonstrates.  I've presumed that your customer is a
person, as they go about their day.  That presumption could be way off
base.

It could go the other way, I suppose.  If your customer is a business
or POI that isn't included in OpenStreetMap, well then, yes
OpenStreetMap would like that data.

But again, you should have this discussion on legal-talk@.

[1] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-talk

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] [OSM-talk] Highly suspicious edit

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 5:59 AM, Shawn K. Quinn skqu...@rushpost.com wrote:

 I see no good reason to have a username Delete Mine And I Delete
 Yours. I think it goes against the spirit of OSM as being overly
 confrontational on its face.

Ah, but one might say the same about posting such a suspicious account
to a list, rather than approaching the mapper directly and privately.
And one might also say that same about calling for an instant life
time ban without a hearing or appeal.  Both of those appear to be
confrontational and perhaps emotional snap decisions.

We can give this a bit of time for everybody involved to chill out a bit.

and a reminder from an earlier post, When you find a suspicious edit,
try to be part of the solution,
rather than merely a reporting system.  :-)

You'll find the full text in the archives.
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/2013-November/012171.html

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Hi!

[Richard Weait]

Welcome Hans,

When I'm unsure how to map something, I follow a process something like
this, to find out how other mappers have approached it.

Wikipedia might be a good place to find a common name for a particular
feature like chicane.  If you don't know that it's called a chicane, of
that it is for traffic calming, things are a bit harder.

From there, I'd look for existing instances of chicane in the database.
Taginfo is great for this.  Visit http://taginfo.osm.org and enter chicane
in the search box. Then select the values tab.  Or use this link.

http://taginfo.osm.org/search?q=chicane#values

from there, we can see that more than 5000 traffic_calming=chicane objects
exist in the current database, and variants are much less frequent.
Selecting chicane from the traffic_calming line in the table, then the
wiki ta, exposes the link to the wiki page for this element

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag%3Atraffic_calming%3Dchicane

And that rather confirms that you have found what you are looking for.  And
all in the context of what other mappers are already using, so we can avoid
duplicating effort by 'creating' a new tagging standard.

Best regards,

Richard
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Local groups on the map!

[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 8:32 PM, Martijn van Exel m...@rtijn.org wrote:
 Hi all,

 I mentioned this in another thread but it may have gotten buried.

 Have you ever wanted to see all local OSM groups on a map? If you're
 anything like me, you have!

Yes.  Yes I have wanted to see local OSM groups on a map.  :-)

1) Could you use the existing usergroups wiki templates to populate
your map as well?  It would be fabulous to have this implementation be
an extension and improvement to the existing
usergroups.openstreetmap.de map, rather than a separate implementation
with different tools.

Why?  Your argument that the wiki templates are too difficult for some
local organizers has merit.  A local organizer who wishes to be on the
group maps (two of them, now) still needs to know how to use the wiki
template, and now needs to know the json / pull request process to be
included in your map as well.  The requirement to maintain the same
data in two places does not seem like an improvement for that local
organizer.  :-)

2) Consider dropping polygons and using points only.  I suggest that
the points be the location of the meeting place, only.  That is likely
the most important location information for the potential attendee who
is using this map.

Why drop polygons?  No argument that the polygons are cool; I'm with
you there.  It is unclear to me what the polygons are supposed to
indicate.  For argument sake I'll suggest a couple of non-helpful
meanings for the polygons.

a) A polygon indicates an area of exclusivity, and no other OSM groups
are permitted within the area without the permission of the existing
official group.
b) A polygon indicated the catchment area, and no person with an
interest in OpenStreetMap may attend a local group if they are outside
of the catchment area.
c) Our polygon is bigger than your polygon because our group is
more-official than your group.  Interested persons should attend
groups that have the largest polygon.

I suggest that the coolness in favour of the polygons is outweighed by
the potential negative interpretations of why the polygons are there.

Best regards,

Richard

P.S.  And you should start a local group.  It's fun.  You can do it.
It's a benefit to the OpenStreetMap community within your community.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] State of the Map US videos now available

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, Apr 19, 2014 at 6:09 PM, Frederik Ramm frede...@remote.org wrote:
 Hi Bonnie,

 On 04/15/2014 07:24 PM, Bonnie Bogle wrote:
 Videos of every session from this weekend's State of the Map US
 conference are online and available to watch from
 http://stateofthemap.us/schedule/. The recordings also show slides from
 the presentation.

 I noticed that some of the videos include the QA session at the end of
 the talk, and some don't. I would be especially interested in the QA
 session at the end of Alex's More Open talk, which does not seem to be
 available currently. Is this fixable, or has the recording been lost?

Still no news on this Bonnie?  Will the audience comments from Alex's
talk be available.  You'll recall that several of them offered
immediate corrections to the factual errors that Alex presented.  Or
has that original recording been lost?

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Roads closed for maintenance/construction

[Richard Weait]

On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Saikrishna Arcot saiarcot...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hi all,

 Is there a specific tag for roads that have already been constructed, but are 
 closed either for maintenance or construction of something else?

[ ... ]

 I'm currently using highway=contruction and construction=tertiary (the road 
 in question is a tertiary road).

That's how I have tagged similar closings.

Since you are local, keep an eye on it and re-open it when the work is
done, too. :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] weekly metro extracts

[Richard Weait]

Thank you for picking these up, Randy.

One of the common newcomer questions on the various channels is some variant of 
how do I work with some portion of the OpenStreetMap data set?  I'm sure that 
we'll be pointing folks to these as well as the extracts from Geofabrik.

It's also nice to see you giving credit to the earlier version of metro 
extracts by Mike Migurski.  Not everybody plays fair by giving credit. It's 
nice that you do. 

Best regards and happy mapping,

Richard
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] OSM Inspector and streets with E/N/S/W in their name

[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Apr 29, 2014 at 3:05 PM, Frederik Ramm frede...@remote.org wrote:
 Hi,

[ ... ]
 I wonder: Is OSMI correct in flagging this for correction, or is this
 something that nobody really cares about and that should not be
 highlighted? I.e. should we, in OSMI, drop the E/N/S/W prefix of street
 names before trying to find a match?

Oh, nice!  And, if you have thoughts on this, please indicate the area
for which your feedback applies.  There may be regional differences.

Thanks again to Geotab for sponsoring the expansion of the address
inspector to global coverage.  And to Geofabrik for creating it in the
first place!

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Burning Man old data, publicity opportunity

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Apr 23, 2014 at 12:18 PM, Brad Neuhauser
brad.neuhau...@gmail.com wrote:
 You might want to check out this thread from last year:
 https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/2013-August/011641.html

 Cheers, Brad


 On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 11:16 PM, robmorgan78 robmorga...@gmail.com wrote:

 Hello everyone, I am doing a project in my GIS class that involves working
 with a shape file and exporting to a KML file. I have been going to
 Burning
 Man for the past few years now and thought it would be interesting to work
 with data from BM. I stumbled across this discussion and now instead of
 one
 question I have two...

 First question, does anyone know where I can get shapefile data from past
 Burning Man events?

 My second question is, I am going to Burning Man this year (2014) and
 would
 be very interested in helping OSM with data collection. Who and what would
 I
 need to do to get involved in helping OSM with data collection at Burning
 Man 2014?

Hi Robert,

Take Brad's advice and have a look at the earlier part of this thread.
 We, OpenStreetMap contributors, love to have enthusiastic newcomers
join the project.

Your particular interest does intersect with some issues that you
should be aware of.

Firstly, OpenStreetMap is primarily for geographic information that is
permanent, verifiable and significant.  Some might find the temporary
town for BM as not-permanent-enough.  Others will disagree.  :-)

Secondly, OpenStreetMap data is supposed to be current, rather than
historical.  There is a separate mailing list for those with an
interest in OpenStreetMap and historical objects.  The two older
version of BM map are an exception in OpenStreetMap data, and
sometimes lead to confusion on that matter.

Thirdly, acquiring a shape file to put some externally curated data
into OpenStreetMap is what we commonly refer to as an import.  There
have been many past imports with poor results, even from experienced,
well intentioned contributors.  So all prospective imports must follow
guidelines carefully, and with detailed community participation.

Now, I hope that the above information does not put you off
OpenStreetMap.  I'm not sure what the timing is for BM this year and
if you'll have time to properly consult on an import.

Regarding a source of shapefile data, you can find shape files of
various portions of the OpenStreetMap data set at the Geofabrik
downloads server.  http://download.geofabrik.de/north-america.html If
you were to chose the Nevada file, you might be able to get the
historic BM data from there.

If you want to make the current burning man map data useful for
attendees this year, you might consider converting it, alone, without
any integration with OpenStreetMap data.  if you were to convert it
for use on handheld GPSes, or pre-render it into tiles for a browser,
you could offer that as a download for other users before they head to
the desert.  You might also have copies on SD card, or USB for them
you copy from you once you are on-site.

Have a great time.

Best regards anf happy mapping,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Thank you all!

[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 4:20 PM, Martijn van Exel
mart...@openstreetmap.us wrote:
 Hi all,

 I want to thank all of you who were able to make it to DC this past weekend
 for coming to SOTM US. I had a great time and that was in no small part
 because I was able to get together with some of the folks here on this list.

I'd like to echo Martijn.  .MARTIJN. .Martijn.  .martijn.

Martijn is a fine example of the type of person who made my trip to DC
so enjoyable.  I had a great time establishing and renewing
friendships with other mappers.  It was super to put some faces to the
names, email addresses and 'handles' of some of the folks on this
list.  Thanks again, Martijn, and those of you who's ears I bent.  :-)

Thanks, too, to the event volunteers.  If there were any
organizational problems at the event, I wasn't aware of them.  The
schedule was mostly on time, without appearing too rigid or too
regimented.  Plenty of hot beverages were available in the hallway
throughout the event.

In addition to enjoying technical presentations and chatting during
the breaks, I had the opportunity to speak to many people who were new
enough to OpenStreetMap that they hadn't yet improved the data in
their neighbourhood.  I think this deserves a call to action.  So here
I go.

I'd like to see more direct advocacy to become a regular mapper of
your neighbourhood at events like this in future.  That neighbourhood
mapper / maintainer is an ideal primary goal for OpenStreetMap.  I
suggest that any city or state that can boast of A Mapper on Every
Block is a city or state that is perfectly mapped and always up to
date.  We aren't there yet and so we'd best work harder at it.

It was great to see the tutorial for new mappers during the morning of
day one.  The room was packed to over capacity when I peeked in.
Surely offering that same tutorial morning and afternoon of each day
would have provided opportunity to convert more of those potential
mappers into mappers.  It is a missed opportunity to send some
potential mappers home without some coaching after they have travelled
to a conference to learn more about OpenStreetMap.

One of the goals of this event appears to have been to reach out to
those who are merely consumers of OpenStreetMap data, based on the
number of people there who were consuming OpenStreetMap data but had
never edited to improve it.  Surely a primary goal of an advocacy
group that seeks to benefit OpenStreetMap must be to turn those
consumers into contributors?  By turning a consumer into a
contributor, the data benefits from their local knowledge and thus we
all benefit from improved data.  I suggest that turning a consumer
into contributor also makes that consumer into a better educated
consumer.  Surely data consumers are better able to understand and
appreciate the OpenStreetMap data that they consume once they
participate in and understand the methods to collect and contribute
that data.  A better-informed consumer is surely slightly better for
OpenStreetMap.  If that consumer also becomes a contributor it is
clearly better for OpenStreetMap.

So that's my call to action.  Let's aim to allow every attendee to
edit OpenStreetMap if they haven't done so previously.  It would be
wonderful to see a much higher percentage of technical talks and a
higher percentage of community focused talks.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [OSM-talk] OSM Inspector has world-wide address view

[Richard Weait]

Address inspector tool now spans the globe!  See Frederik's announcement


-- Forwarded message --
From: Frederik Ramm frede...@remote.org
Date: Fri, Apr 11, 2014 at 4:38 PM
Subject: [OSM-talk] OSM Inspector has world-wide address view
To: Talk Openstreetmap t...@openstreetmap.org


Hi,

the OSMI addresses view is now available world-wide (it just had
Europe before). The code that runs the analyses behind it is based on
the new Osmium library and is available on Github. The new view is
available now on OSMI (http://tools.geofabrik.de/osmi).

This blog entry has more details: http://blog.geofabrik.de/?p=309

I wish to thank Geotab Inc. who are sponsoring the server that runs the
analyses, as well as Lukas Toggenburger, who re-implemented the checks
in C++ so that everything is fast enough for world-wide processing (we
had been using an SQL based process before).

Bye
Frederik

--
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frede...@remote.org  ##  N49°00'09 E008°23'33

___
talk mailing list
t...@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] fleet manager speed limit import proposal (Canada, USA)

[Richard Weait]

Outline:
A proposal for improvement of the maxspeed tag by including posted
speed limit data from managers of vehicle fleets.

Status:
Initial consultation and discussion

Introduction:
I have a source for posted speed limit data.  This thread begins the
discussion of the data, the origin and quality of the data, and the
suitability of the data to OpenStreetMap.

If the data is found to meet the requirements for inclusion in
OpenStreetMap, it is expected that the discussion will continue and
determine the best method(s) for including that data.

The extent of the data is Canada and USA.  If you are reading this
email on talk-us or talk-ca, and you are deeply interested in the
preliminary details, please join imports@ and reply there.

Updates:
There will be future email to the local lists after initial
consultation on imports@, if this project is found to meet
OpenStreetMap requirements.

Best Regards and Happy Mapping,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] State ref tags on ways

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 8:45 AM, Russ Nelson nel...@crynwr.com wrote:
 Richard Weait writes:
   - the concurrency of US1 and US 9, where ref=1-9 isn't numeric, but is
   right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_1/9

 Interestingly Google Maps, when pronouncing directions, calls that US
 One To Nine.

Well, I'll just choose any one of those then.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] State ref tags on ways

[Richard Weait]

* the ref= on relations only contains the number. Any data consumer
composes the full route shield / name from the network and the ref
tags.

Almost. :-)  ref= contains the specific identifier of the route.
where I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W (in two different states!) the
ref= should be 35E or 35W

This is one of those edge cases that we love so much in the road system.

I've been thinking of it this way.  Network describes the shield. Ref
describes the printing on the shield. Now, that ain't right and that
is too close to tagging for the renderer, but it's how I keep it clear
in my mind.  And it's how I got my first shield renderer to work as
well as it did.* It was also designed to degrade well.  A renderer
like the old style lozenge markers would at least get the text right
by putting ref= in the lozenge.

Similar edge cases exist in US routes and State routes,

- the concurrency of US1 and US 9, where ref=1-9 isn't numeric, but is
right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_1/9

- New York State Route 3A where ref=3A and other alphanumeric routes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Route_3A

I'm inclined to extend network to include banners, but worry that the
ordering of alt, business, truck, loop, spur, whatever, is not
obvious. And where do banners like Future fit in with those?  I'd hope
that we can make sense of the banners in a way that mappers don't need
a PhD. in tagging to improve their local data. network:banner=
perhaps? Or binary flags network:banner:alt=yes
network:banner:truck=yes ?

* which was 'as well as it worked, for some value of well'

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] mappy hour tonight, 8:30pm eastern time

[Richard Weait]

On Mar 24, 2014 6:52 AM, Richard Welty rwe...@averillpark.net wrote:

 a reminder, i'm running a faux mappy hour on google plus 
 tonight at 8:30pm et. 

 hopefully i figured everything out last time and this time 
 the startup will be relatively painless.

Dude! There's nothing 'faux' about it.  No need to put yourself or your virtual 
event down.  You're doing something and that's great.  :-) 
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Why we really don't get new users

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 2:17 PM,  o...@charles.derkarl.org wrote:

 I'm going to just point out the elephant in the room here. I don't think any
 normal user cares about the license at all. I think the actual reason its hard
 to get new mappers, especially those that are not nerdy and obsessive like
 myself is that *the ontology sucks*. There, I said it, so you don't have to.

I think that you are combining two separate issues.  Perhaps there is
no causation from sucky ontology to  hard to get new mappers.

On the matter of getting new mappers.  Perhaps we'll just won't be
satisfied until everybody on the planet is also an OpenStreetMap
contributor.  That would be awesome.  I've written about mapper
motivation and outreach before.  I'll leave that one alone for now.

You aren't the first to suggest that the ontology sucks.  There have
been previous similar declarations.  I recall a presentation at State
of the Map 2010 in Girona, Spain.  Have a look at the slides and video
by David Earl and see if things have changed at all.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/SotM_2010_session:_Tag_Central:_a_Schema_for_OSM

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] OpenStreetMap Isn't All That Open, Let's Change That and Drop Share-Alike

[Richard Weait]

On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 10:26 AM, Alex Barth a...@mapbox.com wrote:
 Hello everyone -

 I've been sitting on writing about the detrimental effects of
 OpenStreetMap's share-alike license (ODbL) for a while and finally decided
 to, um, share. I've been listening long to many OpenStreetMappers I respect
 a ton telling me it's not so bad and it's just what we're stuck with right
 now.

OpenStreetMap is not stuck with ODbL, the OpenStreetMap community
selected it.  The OpenStreetMap community even helped to craft ODbL,
with the Open Knowledge Foundation and OpenDataCommons.org, by
participating in the discussions that went into drafting ODbL.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [OSM-talk] SOTM-EU 2014 visitor registration now open

[Richard Weait]

If you have been considering attending an OpenStreetMap conference,
and you can't get to State of the Map in Argentina this November,
consider SotM-EU in Germany, in June.

Previous SotM-EU were wonderful. Well worth the trip.


-- Forwarded message --
From: Frederik Ramm frede...@remote.org
Date: Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 10:47 AM
Subject: [OSM-talk] SOTM-EU 2014 visitor registration now open
To: Talk Openstreetmap t...@openstreetmap.org


Hi,

   you can now register for the SOTM-EU 2014 in June in Karsruhe, at
http://www.sotm-eu.org/. Early Bird tickets are EUR 55. Also, a number
of rooms have been reserved in nearby hotels and can be booked from now
on; a list of hotels is also up on the web site.

Bye
Frederik

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Local user groups

[Richard Weait]

On Jan 22, 2014 11:10 AM, Clifford Snow cliff...@snowandsnow.us wrote:


 On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 4:59 AM, Richard Weait rich...@weait.com wrote:

  The publicity aspect of Meetup really gets people to your events. Though i wonder if these people are the long term contributors to OSM that we want.


Meta. I apologize for bad quoting in an earlier message. The words above attributed to me were actually typed by Brian. Sorry about that. 
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Local user groups

[Richard Weait]

On Jan 22, 2014 12:09 AM, Brian DeRocher br...@derocher.org wrote:

...

  The publicity aspect of Meetup really gets people to your events.  Though i 
wonder if these people are the long term contributors to OSM that we want.

You control that in part with the way that you write your event announcement.  
If we can write an announcement that inspires potential long term, foot 
surveying, conscientious  appears, then that is who will show up.  If we write 
an event announcement that says, you are expected to map remotely in a 
sweatshop environment for endless hours then that appeals to an entirely 
different audience. :-)

Sadly,I haven't I discovered a perfect script for an event announcement to get 
only our target audience, and those in huge numbers.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Any foursquare/OSM editing update? How about Craigslist?

[Richard Weait]

Thanks for providing a peek at the inside of MQ, Randy.  :-)

Minh, nice to know that 4S lead to a couple of mappers in your area.
Are they continuing to map?  Any indication that they  are surveying,
or are they restricting themselves to armchair mapping?

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Mappy Hour

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 9:59 AM, Martijn van Exel m...@rtijn.org wrote:
 Hey folks,

 Our first Mappy Hour of 2014 is tonight at 5:30 PST / 8:30 EST.

 The Event link on Google+ is
 https://plus.google.com/events/csqquhngh6k52ctdkrftk3noic4

 Let us know if there's anything in particular you want to talk about.

 I would very much like to spend a little time talking about
 http://maproulette.org/relationpages/ and perhaps also about the state
 of U.S. route relations in general.

 I hope to see you all tonight!

Sounds Super Fun Martijn!  Do you have a scheduled closing time?
(I'm at Toronto Mappy Hour when you start.)

I hope that other Mappy Hour organizers, especially for in-person
events, will post their announcements to this list.  I enjoy meeting
other mappers when I travel.

Travelling mappers are always welcome to drop in on Toronto Mappy Hour
to meet the gang, when they are in Toronto.  We have also had special
events for visiting mappers who pass through on
not-regularly-scheduled-Mappy-Hour-days.  So let us know in advance if
you are coming this way.  Feel free to mock our cocaine-using Mayor,
if he hasn't been imprisoned before your visit.

Meeting other mappers in person is fun and a great way to learn and
share.  I encourage you to attend your local mapper events, and to
organize them if you haven't been beaten to the punch.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: State of the Map 2014 - Buenos Aires - 07-09 November 2014

[Richard Weait]

-- Forwarded message --
From: Richard Weait rich...@weait.com
Date: Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 6:49 PM
Subject: State of the Map 2014 - Buenos Aires - 07-09 November 2014
To: Talk-CA OpenStreetMap talk...@openstreetmap.org


Announced today, State of the Map 2014 will be in Buenos Aires.  Be
there or be square.  :-)

http://blog.openstreetmap.org/2014/01/12/buenos-aires-hosts-sotm14/

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: State of the Map 2014 - Buenos Aires - 07-09 November 2014

[Richard Weait]

Announced today, State of the Map 2014 will be in Buenos Aires.  Be
there or be square.  :-)

http://blog.openstreetmap.org/2014/01/12/buenos-aires-hosts-sotm14/

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Mappy New Year

[Richard Weait]

Hi All,

I hope that you are off to a great start on your mapping activities for 2014.

OpenStreetMap is certainly off to a great start.  User emacsen wrote a
compelling article today that drove a significant number of new
mappers to OpenStreetMap.  That's some great advocacy, right there.
The article is really aimed at folks who are not yet mappers, so not
really the same audience of these lists, as we're already mappers.
but you might enjoy the article anyway.  Have a look.

http://blog.emacsen.net/blog/2014/01/04/why-the-world-needs-openstreetmap/

In 2014 we will see the 10 anniversary / birthday of OpenStreetMap.
What are you going to do to celebrate?  We (the local mappers in
Toronto) will host another OpenStreetMap Mapiversary party, details to
be determined, how about your local group?

On that subject, is this the year that you'll start a local mapping
group in your town?

I've never understood why it is that the German community has groups
of mappers that meet each month, in just about every city, town and
village of size, while in North America those groups are very rare.
It could be that the difference is you.  You can start a successful,
self-sustaining local group that meets each month to discuss
OpenStreetMap.  So you should do that.  It's great fun.

Part of our fun in Toronto in 2013 included, the 9th birthday party,
including a map cake.  Twelve regularly scheduled Mappy Hour events,
two formal presentation events, three special guest events to
celebrate august mappers visiting from other places.  (and a little
bit of a flood, but we soldiered on anyway.)

What about this thread?  Tell me, what your plans are for 2014?

and have a Mappy New Year,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] a reminder for armchair mappers

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 11:08 AM, Richard Welty rwe...@averillpark.net wrote:
 if you see a discrepancy between aerial imagery and OSM, before you
 go adding/changing stuff, check on the history of the stuff that's there
 and see if another mapper has worked on things recently (for some
 value of recently.)

[ ... ]

 imagery goes out of date. armchair mappers must never forget
 that. if the imagery doesn't match the map, contact a local mapper
 if you can identify one. you could be fixing something that wasn't
 actually broken.

Indeed.  New construction vs. old imagery isn't the only problem here.
 New, enthusiastic mappers are great; they are why the project keeps
growing.

Technology is not the complete answer.  We might implement something
new that coordinates with some sub-set of editor software, but we have
to educate the mappers as part of the solution.  We have to or we are
dead.  Untempered enthusiasm is a runaway train.  It's low grade heat
rather than directed energy.  It's inefficient and harmful to
surrounding systems.

Every One Of Our Resources Is Lying To Us.

We mappers have to learn which resources lie to us and in which ways.
Then we can map with all of the resources at our disposal and a heaped
serving of experience.

We have to get armchair mappers to do actual foot surveys as part of
their education.  The context gained by mapping and remapping your
neighbourhood cannot be overstated.  As a new, armchair mapper, you
cannot appreciate the whoppers that aerial imagery might lead you to
publish until you catch yourself making a bone-headed error at home.
And you can't catch yourself making that error thousands of miles from
home.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [OSM-talk] SotM-EU 2014 in Karlsruhe, Germany

[Richard Weait]

Dear All,

Make your plans to attend SotM-EU, in Karlsruhe, Germany, in June 2014.


-- Forwarded message --
From: Frederik Ramm frede...@remote.org
Date: Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 9:33 AM
Subject: [OSM-talk] SotM-EU 2014 in Karlsruhe, Germany
To: Talk Openstreetmap t...@openstreetmap.org,
d...@openstreetmap.org d...@openstreetmap.org


Hi,

   today I have the pleasure to announce that we'll be holding SotM-EU
2014 in Karlsruhe, on 13-15 June. We've set up the web page at
www.sotm-eu.org and we'll be posting news there and on @sotmeu on Twitter.

We'll be trying to emulate the success of the 2011 Vienna conference,
bringing together everyone who does anything interesting in  with
OpenStreetMap in Europe.

The call for papers will be out soon, with registration to open early
2014. We already have a good international programme committee preparing
that but if you'd like to join the programme committee or otherwise help
organising the conference (or aspects of it), don't be shy and write to
i...@sotm-eu.org. Same if you have any ideas that you'd like the
organisers to consider.

We'll be distributing this announcement to the dev and talk lists
as well as to talk-fr and talk-de. If you are on one of the other
regional European lists, we would be grateful if you could forward
the announcement.

I'm looking forward to seeing you in Karlsruhe next year!

Bye
Frederik

PS: we = the local Karlsruhe team  everyone involved

--
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frede...@remote.org  ##  N49°00'09 E008°23'33

___
talk mailing list
t...@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [OSM-dev] NOTICE: Upcoming Maintenance / Downtime

[Richard Weait]

just in case you aren't following announce, dev or talk.

-- Forwarded message --
From: Grant Slater openstreet...@firefishy.com
Date: Mon, Nov 25, 2013 at 6:34 AM
Subject: [OSM-dev] NOTICE: Upcoming Maintenance / Downtime
To: annou...@openstreetmap.org, Talk Openstreetmap
t...@openstreetmap.org, OSM Dev List d...@openstreetmap.org


On Wednesday 27th of November 2013 between 17:30 and 22:00 (GMT / UTC)
the primary database server will be unavailable due to maintenance.

I apologise for the short notice.

The following services WILL be affected:
* www.openstreetmap.org web site WILL NOT allow edits (iD or Potlatch). [1]
* API will NOT allow map editing (using iD, JOSM, Merkaartor etc.),
but will remain available as read-only. [2]

Other OpenStreetMap provided services should not be affected - all of
the following are expected to function normally:
* Forum
* trac (bug-tracker)
* help.openstreetmap.org
* tile serving (View The Map  Export)
* Wiki
* Nominatim (search)
* mailing lists
* subversion and git (source code repositories)
* donate.openstreetmap.org

Technical: Database servers ramoth  katla hardware maintenance.
Upgrade of web frontends spike-01, spike-02  spike-03 with HP DL360
G6 (Xeon 56xx) hardware.

1: Maps will still be viewable on the openstreetmap.org homepage and
on other people's websites.
2: The sysadmin team will try as far as possible to keep the API
available in read-only mode, but the API may be briefly unavailable.

Sincerely
  Grant Slater
  On behalf of the OpenStreetMap sysadmin team.

___
dev mailing list
d...@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/dev

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] take responsibility, not control.

[Richard Weait]

When you find a suspicious edit, try to be part of the solution,
rather than merely a reporting system.  :-)

If you are experienced enough, attempt to determine which account
introduced the suspicious data.  Contact that account through the user
mail system.  Presume good faith; they may well be a new and
enthusiastic mapper with an incomplete understanding of OpenStreetMap.
 They might also be more experienced than you are and be making some
form of advanced edit with which you are unfamiliar.  Your goal is to
make contact with the mapper in question, and find out what they
intended with their edit.  Ideally, either they will learn something
and become a better mapper, or you will.  :-)

If you aren't experienced enough to do this on your own, contact a
more-experienced mapper who you trust for their judgement and ask for
their assistance.  Follow along so that you can proceed with less help
next time.

If you aren't able to get a satisfactory response within a reasonable
time, say a week or two, consider asking other mappers for their
opinion on the edits.  Are they really a problem, or simply rare or
idiosyncratic?  Consider as a group if the data should stay or not.
Please note that a satisfactory response is not restricted to
another mapper agreeing with you.  :-)

Repair or revert data that is incorrect.  Get help from a
more-experienced mapper if you haven't done this before.

All of this should happen before you consider reaching out to the Data
Working Group.  The DWG and the OpenStreetMap sysadmins, do have
additional tools for dealing with spammers, vandals and persistent,
umm, whackos.  But these tools are rather heavy and blunt
instruments.  The DWG wield these tools with exquisite finesse and
with surgical precision but you can help a great deal by solving
problems before they require intervention from DWG.  Reserve the DWG
for those things that you can not reasonably do for yourself.

You can make the initial contact and do the basic research.  Please do.

Take responsibility for improving the map (we all do), but also take
responsibility for improving the mappers.  Temper this by
understanding that the mapper who you improve may well be yourself.
And that's just fine, too.  :-)

Best Regards and Happy Mapping,

Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Is FIXME still a good practice?

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 3:42 PM, Alex Barth a...@mapbox.com wrote:
 http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Good_practice#Mark_estimations_with_FIXME


Depends on the nature of the estimation.  One could also leave a
note=estimated building position from ground survey with poor GPS
reception or a changeset comment, etc.

I guess FIXME shows up in some QA tools, so that's nice, but for some
things using a FIXME is a bit shout-y. :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Shields are up!

[Richard Weait]

On Sun, Jul 28, 2013 at 11:38 PM, Toby Murray toby.mur...@gmail.com wrote:
 We finally managed to get Phil's highway shield rendering up on the OSM-US
 server today!

Fan.  Tas.  Tic.

Bravo.  Seeing the multi-plex signs is awesome and miles ahead of
anything done anywhere else.

http://tile.openstreetmap.us/osmus_shields/preview.html#12/39.7195/-86.1093

Thank you, Phil, Toby, Ian, et al.  it is wonderful to see this
running after years of hacks and hopes.  Seeing this come to life is
like falling in love all over again.  :-)

Best regards,
Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Ninth OpenStreetMap birthday: Toronto

[Richard Weait]

Dear all,

A group of Toronto mappers have just finalized and announced the
details for the Toronto celebration of the ninth birthday party for
OpenStreetMap.  And you are all invited.  Yes, talk-us-ers, I am
totally looking at you, too.  Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York,
Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts mappers, and more all all within
an easy drive to Toronto.  FSVO Easy.  So if you don't have a local
event, and you decide not to host one yourself, come on over!  :-)

Seriously, if you are coming in from out of town, let us know, so we
can see is a billet is available for you.  Be the honoured guest who
travelled from furthest afar.

Yes, our Canadian mappers outside Toronto are invited too!  Come on in
Hamilton, Kingston, Montreal, Ottawa, Renfrew, Barrie, etc.

Our typical monthly Toronto Mappy Hour events are held at a pub.  In
keeping with previous birthday parties, this one will be held at a
private residence.  Using a private residence gives us the freedom to
provide refreshments and perhaps a map-themed confectionery or two.

The official announcement, and calendar for other Toronto events, are
kept on meetup.com, but no need for you to join there if you'd rather
not.  You may RSVP to me directly, off list for location and access
details.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Ninth OpenStreetMap birthday: Toronto

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 1:49 PM, Richard Weait rich...@weait.com wrote:
 Dear all,

 A group of Toronto mappers have just finalized and announced the
 details for the Toronto celebration of the ninth birthday party for
 OpenStreetMap.  And you are all invited.

I should have included the date.  Saturday, 10 August 2013, along with
the other official birthday events.  :-)

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap_9th_Anniversary_Birthday_party

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Tagging Ridges as ways

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Jul 26, 2013 at 1:09 PM, Thomas Colson thomas_col...@nps.gov wrote:
 http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:natural%3Dridge

 seems to suggest that the appropriate way to tag a ridge is as a way. Any
 thoughts on this? I’m looking at 100+ ridges, wondering how to simplify
 (de-node) yet keep the way roughly following to contours of the feature it’s
 supposed to be labeling.

It would need to be a pretty significant ridge[1] to earn a place in
the OSM data, in my mind.  Elevation and contours belong in other
datasets, like DEMs, etc, where they can be merged later with OSM
data.

De-noding is important.  Labelling might be more of an issue for
render-time, depending on what you mean.  What's your goal?  Add the
named ridges to the map?

[1] Niagara Falls, as a cliff (a kind of a ridge :-)  ).
http://osm.org/go/ZXuwMGJDh-

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Steady increase in the number of mappers in the US

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Clifford Snow cliff...@snowandsnow.us wrote:

[ ... ]
 As I envision an OSM Ambassador program, the goals would be similar to
 Fedora[1],

 Organize OSM participation at events
 Demonstrate OSM to the public
 Promote OSM at local events with talks, handouts and swag
 Promote Switch2osm

 Provide training in iD


 Funding should be made available to the ambassadors for reimbursement for
 travel and other related expenses. The most likely candidate to handling the
 funding would be the US Chapter of OpenStreetMap. A budget and someone to
 authorize expenditure would be required.

This doesn't have to wait for funding, or permission!  There are
hundreds of OpenStreetMap ambassadors reading this list, right now.

1) Start your local OpenStreetMap group.  Meet on a regular schedule.
Monthly is best.  Make your goal, be available to answer questions
about OpenStreetMap.  Everything else is okay too.

2) Grow your local ambassador team.  You don't have to do it all
You don't have to do it alone.  Include people in your group who like
to reach out to other groups.  Include people who like to speak at
events.  Include people who can host at a venue.  Share the load.
Replace yourself with assistant- and alternate-organizers to
strengthen the local team.  But YOU have to start it.  Just do that
much.

3) Connect with other nearby local groups to share and enjoy.  Drop in
on Serge's group when you are in NYC.  Thank him for starting it!   Do
the same when you travel to other places with local groups.  Welcome
distant mappers when they visit your local area, too.

Ambassador Program  Pah!  Just get on with it.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Mappy Hour

[Richard Weait]

Big Blue Button is FLOSS, video conference software.  v0.8 or so.

http://www.bigbluebutton.org/overview/

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] access restriction, water only: How to tag?

[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 7:01 PM, Thomas Colson thomas_col...@nps.gov wrote:
 I’m tagging some camp sites as “boat=yes” to imply water access only, but I
 don’t think this is right. Is there a water-only access tag?

What information are you trying to record?  access= generally informs
of a legal restriction.  In your case, is access by foot prohibited,
or simply unwise / unlikely /  less convenient?

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] SC / NC / TN events?

[Richard Weait]

Hi All,

Are there any OpenStreetMap events planned for the next few weeks in the
Greenville, SC / Spartanberg TN / Asheville NC area?  I'm travelling for a
bit and always enjoy meeting with other mappers.

Post your public events here.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] ref tags

[Richard Weait]

Why is the US local chapter not running a tile server that renders shields and 
concurrencies?  The tagging has been stable forever. The code has been working 
for years.  Even a hacked demo ( now offline) was running for years before 
that.  

Stop waiting for the London tile server to give a stamp of approval for a local 
mapping idiom.  

If shields and concurrencies are important to you then why aren't you using the 
available tools?  

Argh!  :-) 
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] OpenStreetMap Ninth Birthday celebrations.

[Richard Weait]

Saturday, 10 August 2013

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap_9th_Anniversary_Birthday_party
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] OpenStreetMap Ninth Birthday celebrations.

[Richard Weait]

Dear All,

The ninth birthday of OpenStreetMap is coming up soon.  It is tradition to
celebrate with parties in various cities where OpenStreetMap contributors
can attend and we've had Toronto parties for several of the last few
years.

Great Lakes area Mappers:
Shall we do that again?
What should we do this time to draw you in from the surrounding areas, if
you haven't attended before?  Bear in mind that the trip to Toronto is both
worth it and probaby much shorter than the trip to another OpenStreetMap
birthday party host city.  Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh,
Rochester, Toledo, Syracuse, I'm totally looking at you!

Elsewhere Mappers:
Which of you are going to host an OSM birthday party in your town?  It's
fun.  If you don't want to make the trip to Toronto, or London England and
you think the event sounds like fun, then you should be hosting in your
town.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] A new openstreetmap.us

[Richard Weait]

The new US local chapter site looks nice.  Good job.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [Talk-ca] Mapping party June 2nd near Palais des congrès de Montréal / Cartopartie le dimanche 2 juin près du Palais des congrès de Montréal

[Richard Weait]

From talk-ca, and also of interest to those talk-us-ers in the North
East.   Come and meet Canadian mappers in Montréal, a beautiful and
friendly city.

-- Forwarded message --
From: Guillaume Pratte guilla...@guillaumepratte.net
Date: Wed, May 15, 2013 at 12:04 AM
Subject: [Talk-ca] Mapping party June 2nd near Palais des congrès de Montréa

I would like to invite you to a mapping party in Montreal, on Sunday, June
2nd.

Here are the details: http://osm-mapping-party-mtl.eventbrite.ca/
Or: http://www.eventbrite.ca/event/6554826663

Hoping to see you there!
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Baltimore Building Outlines Import

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, May 4, 2013 at 12:07 AM, Matthew Petroff openstreet...@mpetroff.net
 wrote:

 Hello,

 The City of Baltimore provides a large amount of public domain GIS data
 through
 their data portal [1]. Included are city wide building footprints [2],
 which I
 would like to import into OpenStreetMap. Other users have already started
 importing this data in a less automated way. I confirmed with the city GIS
 office that the data is indeed public domain.


The City of Baltimore data portal claims otherwise.

http://www.baltimorecity.gov/TermsofUse.aspx
OpenBaltimore is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License.

They also include in the Disclaimer, Commercial use is prohibited without
the prior written permission of the City.

Either one of those is a big red flag.  Can you publish their assurance to
you that the data is actually PD? You'll need to publish compelling
official documentation from the city that can override their published
license.  The license details on the Baltimore data portal web site make
that data an absolute, NO GO in my judgement.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Fwd: [OSM-dev] Call for Presentations - SotM 2013 (annual conference)

[Richard Weait]

-- Forwarded message --
From: Rob Nickerson rob.j.nicker...@gmail.com
Date: Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 2:36 PM
Subject: [OSM-dev] Call for Presentations - SotM 2013 (annual conference)


Hi All,

- please forward this on to your local communities -

It's that time of year again when we look to you, the mind-bogglingly
creative OpenStreetMap community, to tell us what you've been up to. That's
right - it time to submit your presentation ideas for the annual State of
the Map conference.

If you have something interesting to present about your work with
OpenStreetMap and would like to tell the world, we would love to hear about
it. Simply fill out the Call for Presentations form explaining the topic
of your presentation. To keep things easy, at this stage we just need a few
words, not a full presentation. :-)

http://www.stateofthemap.org/info/call-presentations/
(Call for Presentations closes on Monday 10 June 2013.)



=== A bit more information ===

The State of the Map 2013 Conference to be held in Birmingham, United
Kingdom, from 6 to 8 September is calling for presentations.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Change” so we are particularly
interested in presentations addressing this theme. Our programme will cover
a wide range of topics that will interest everyone from the new
OpenStreetMapper to the professional contemplating using our data.

We are seeking presentations from businesses, the public sector, charities,
and individuals.

If you have something to say, for example, about switching to OSM, barriers
to its use, apps for mobile mapping, changing community organisation or
behaviour, historical mapping, or just anything that you want to present,
then make sure you register your proposal with a a few words to describe
the topic.  Tutorial sessions are especially welcome!

Just to add a little more to the Call for Presentations:

This year I personally want to try and get as many people involved as
possible. We are therefore hoping to have a Poster Exhibition for people
who may not be able to attend in person (we can print them locally). If
this sounds interesting to you, please use the same form and specify
Poster as the Session Format. Posters can be mainly pictorial, or
include text. You can bring it yourself or send an electronic copy for
local printing (Sponsorship to cover printing costs would be much
appreciated).

http://www.stateofthemap.org/info/call-presentations/
(Call for Presentations closes on Monday 10 June 2013.)
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Proposed small import of UTA bus stops

[Richard Weait]

On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 11:44 PM, Martijn van Exel m...@rtijn.org wrote:

 Hi all,

 During the edit-a-thon today I finally got around to working on preparing
 a relatively small import of bus stop point data for the UTA service area


Try to guess my topic of interest.  :-)

So, Martijn, tell me about their license.  :-)

If I've found the appropriate page and license, [1] and if I'm reading it
correctly, this data in not suitable for inclusion in OpenStreetMap,
because of the license.  Specifically:

   - an appropriate statement, reflecting this disclaimer be used on all
   products using SGID geospatial data as a source, and that a currency date
   and stewardship credit for the data be included on the map; and

[1] http://gis.utah.gov/about/data-policies/
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Previous disputes NE2 and Paul Johnson

[Richard Weait]

These two accounts have a history of conflict with each other.

http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/2010-October/004432.html

NE2 and Paul Johnson have been instructed previously to leave each other
alone.

Anthony DiPierro is the only person, so far, who has been banned from OSM
for behaviour that wasn't simple spamming.  The number of spammers blocked
and banned is near-countless.

Anthony has also been banned from Wikipedia[1].

In my opinion, if you get in an argument with Anthony or NE2 and you are
right, you are still wrong.  They argue for the sport.  The entire point of
their argument is the conflict, not the potential for resolution.

The matter at hand has nothing to do with a turn restriction.  The turn
restriction is an excuse.  Baloo and NE2, leave each other alone.  You
are equally complicit.

[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Quickpolls/Archive#Anthony_DiPierro_.2821:_16_for.2C_5_against_76.25.29
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Reaching out to Local User Groups

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 10:53 AM, Paul Johnson ba...@ursamundi.org wrote:

 I would like to organize one in Tulsa.


Do not, or do. There is no 'like'.  - channelling Map Yoda.  :-)

They're fun.  Pick a format that works for you and do it.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Reaching out to Local User Groups

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 2:16 PM, Kathleen Danielson 
kathleen.daniel...@gmail.com wrote:

 Re: Map -- All in good time. (Gotta write up my blog post first...)


http://usergroups.openstreetmap.de/?zoom=3lat=35.96022lon=-80.33203layers=B0TFT


 Re: Remote meetup deployment: I love that idea and think it would be an
 awesome goal 6 months from now. I'd love to have built up a local OSM user
 group organizer toolkit by then, so that we can give them some tried and
 tested resources to keep things going.


hrm.  imho, having outsiders parachute in to (kick-)start a local group
discourages local leadership.  The locals end up thinking, hey, they'll
come back and we can do it again some time.  No need for us to organize
anything, or something.  That's not our goal. :(
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Cleveland 2013 Meeting Recap

[Richard Weait]

Bravo!
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Toronto Hack Weekend, 08-10 March 2013

[Richard Weait]

Come one, come all, to the Second Canadian OpenStreetMap Developer Weekend,
eh?

As last year, Ryerson University is providing a dry roof overhead, lots of
space and rock solid wifi for the programming portion of the event.

There will also be a public event, possibly an expert panel, Friday
afternoon at Ryerson.  Details to follow.

Also as last year, there will be a ton of socializing and meeting and
greeting with the local OSM community, Friday night and Saturday night.

Last year, attendees travelled to Toronto from England, The Netherlands,
USA and even the Toronto suburbs.  Join the fun!  See you in Toronto.

Sign up now on the wiki so we can plan for your arrival and the requisite
Red Carpet.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Toronto_Hack_Weekend_March_2013

And there are sponsorship opportunities!  Want to sponsor a core developer
who could otherwise not participate?  Want to buy the coders dinner and a
few drinks?  Let me know.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] The best import

[Richard Weait]

One OSM commenter suggested that the best thing for the map was an import,
Import some German mappers they suggested.  That isn't wrong, but in some
places it might be historically provocative.  :-)

About 18 months ago I posted this Mappy Hour HOWTO.

http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/2011-June/006023.html

I don't think anyone has bothered to try it.  I'm not aware of a single
city in the US with current monthly local meetings for mappers.

Try it.  They're a lot of fun and help grow the local mapping (and map
using) community.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Using MapRoulette for imports

[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 10:37 PM, Richard Welty rwe...@averillpark.netwrote:

 On 12/18/12 9:51 PM, Brian DeRocher wrote:

 Food for thought... Imagine we performed a large data import into a side
 table, then used MapRoulette to overlay that data on OSM, allow users to
 review additions, and import features one at a time.  Would that be better?

  this could work for some imports. there might be timeliness and QC issues
 for others, though.


Any use of an external source that fails to consider other sources is Just
Bad Mapping.  Using something like maproulette to consider the existing
state of the database before including data from an external source is one
positive step.  I would suggest, though, that this sort of mapping
far-from-home is generally lower quality and should be avoided.  Local
knowledge is King.
___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] OSM Ignite Talk - N. Colorado

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Mike Thompson miketh...@gmail.com wrote:
 Hello,

 I have signed up to do an Ignite talk on Open Street Map in Fort Collins
 Colorado on Thursday Feb 28th 2013.

 For those of you not familiar with Ignite talks, you get 20 slides and five
 minutes to talk about your topic.  The slides automatically advance every 15
 seconds.

 1) If anyone has done one of these before, or has any advice, it would be
 much appreciated.

First, it's OpenStreetMap.  One word with many capitals.  Compare to
the globe; one world with many capitals.  :-)

I've done many OSM talks and other talks, and only one ignite format talk.

The ignite talk was really hard and really fun.  Since your talk is in
February, I suggest that you start now.  Really.  Draft something and
rehearse it in a mirror, with the slides auto-advancing.  I had no
idea how quickly five minutes would fly past until I started my
rehearsals.  In other talks, I can take time to catch my breath, or
search for a word;  try that in an ignite talk and suddenly you are a
slide behind.

Also, once you get a handle on how short five minutes is, you'll want
to re-write your presentation, then rehearse and revise again, about a
dozen times.  So, really, yeah.  Start now.  :-)

As with any OSM talk, you can't cover everything.  There are just too
many different ways to approach OSM, and too many ways to contribute
and / or consume the data.

Do you know anything about the audience you'll have?

For a general audience, I'd want to try to reach a potential mapper,
so I'd go with something like:

1) OpenStreetMap is the wiki map of everything
2) Where wikipedia has volunteers writing encyclopaedic articles for
everybody to read
3) OpenStreetMap has volunteers surveying their neighbourhoods for
everybody to see
4) Mapping the whole world, one neighbourhood at a time sounds crazy
5) and it really is crazy
6) but it actually works
7) mappers survey a shop or park or bicycle trail
8) and use editing software to send the data to OpenStreetMap
9) then everybody may view the data as tiles
10) or render the data as turn-by-turn instructions
11) or render the data as tactile maps for vision impaired
12) or render the data as midi-songs
13) ... something something, and six more slides.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Difficult USA mapper(s)

[Richard Weait]

Hi,

Summary

The Data Working Group has had a high number of complaints about a
small number of mappers in the USA.  The matter falls outside the
normal activities of DWG.  DWG would like to help, but need your
guidance in how to do so.

What is the Data Working Group?

The Data Working Group exists to handle matters that users don't wish
to handle.  Namely:

Resolution of issues in copyright violation, disputes, vandalism,
and bots, beyond the normal means of the community.
Helping to set policy on data.
Detecting and stopping vandalism and imports that to not comply
with guidelines.

Most of this is uncontroversial and largely invisible to the
community.  As an example, when a mapper notices that somebody has
created an imaginary town and notifies DWG, DWG can contact the
mapper, block the account temporarily and revert the changesets to
restore the real map data.

It is also uncontroversial when a user self-reports that their bot or
import has made an error and they ask DWG to revert the error for
them.  I should also note that many experienced users on the OSM IRC
channels can offer help with undoing self-reported mistakes. DWG is
called at times to block parties involved in edit wars and other
harmful activities.

The current matter

An unusual number of complaints have come to DWG regarding a small
number of accounts.  It is unusual to get a complaint about any
account from more than one other account.  The numbers involved here
beggar our experience in any other part of the world.

The matters from that varied complaints are typically differences of
opinion on tagging.
The mappers involved have generally attempted to resolve the matters in private.
The matters generally involve a local mapper and one from further away.
The local mappers generally report that they are being 'over ruled' by
a remote mapper who won't accept the local mappers local knowledge.

DWG has the administrative tools to block an account.  What we don't
have is a clear rule stating that we can block an account for being
difficult.

Questions for the US mapping community:

1) Do you want DWG to act on your behalf on this matter and or similar matters?
2) How would you frame your guidance to DWG so that DWG act
appropriately now and in the future?
3) How would you frame your guidance to DWG so that there are no
false-positives and few false-negatives?

It is my opinion that this very limited number of difficult mappers
are a large net-negative to the US mapping community and that the
difficult behaviours must be stopped for the benefit of OSM.

Best regards,
Richard Weait on behalf of
OSMF Data Working Group


[1] http://www.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Burlington, Vermont road classification

[Richard Weait]

On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 4:48 PM, Andrew Guertin andrew.guer...@uvm.edu wrote:
 Hi,

 There are two active mappers in the Burlington, Vermont area, and we
 disagree about how the roads should be classified, so we're looking for
 more opinions.

If you are both local mappers, I suggest that you actually meet face
to face and share a beverage.  As mappers, you both have much more in
common, in your concerns about this great project, then you have
differences on this small matter of tagging.

Over a coffee, or other beverage of choice, talk and argue about
favourite editor, preferred survey methods, favourite rendering and
the benefits of each of your mapper baseball cards.  Then settle this
little thing about the precise classification of a few local roads.
It doesn't matter how you settle it.  Divide the town in odd-even
blocks, or take roads at the front back half of the alphabet, or take
turns being right from north to south in town.

But settle it.  You two should be enjoying the camaraderie of your
shared interest.  Not fussing over trivialities.  :-)

Now, if only one of you is local, and the difference is purely matter
of opinion, then it's easy.  Local mapper wins by on the ground rule.*

* note: on the ground rule doesn't apply if I'm involved.  Then I
win is the rule we go by.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Burlington, Vermont road classification

[Richard Weait]

Y'all have three local mappers in Burlington?  That's great.  I did an
Intro to OSM talk in Burlington in Autumn of 2008.  You have to have a
Mappy Hour or local event to get more students interested in OSM.
Because once they go back home, they'll be mappers in other towns. :-)
 Grow the community!

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Consensus on SR for state route versus state abbreviation?

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 8:41 AM, Kevin Kenny kken...@nycap.rr.com wrote:
 Just a random observation: containment in a state does not necessarily
 mean that a 'state highway' is a state highway of that state.

 There are a few spots in the Alleganies where NY-17 veers into
 Pennsylvania to avoid a mountain or river. It's still maintained by
 NYSDOT and signed with a New York highway shield.  Calling it SR-17
 would lose that information.

 If anyone cares. I may be veering into autism here.

In fun, we call it Obsessive Compulsive OSM Disorder (OCOSMD).  You're
among friends.

http://www.slideshare.net/chippy/you-know-when-you-are-addicted-to-osm-when
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_purity_self-test

No disservice intended to those affected by actual conditions with
similar names.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Round at both ends and HI in the middle

[Richard Weait]

Ohio, of course.

Are you local a mapper in Ohio, especially central Ohio?

Did you know that there is a local OSM meetup group in Ohio?  Probably
not, because it hasn't been very active lately.  This group needs a
new advocate / operator/ leader.  Local OSM groups are amazing fun,
and a great way to show and share your mapping with other like-minded
folks.

Do you want Columbus and surrounding mappers to have a fun event every
month?  Contact me and I'll give you the keys to the meetup so you can
run it.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] New local groups

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 10:52 AM, Richard Weait rich...@weait.com wrote:
 Who has started a new[1] local OSM group?

[ ... ]

 What incentive would it take to push you over the edge to make you
 actually do it?  What would it take to get you to organize and host
 six local OSM meetings in the next six months?  Think about it.  Tell
 the list (or me).

 How about this, after your have six successful local meetings, we[2]
 send an OSM celebrity[3] to attend your next event?

 Whaddaya think?

Looks like you don't think much of this at all.  :(  Did anybody take
the challenge and host six events in the last six months?

Does anybody have an update on their local OSM meetings?

Looks like NYC is back!  That's great.  They have a couple of
interesting events coming up.

Chicago?  Denver?  DC? LA? SF? anybody?

Somebody else will do it.  That's what you told yourself last time.
:-)  Your turn.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Highway shield rendering: What's the blocker?

[Richard Weait]

if I remember correctly, the US Local Chapter was planning to render
highway shields, now that combined shield and overlap rendering is
solved.

What happened to that?  Is there a blocker?  If so, what is / are the
blocker(s)?

There appears to be periodic community interest in highway shields.
Who is still interested in advancing this?

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] wetlands in potlatch 2?

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 12:36 PM, Peter Dobratz pe...@dobratz.us wrote:
 I contacted a new mapper in my area and asked if he had any questions about
 editing the map.  He asked about adding swamps to the map using the
 in-browser editor.  I was about to respond that he could use natural=wetland
 for such things, but I wanted to make sure that I gave him instructions that
 made sense.  Since I almost exclusively use JOSM, I decided to fire up
 Potlatch 2 and try to add a swamp.  Using the simple interface, there
 doesn't appear to be any good way to do it.  Did I miss something?  Is the
 best answer to this question that he should switch to the advanced interface
 and type natural for the key and wetland for the value? (Or just switch to
 JOSM?)

I use both P2 and JOSM and tend to leave P2 in advanced mode.  I'm old
school. I type my tags. :-)

Yes, natural=wetland is fine.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] OSMF - US membership and SOTM registration

[Richard Weait]

On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 1:52 PM, Ian Dees ian.d...@gmail.com wrote:

 Please pardon our dust: I just finished switching OSM US over to a new
 membership tracking system.

Dear Ian,

You appear to have been very busy with US local chapter tasks this
year, from this membership thing to the server, etc.

Thank you.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] US-Canadian border

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 9:50 AM, Metcalf, Calvin (DOT)
calvin.metc...@state.ma.us wrote:
 I noticed this
 http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=44.524lon=-67.101zoom=10layers=M and
 really can’t make heads or tails of it.

Does that show both claims in a border dispute?

Imports.  Is there anything they can't do?

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Another random road reclassification

[Richard Weait]

On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 11:25 AM, Paul Johnson ba...@ursamundi.org wrote:
 On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 8:13 AM, Clay Smalley claysmal...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 9:26 PM, Toby Murray toby.mur...@gmail.com
 wrote:
  I know there is some disagreement about road classification,
  especially when it comes to trunk but I'm pretty sure most people
  would agree that this is incorrect. Thoughts?
 
 I've been told you should use highway=trunk, expressway=yes for this.
 Not sure of the validity or widespread use of the tag.


 The trunk part, yes.  The expressway part, I don't see anything outright
 wrong with it, but don't see a whole lot of value, either, as the term is
 loaded.  Oklahoma, for example, calls both freeways and expressways as
 expressway (such as the War Veteran's Expressway south of Tulsa or the MLK
 Expressway in Tulsa), New Jersey and Delaware seem to only call toll roads
 expressways (even though they're toll motorways).

 Likewise, undivided freeways and divided expressways are obviously
 differentiated by the number of roadways and whether or not there's
 intersections with something other than a link.

http://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/expressway

expressway=yes, seems to be a fringe tag at best.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] New version of US redaction map

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 2:27 PM, Mike N nice...@att.net wrote:
 On 8/13/2012 12:48 PM, Martijn van Exel wrote:

 The main new thing is that it now shows deleted ways as well


  Very nice - this map and Toby's are very useful. I see that the deleted
 ways are purple.

   One thing I have noticed is that it would be nice to detect a new roadway
 having been added under the old deleted roadway, and automatically remove
 the notification.

You can mark notifications as resolved on the OSMI redaction bot layer.

http://tools.geofabrik.de/osmi/?view=redactionbot

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] OpenStreetMap birthday celebrations

[Richard Weait]

Dear All,

It is that time again.  OpenStreetMap turns eight years old in just a
few days.  Join the celebration by getting together with other mappers
at one of the planned celebrations, or plan one in your town!

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap_8th_Anniversary_Birthday_party

Best regards,
Richard

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] US local chapter

[Richard Weait]

talk has started on the osmf list about the upcoming OpenStreetMap
Foundation board election, which reminded me of the US local chapter.

I had a quick look at recent US local chapter minutes [1] and see
nothing since April 2012.  Are there some additional minutes to be
posted?  It's also unclear to me which minute item tasks have been
assigned to which people, and which tasks are new assignments, versus
updates versus items completed.

And I'd love to hear from the local chapter board members, elected
last year, regarding: their thoughts on their year on the board so
far, their expectations leading up to next year, their observations
about serving the US local chapter and community, how their plans from
before the election align with their accomplishments so far.

And it would be good to know the details of the next US local chapter
board election.

Best regards,
Richard

[1] 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Foundation/Local_Chapters/United_States/Minutes

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] trying to figure out the former path of a trolley line in Derry/Londonderry, NH

[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 11:26 AM, Peter Dobratz pe...@dobratz.us wrote:
 I'm updating parts of the map in my local area (Derry and Londonderry, NH)
 and it looks like there was definitely a railroad of some kind here before.

 There's a dirt path here:
 http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/89361695
 This connects to a road called Trolley Car Lane:
 http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/way/18863837

 If you look at the Bing image layer, you can see a line of trees that run
 behind 109 Hillside Avenue in Londonderry and then intersect Wyman Street in
 Derry.  Apart from that I can't see any traces of the railway from the
 aerial photos.

 There aren't any plaques on the ground or anything to explain what was once
 here.  Trying some internet searches, I can't seem to find any additional
 information about this former railway.  Does anyone have any ideas about
 where to look to find more information?

Old maps in the local library.

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

[Talk-us] Of Mapping Party Kits and back to flyers / brochures

[Richard Weait]

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 8:21 AM, Katie Filbert filbe...@gmail.com wrote:
 On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Serge Wroclawski emac...@gmail.com wrote:

 On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 1:20 AM, Martijn van Exel m...@rtijn.org wrote:

  On a related note, I was thinking about a traveling mapping party kit:
  a bunch of GPSes, swag, some vests, instruction leaflets. A neat idea
  in itself, but I feel the US is just too big to make that practical.

 To sell, I fear the GPSes make it cost prohibitive.

 To lend, I suspect the GPSes make it hard to seed.

 But hey I'd love to be proven wrong.

 If we were to have regular mapping parties in the DC region (or NY), I'm
 sure that Wikimedia DC (or NYC) could fund a kit for the Mapping DC folks.

 I'm not sure about sending them across the country to lend out.  We could
 lend out within our region and maybe somewhat beyond.

What is preventing us from having more DC or NY mapping parties?  Is
it the lack of a mapping kit?  I don't recall many people saying that
they would organize and host a mapping party, if only they had a
MPKit.

I suggest, rather, that it is a lack of round tuits.  The lack of a
kit makes it easier to say, Well, if we had a kit, NewPerson in
SomeTown could host a Mapping Party.  Having a MPKit makes the
mapping party somebody else's problem. When the alternative might be
to say, Now _I'm_ going to host a Mapping Party in MyTown.

Most everybody in this thread has hosted or attended a mapping party,
so I don't intend to criticize.  And, if I'm pointing, I'm definitely
pointing at myself as much as at anybody else.  I just don't think
that a MPKit is the blocker here.  :-(

There are alternatives.  Mappy Hours and talks are two alternatives.

I'm down on Mapping Parties.  Part of this is because of my
phenomenally bad relationship with the weather during my Mapping
Parties.  :-)  That doesn't mean that you have to be down on Mapping
Parties, of course.  I like having a goal of acquire new mappers who
continue to contribute, rather than, map this area, today.  I find
that I feel more successful at that goal by hosting Mappy Hours and
doing Intro to OSM talks for groups.  And I find those events less
of a burden to organize, and much less weather dependent.  It means
that I do have to drop the goal of, map this area, today.  You may
find that goal too attractive to abandon.

We've dragged this thread a long way from flyers.  Sorry.  I think
flyers are cool.  And thanks, tons, to Serge for providing me with
some from his trip to London.  I'm still handing them out. :-)

Best regards,
Richard, who realizes that he hasn't hosted a MP in 2012. :-(

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us

Re: [Talk-us] Routing tests

[Richard Weait]

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 4:27 PM, the Old Topo Depot
oldto...@novacell.com wrote:
 That was me 

 How does  http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:JohnANovak/Interstates fit
 your requirements ?

hmmm.  Not too well at the moment; seems like the vast number of
template on that page is causing trouble?

At any rate, I-86 in PA and NY are good to go.  :-)

___
Talk-us mailing list
Talk-us@openstreetmap.org
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us