I would point to the NYC building import as another example of how imports can go badly, and be damaging for OpenStreetMap. To be beneficial, any import must be handled with extreme care. NYC has not done that. You'll have to read a very long thread to understand what is going on, from those who are involved. (on the us imports list)
https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/imports-us/2013-December/000447.html My summary is that the NYC building import is as flawed as most every other attempt to "Get a bunch of data in OSM in a hurry". Just a few users are responsible for the bulk of the edits. Those few users are creating data at a rate that far exceeds their ability to curate the data on the way in; and so the data is poor in terms of quality. And the rate far exceeds the ability of the real mapping community to repair the imported data in a timely manner; and so the local mappers are overwhelmed and frustrated by the damage done by some small number of importers. The New York City building import is an example of an import gone wrong. I hope that the parties involved will continue to work on fixing their efforts, rather than just blasting bits into the data base. Improving address coverage in OpenStreetMap is a great benefit to the project, especially to those who wish to consume OpenStreetMap data. You can make an impact and improve OpenStreetMap data in your neighbourhood by surveying address data as you improve other data. No imports required. Just map it. :-) Building outlines are very pretty, but are not as broadly useful as addresses; we navigate to an address, not to "a building rectangular in form, 32m on one side and 36m on the adjacent..." That said, once you draw a building outline, that is a great place to hang the address tags. Mappy New Year. _______________________________________________ Talk-ca mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca
