On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 8:58 AM, Pierre Béland <[email protected]> wrote: > Richard > > I dont think that we should advocate against import.
Then we differ. I've been advocating for "better imports" with every import I've seen since 2006. While the tools have improved, the results for the most part, just haven't. > Let's try in 2014 to > be more positive with that and suggest ways to do it better. You might continue to believe that "imports are just fine", I do not. Imports are harmfull to OpenStreetMap and to the OpenStreetMap community in all except extremely limited circumstances. Invariably, when I add that "except in extremely limited circumstances", the listener will presume that they are in fact the exception. Invariably, they aren't the exception. They are well intentioned. They are in love with data. They want a better OpenStreetMap. And then they make an import of some sort and cause harm to the data base and community that they then never clean up because it is too much work. The linked thread regarding the NYC building import discusses ways to do it better. The after action report on any decent effort at an import has discussed ways to do better in the future. Technically, essentially every import has been better than the one before. To date, overwhelmingly, better is still just not good enough. My recommendation is never to import. "Import" should be a very dirty word in OpenStreetMap. By comparison, I think we should focus on doing the best mapping that we can with our surveys, and with external resources that we have permission to use. Use external resources* by comparing each item with all of the other existing resources, including imagery, existing OpenStreetMap data, your survey, local knowledge, and curate the external source before placing it into OpenStreetMap. But never import.** Yes. It's way slower. Yes, it takes more time, and a more-experienced mapper. But it is what you owe to the project, the community and to your reputation as a mapper. To be clear, I love that external resources are becoming available to OpenStreetMap in greater numbers. I have every bit as much "data love" for a new data set as the next mapper. Dumping huge amounts of un-curated data into the OpenStreetMap data base at one time is not the way to use that data, or OpenStreetMap to best effect. * Only the ones for which we have explicit permission to use. ** except in those extremely limited circumstances which don't apply here. _______________________________________________ Talk-ca mailing list [email protected] https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-ca
