On 2015-02-17 12:30, Bryce Nesbitt wrote:
Mapilariy is fun... but collecting more data is not necessarily the
avenue to a better map.
Instead, consider how many people use the map.
Consider how many people "garden" a particular area of the map.
Consider how many people enthusiastically map a given feature (e.g. RV
Dump Stations, Dog Parks, Smoking Zones, Bike Repair Stations, Bear Boxes).
A pile of automatically imported or collected data is really not all
that interesting or complete.
I think in the USA the way forward involves finding user communities not
served by other maps (e.g. Bear Boxes, above).
Reaching out to these communities is right up there with welcoming new mappers. As
someone who largely "gardens" a limited region, I was disappointed that some
local cycling enthusiasts couldn't be persuaded to contribute to OSM instead of or in
addition to Map Maker. But along come enthusiasts for things I'd never thought would have
enthusiasts. Add a few city-maintained stairways and someone draws the other 390. Add
pylons to a power line and someone quickly adds the voltage. Wheelchair access. Bike polo
courts.
Topical mapping can spur local mapping too. I loved the baseball field mapping
contest we did a few years ago. [1] It was fun and very easy to hop around the
countryside scavenging for baseball fields, and the resulting green diamonds in
the middle of nowhere broadcast OSM's micromapping ambition. If a mapper added
baseball fields but neglected to improve the surrounding map, the lonely fields
sometimes tickled locals into mapping the rest of the park or school.
A modicum of guerrilla mapping can have a huge effect. A few athletic fields
and building outlines can quickly snowball into almost every building and
driveway in town. [2]
[1] http://bit.ly/OSMbaseball
[2] http://osm.org/go/ZUruk1AO
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