Mateusz Konieczny <[email protected]> wrote:
in reply to the
1 Oct 2019, 16:26 post by Frederik Ramm <[email protected]>:

> Case 1:
> http://www.remote.org/frederik/tmp/case1.png
> Two small coastal areas that look a bit like rock outcroppings.
> It is hard to imagine to me situation where
> it would be leisure=park.

That is because OSM often uses a definition of "leisure=park" as it is 
better-known in Europe as (approximately) "smaller urban manicured green space" 
(and which I tried mightily six months ago to remedy in our park wiki and its 
Talk page, but was ineffectively confused / muddied by the other party in this 
"dispute").  We (he and I, the two whom Frederik says are "in dispute") 
actually DID come to a relatively benign agreement here, in this specific case, 
where these two polygons are now tagged leisure=nature_reserve (NOT 
leisure=park) as well as boundary=protected_area (as they are, according to 
CPAD and/or SCCGIS, which have been documented in our Contributors wiki at 
https://wiki.osm.org/wiki/Contributors#California_Protected_Areas_Database for 
many months and https://wiki.osm.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_County,_California#Landuse 
wiki for many years) + protect_class=7.  The value of this key was actually one 
of the few times where the other OSM volunteer who disputed this agreed with me 
that the correct value could be one of two or three different values, and this 
is the one we settled on.  To be clear, the "dispute" that Frederik appears to 
be arbitrating is over me closing an OSM Note here where I noted this, saying 
"Resolvable, resolved" and then closed the Note.  The other party ignored the 
Note he left open for months (five months, without doing anything to resolve 
it, in another disingenuous gesture) to apparently "stir up muck" (vex and 
annoy, really).

Recall, these are from a ten-year-old nmixter import which I spent literally 
several years and tens of thousands of thoughtful "compares" (the SCCGIS data 
that were entered, vs. my good knowledge of how OSM should "best tag") and this 
is one vestige where another volunteer (the other in this dispute) found fault 
with my corrections, then HE entered a Note (many, actually, this is one), 
which resulted in the "compromise entries" we find now.  I remain in a 
listening mode as to how other mappers would tag what came from a state agency 
calling these a "park" and that went through MANY iterations of "not really a 
park," which I readily and certainly have agreed to (factually, it is not 
tagged leisure=park today).  The Note (https://www.osm.org/note/1759733) was 
closed, correctly in my opinion, as it is truly "resolvable."

By the way (Frederik), I don't know how "if you are one of the mappers in 
conflict here, please refrain from participating" works in Germany or OSM in 
general, but I am not used to nor do I appreciate being told to not speak up 
for myself when my edits are called into question.  It feels very much like 
censorship, having tape placed across my mouth, or having my hands tied behind 
my back.  We have freedom of speech in my country, we have freedom of speech in 
OSM (so I believe), even during disputes under arbitration by the DWG and 
especially when some of the facts presented are slightly in error.  Yesterday, 
I meant to send the correction (not really participation, but correcting a 
mistake in the data presented to talk-us) directly to Frederik, but I 
mistakenly sent to the list (something I virtually never do by mistake, but I 
did make that "Reply all" mistake yesterday).  Nonetheless, I fail to see the 
value in Frederick's / the DWG's "ask" that I refrain from participating, 
especially when some of the facts presented are not quite correct (I place no 
blame or value judgement about that, it is entirely possible that Frederik's 
edits and mine simply crossed over eight time zones — a perfectly innocent 
explanation).

I, too, value as many other participants and perspectives as we might view here 
in talk-us on these topics.  They are difficult, they cause friction and I wish 
to see light, not heat, though resolution (on many fronts, by many volunteers) 
has proven exceedingly hard to come by.

> "zone=PR-PP" which was then interpreted as meaning it's somehow a
> "park".
> Is this a typical quality of this import?

Mateusz, again:  "this import" was from a notoriously "import happy" mapper 
from ten years ago who I know personally and has been widely admonished many 
times over during the last decade for his poor edits.  MY participation was to 
improve the data into what BestOfOSM.org eventually called "nearly perfect 
landuse."  I have striven to do this over many years, as best I can, logically 
mapping the imported (zoning) data to OSM's landuse tags, with full explanation 
of my reasoning all along the way in wiki, personal messages and patient 
answers with all and sundry with whom I and others interacted as we edited 
these (multi)polygons here.  When others dispute(d) my findings or tagging, I 
listen(ed) and usually / often / nearly always concur, making corrections every 
single time.  If not I explain my position and document it (in wiki, source 
tags, changeset comments, Notes or elsewhere), in good OSM fashion.  There HAVE 
been misunderstandings between these landUSE data and landCOVER (even by 
members of the DWG) — this is a frequent blurry line of confusion in OSM.  
Nonetheless, I contend that the data in OSM in the county in question are 
largely if not very nearly completely correct (I certainly say these data are 
"95%+" correct, perhaps closer to 98% or 99% depending on how you might score). 
 Newer tagging schemes which BETTER tag or UPDATE the tagging are as welcome 
here, associated with these data, as they are anywhere else in OSM, that is to 
say:  if you have better data or tagging to enter, please, by all means enter 
them.  I listen, I "get out of the way" when people do this, as I am not "wed" 
to the imported data, though I don't wish to seem them simply deleted without 
being replaced or updated with superior data.  I think that is reasonable, 
other reasonable people have told me they find this reasonable, too.

> Case 2:
> http://www.remote.org/frederik/tmp/case2.png
> (...)
> One mapper says "not a park", the other mapper says that according to
> CPAD 2018a and SCCGIS v5 this is a park
> Aerial image is useless here, it
> is a tree covered area.

That is because aerial imagery displays (largely speaking), landCOVER as 
opposed to landUSE, which is what these polygons describe.  You can't (always) 
see landUSE in imagery.  As I said to Frederik off-list recently:

        "The natural area abuts a mapped residential boundary, effectively 
becoming 'the backyards of people's residences.'  This, too, is a frequent 
occurrence (parks/natural areas abutting people's backyards), so the existing 
polygons merely define boundaries between public and private: 'you may park 
here, you may recreate here, but beyond THIS line (polygon boundary), now you 
are in somebody's backyard on their private property.'  I consider this an 
important line to map, as I respect private property and don't want to trespass 
when I recreate."

So, in short, using aerial imagery to determine whether these polygons are 
correct (as landUSE) is a NOT-especially-helpful strategy.

> It may be in addition leisure=park,
> it may be a dump of nuclear waste,
> it may be a military polygon.
> 
> Is there a chance of on ground photo?

Again, there are many sources of on-ground photos, but few, very likely none, 
will describe landUSE as these polygons are tagged.

> I am unfamiliar with CPAD 2018a and SCCGIS v5.
> Is there a good reason to expect that their classification
> matches OSM classification of objects?

There was a cavalier and sloppy attitude by the original importer in 2009 about 
"classifications matching," but over months of my better understanding in 2010 
and the years between 2011 and 2014, I believe we largely "got it correct."  
Newer versions of the data were updated in 2018 and 2019, and IMPORTANTLY, many 
OTHER data have been entered which SUPPLEMENT and/or UPDATE these data, which 
again, I welcome and so does our map.  This is very much how OSM works:  think 
of how the TIGER data in this country are slowly-but-surely being replaced by 
superior data:  it's the same in this county.

> "It is a park in the sense of American English as of 2019. Whether it is
> a park according to OSM may be debatable, as it is an "unimproved" park,
> meaning it is under development as to improvements like restrooms and
> other amenities.
> I would not expect restrooms to 
> be indicator of leisure=park
> However, it is an "urban green space open to public
> recreation"
> I am one of people that attempted to
> improve OSM Wiki documentation
> of leisure=park

Actually, Mateusz and I participated in some good work together on minor 
modifications (what I believe both of us thought were clarifications to) OSM's 
leisure=park wiki, but which it later became clear to many seemed to only 
further blur the lines of definition.  That is unfortunate and we still have 
much work to do to clear up semantics and dissolve remaining confusion.  This 
will be difficult, there is no doubt about that.  Please let us be polite and 
accommodate that there are many different interpretations of what "park" means 
(the OSM version, the "US English" version...even others).  OSM really must 
strive to be inclusive "in a very large tent" here, even if this means a 
wholesale re-working of how we tag parks and similar lands in OSM.  (Two other 
well-respected mappers are participating with me in United States/Public Lands, 
one of them a serious and deep mapper in New York, the other a fellow 
California mapper, who happens to be an OSM wiki moderator).  These are VERY 
difficult topics, let's please agree to that as a positive starting point and 
work forward from there.  More-or-less autocratically deciding "these data are 
crap" without understanding this basic tenet and histories of how tagging has 
entered and evolved in the last 10 to 15 years is not helpful to the cause.

> Case 3:
> http://www.remote.org/frederik/tmp/case3.png
> The highlighted area in the middle of the picture straddles a street and
> parts of an amenity=parking north and south of the street and seems to
> rather arbitrarily cut through the woodland at its northern edge.

It is absolutely not arbitrary, and it doesn't display in imagery as what it 
is:  the delineation between public (park-like, actually now better-tagged 
leisure=nature_reserve) and private lands.  To the north are "residential 
backyards," where recreating on the nature_reserve is not welcome, as it is 
private property.  Again, it isn't simply me who finds these boundaries 
important and valuable to include in OSM, others who respect private property 
don't want to trespass while we recreate and we appreciate having these on a 
map, in the palm of our hands on a GPS, etc.

> Mapper 1: "This isn't a park. It's just a small fenced off grassy
> area.". Mapper 2: "It is a park according to County Park as it meets the
> leisure=park definition of "area of open space for recreational use" and
> contains amenities (parking)."
> 
> It is currently tagged leisure=park.
> Is there a chance of on ground photo?

No, again:  it is now "better-tagged" leisure=nature_reserve to exactly avoid 
this sort of dispute.  It is a natural area which might be described as a 
"proto-park," a parcel of land publicly owned, yet unimproved (save for a 
parking lot and some natural area) with things like "trimmed greenery" or 
"restrooms, playgrounds and other amenities frequently found in parks."  I 
believe most would agree this isn't a park, but it is an area where people 
congregate, recreate, is open to the public and largely remains in a natural 
state.  Hence, leisure=nature_reserve is either "fairly close" or quite 
accurate tagging here.  The corollary is that the Note (one of the disputes) 
could be, and was, correctly Resolved.

> I would give low weight to whatever it is officially considered as a county 
> park 
> Mapper 1: "This park doesn't exist." Mapper 2: "It is undeveloped land
> managed by County Parks in a sort of proto park state. How would YOU map
> this?"
> Park is not there so I would not map.

Why is that?  Why does this deserve "low weight" to not only how "we" (the 
People) designate through our Parks Department (whose job it is to manage land 
for public recreation) and ACTUALLY USE THE AREA compared to what you think you 
can see in a satellite photo?  I've been here, I park here, I recreate here.  
Do you?  I'll ask you (and all and sundry, as Frederik is) as well, how would 
YOU tag this area?

> Though mapping it as a garden may also work.
> Just because an area of a few 100 sq ft is
> technically a "park" in some county GIS system, doesn't mean we have to
> call it a park in OSM,
> +1

Ugghhh:  AGAIN, we are stumbling forward from a messy import, a much-better 
logical mapping to landuse tagging over many years, the development of the 
didn't-exist-when-the-data-were-imported schemes like protected_area and likely 
most important:  the "clarity that we are confused" about the leisure=park tag, 
especially when it is applied in the USA, by people who speak and use US 
English (I define "park" in this dialect several times in our wiki, and it DOES 
diverge from what OSM says is leisure=park, which is only part-speculation as 
to why we have these problems in the first place, not the end-all and be-all 
explanation for it).  If you are going to "+1" stuff, please understand the 
history and context of how they happened.  Otherwise, you may very well be 
calling something "wrong," when actually it is "not fully and properly evolved 
from how it originally entered our map, was improved over the years, and newer 
tagging schemes have superseded its relevance or wider understanding as 
correct."  That IS what happened here.  We should not start from the place that 
people wish to mis-tag or confuse, I don't, I don't think the other party did 
and I don't believe that there are "bad desires" at the root of this.  It 
appears to be blurry, poorly-defined semantics and getting-lengthy histories of 
complex tagging, and we continue to unravel those.  Yes, it is difficult.

> and the idea that any patch of earth with three
> trees on it and two cars parked on it is a "park" because it is "open to
> the public" and "has amenities" sounds very far-fetched to me.
> +1

This is simple hyperbole and therefore not likely worthy of serious 
consideration.  Let us address specific cases rather than "throw the baby out 
with the bathwater."  (An American English idiom roughly meaning to flippantly 
or carelessly discard something wholesale because it has a slight wrong with 
it).

> Also, mapping micro-protected areas on a rocky shore seems to be of
> limited value to me and puts a big burden on anyone who wants to verify
> that.
> +1

Why?  We "micro" map things like schools, telephone/fiber/cable boxes and many 
other "micro" things, is there a clear reason why this sort of "micro" is "of 
limited value?"  I see no good argument for that here.  Why is it a "burden" to 
verify when the data are pointed to by our Contributors page (or the County 
page in which the data reside) and as the data are freely available on the 
'net, can be downloaded and compared to what is in OSM almost as easy as it is 
for me to type the words it takes to describe that process?  While I welcome 
other volunteers in our project verifying data, I question when people call 
mapping these things in the first place "of limited value" and that their mere 
existence in OSM places a "burden" upon other mappers.

And please, as you contemplate that, please understand the (again) frequently 
confused topics of how many places are predominantly tagged with a landCOVER 
flavor, while others are largely tagged from a perspective of landUSE.  Both 
are correct in OSM, and you (and others) may simply not be used to seeing 
mapping in "the other" method of tagging such areas.  Actually, I believe one 
of the better results that may (decades from now, to be candid) emerge from 
this is how we tag BOTH landUSE and landCOVER either one, the other or BOTH, 
successfully.  That's ambitious, but we might very well get there.  Let's 
remain civil and true to our first name — Open — while we do.

SteveA
California


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