Hi Josh, all, I am not one hell-bent on "FOSS or death"; I tend to use whatever works best.
That said, the cost-benefit analysis of using Apple Maps seems to boil down: * Apple Maps has slightly better rendering (didn't check, but I assume) * Apple Maps uses less mobile bandwidth * Apple Maps is not free (as in freedom) Now, looking at these points: * Somewhat better quality is not an argument. If it were, we would have stayed with Britannica, and skipped that whole Wikipedia nonsense. Wikipedia became better, in part, because people actually used it, saw the issues, and fixed them. And OSM rendering might be not quite en par with Apple Maps, it is quite usable, in my experience. * Less bandwidth usage is not an argument either. I doubt we are talking about a significant percentage of an average users' data volume here. If Android users can afford the bandwidth, so can people who buy an iPhone (source: used to have iPhone). * The price tag is the "non-freedom". As far as I can tell, this would be the very first Wikimedia "product" that incorporates non-free technology and data. It sets a precedence. It also has the potential to poison the otherwise great relations between the Wikipedia, Wikidata, and OSM community. It says "OSM is not good enough (at least for Apple users)" quite plainly. How would we feel if OSM started to remove Wikidata tags and replace them with Britannica links? All in all, IMHO, the cost is too high for the (at best) flimsy benefits. Cheers, Magnus On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 12:52 AM Joshua Minor <jmi...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hello, > > My name is Josh Minor, and I am the Product Manager for the Wikipedia iOS > app. I wanted to speak to a couple specific issues and misunderstandings > raised by this email thread. > > First, please take a look at > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service which > provides some background on this decision. Jonatan linked to it, and it > covers several of the concerns raised on the thread and gives our > reasoning. I'd also suggest subscribing to this ticket: > https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T157763 which Jonatan filed, and where > you can track efforts and issues with replacement maps. > > A few clarifying points: > > 1. The Places tab[1], and its use of Apple’s maps tiles, is not part of the > articles or article display, it is a navigational aid to help you find > articles. This doesn’t mean it’s exempt from considerations raised here, > but just want to clarify that this is not about editor created maps in > projects, but rather an app-specific discovery mechanism. > > 2. The feature doesn’t violate our privacy policy[2] and was reviewed by > Wikimedia Foundation's Legal department before entering beta. The App’s > access to the users’ geolocation to recommend nearby articles, with the > users’ explicit consent, is already part of both apps. The new feature > merely adds a different way to visually view nearby articles - the user > must, as before, still provide explicit consent for the App to access their > geolocation. Users can always turn on or off the provision of their > geolocation via their iPhone location settings. > > The feature also makes requests to Apple’s map tile servers for display on > the App. These tiles may or may not be near the actual location of the > user. It doesn’t involve sending Apple the articles you read or anything > about your Wikipedia usage. Apple has public statements and documentation > to explain[3] how their maps service preserves privacy by using a > randomized and frequently changing device ID to request the maps, by not > tracking users over time, and by not building map usage profiles of users. > Overall, Apple’s data collection practices are governed by their privacy > policy [4], which users must agree to order to use their iPhones. > > We plan to further expand the explanation in the FAQ/privacy section of the > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service page > in > the next day or so. > > 3. As stated by others on this thread, the issue at hand is the feasibility > and usability of a libre maps tile server, and impacts on users and how it > reflects (or doesn’t) the values of Wikimedians. The rest of the work on > this feature (such as the time spent on search, visually clustering items > on the map, a list view of nearby landmarks, and the Wikipedia article > pins) will be applicable, independent of the map provider. In fact, I’d > estimate the engineer doing the work spent more time on hacking to try to > make a combination of MapBox and Wikimedia tiles work, than he did/will on > integrating/removing Apple maps. > > 4. This feature was announced on the Wikimedia Blog[5], described in an > initial MediaWiki.org page[6], all work was documented and tracked on > Phabricator (including an initial tech investigation, the request to remove > Apple Maps during development, and the overall feature[7]) and then the > decision to push into beta with Apple Maps further documented on > MediaWiki.org[8]. > > In conclusion, I would like to thank you for the feedback and the > opportunity to engage in a civil discussion about these important issues. > Again, if you are interested in the next steps, I’d invite you to subscribe > and comment on the phab ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T157763 > or > the MediaWiki.org page. > > [1] Design specification: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T130889 > [2] > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service#Privacy > [3] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203033, > https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207056, > http://www.apple.com/privacy/approach-to-privacy/ > [4] http://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy/ > [5] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/06/17/wikipedia-mobile/ > [6] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Nearby > [7] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/ios-app-feature-places/ > [8] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
