Questions & Answers - Analyzing the localness of OSM data

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3923062 OSM Science Mailing list: https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/science

Questions

1. [Done] Is the local tags analysis, done at the country level or what is the size of “regions” considered? -clairedelune
2. [Done] Am I “local” when I map gas pipeline  i.e. 1/4 of France?
3. [Done] It would be great to have access to data about localness - are you planning to release either the data, or your algorithms so that others can run them too? – Frederik

Comments

1. works for me+2. Thanks for letting us know. Many thanks video team!+2 :)
2. Pascal Neis , Where did you contribute?: https://neis-one.org/2011/08/yosmhm/
3. For mappers who start through HOTOSM their first change may be non-local, but you could look for #missingmaps (or #hotosm and other tasking manager tags) etc in the changeset comment to filter those out +2
   1. I’d say that a great deal of mapping in the developing world is performed by mappers who are starting to map VERY far away from where they live. I’m a great example - that’s exactly how I started. -Greg_Rose
4. I agree.  If you live in a well mapped place like London, you may not see any point in adding to OSM there, but when you travel to a relatively unmapped place you are much more likely to map
5. Could we find a way to appreciate ‘localness’ as the best kind of collaboration between ‘remote’ and ‘local’ mappers that produces the best map that is usable to the local community for their use and practice (development | humanitarian etc). We are all local on Earth and what we do with our map/database is what counts. - Anni - rosymaps +1
6. As a local mapper, I’m paranoid one day someone/something will come along and delete all my hard work! All mappe
7. Government boundries don’t really match “effective” boundaries, but they are “official”, so there is not much we can do. (Usually wrong 50 meters.)
8. In Taiwan some “hothead” “restored” all the arboriginal names, that nobody who lives there ever heard of. Gee thanks.
   1. —could we focus on developing skills for ‘local’ validators to reduce this from happening?
9. Where are you going to do any case studies?  If you are interested in doing anything in Tanzania we at Crowd2map would be very interested in being involved!  Janet
10. Perhaps there are three categories: local, visitor, and remote (so ‘visitor’ is mapping on the ground but doesn’t have deep local knowledge)
11. I view my local area to be five km around my home.  Otherwise I would probably have to go to the area to get on the ground information.
12. Having worked with mappers from Lesotho, I can an amount of local knowledge by proxy, as they can explain what I am seeing from the satilite view. Tad
13. Yes it is true, mapping in an air-conditioned office works better than in the field with lightning strikes and wars, etc.
14. Don’t tell anybody, but I even mapped all the electric meters. Their serial numbers are great location checks in a rural area. Of course the rendering snobs don’t think so.
    1. (They’re also great for orienteering permanent check in markers :) - indiebio)
       1. (I had to call them “street cabinets” Don’t tell anyone.)
          1. Great name! Seriously, is it a problem to map these (newb question)
             1. It’s because the city slicker tag committee thinks they are like ants, not worth mapping.
                1. I think (especially) in developing countries they are valuable as a location tool, and they are valuable for recreational purposes like orienteering (We don’t have many forests in SA so we make a plan for urban events)