OpenStreetMap

compdude's Diary Comments

Diary Comments added by compdude

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Can't get Lake Entiat to show up

Yeah, I probably could’ve used JOSM to solve the problem, too. :P I’ll definitely use that in the future should such a problem arise again.

Can't get Lake Entiat to show up

Oh, thanks! I thought that’s what it was but I was never able to find a gap between ways.

A Social OpenStreetMap.org Without Groups

I definitely agree that the communication functions need to be made more visible in OSM. Why not just put a link to the mailing lists on the left-hand sidebar under “Community?” That would be a good first step forward. I bet that only a small minority of active mappers actually use the mailing lists, and maybe half of the mappers don’t even know about them. I also agree that the “friend” thing should be changed to “follow”, since you’re really just tracking their edits.

tourism=attraction

I agree with you that it is subjective. One could easily argue that a library could be tagged as tourism=attraction, especially if it has a unique design or if it’s a historic landmark. For example, the Central Library in Downtown Seattle is quite an attraction because of its unique design. Nevertheless, tagging a library as tourism=attraction is still a misuse of the tag.

Why so many old, unresolved bugs in Mapnik?

So when is Andy Allan’s new creation going to be implemented in Mapnik?

Making OSM data mor compact

I agree that it’s not always best to have an area share nodes with a way for a road. The biggest reason is that it’s harder to select what you want when you’re editing the map, and so it’s a nightmare to edit, as mentioned by others. The only time I have areas share the same node as a way is when I’m mapping parking lots. In that case I do want the parking lot to be attached to the road going into and through the parking lot.

Why so many old, unresolved bugs in Mapnik?

Thanks for explaining that the stylesheet was so complicated. That would explain why nobody wants to fix these bugs. @firefishy, that video was really informative, and I’m glad Andy Allan is stepping up to simplify the stylesheet code. Hopefully that will allow more programmers to help and make it easier for people to learn how to work with the stylesheet.

About the time limit, I would hope that with the new programming language for the style sheet, we don’t get unresolved bugs that are really old. I wouldn’t want super-old bugs to be closed, perhaps the Trac website should have a feature where bugs older than 6 months would be outlined in red on the page that lists all the bugs, so that you can draw attention to programmers to encourage them to fix those bugs.

But, now that I know how complicated the stylesheet is, I will have more patience with you guys.

Interest in Editing

I tried Google Map Maker when it first was introduced and I didn’t think it was as user-friendly as Potlatch 2. The one thing I did like about it was that the road designations were more in line with US usage. The one thing I’ve never really liked about OSM is that it isn’t really oriented towards the US; instead it’s more oriented towards the UK and Europe.

On implied turn restrictions and armchair mapping

Here’s a link to that particular interchange on the map to get the bigger picture: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=28.36376&lon=-81.56656&zoom=17&layers=M

First of all I don’t know why any normal person except a lost tourist would get off the freeway and then back on. Such a move would be something completely unexpected by other drivers, therefore it would be hazardous and reckless. You can get a ticket for reckless driving, you know.

I don’t know how you can possibly think that such a turn is allowed.

Coastline I edited is not being updated by the renderer

@Vlad, Are you saying that, in the future, should I just make some edits to other things in the vicinity of the coastline in order to force the renderer to actually update the coastline?

Public perception and predjudice...

I think it would be better if all roads were the same color shade. Motorways could remain blue, but all other roads could be a shade of red-orange to yellow. I agree that using green for trunk makes it blend in with forests and this can be quite annoying sometimes. If all roads were the same color shade or whatever there would be less of a problem.

Another thing that would help is to make the roads not look so “fat.” This can be a problem, especially in densely-populated areas, where the roads just look like one big blob. For example, the secondary roads in Downtown Seattle look like a big orange blob. That just looks bad. If the roads weren’t so fat, this wouldn’t happen.

License, Board, Soc and other events

I’m glad that the whole license change process is done, too. Hurray!

Redaction Sadness

Noticed you missed a short section near Gold Hill, OR but I added that back. P2 will join independent nodes when you’re drawing a way. And you can also hit the “h” key in Potlatch 2 to view history.

Redaction Sadness

The reason why even TIGER-imported ways were deleted is when a decliner split the way in half, thus creating a new way. So that new way gets deleted by the redaction bot.

Redaction Bot

@Sanderd17: WOW! Unbelievable!

Anyway, my area was worse than I thought it’d be. Lots of ways with completely whacko nodes. Fixing some of that stuff is just as hard, if not worse, than doing TIGER fixup.

Vandalism?

Was this supposed to be marked as an under-construction/ proposed road or what?

Sigh, I suppose it's unconstructive to complain about the actions of a huge multinational organization

For all those complaining about the amount of data that was eaten up by the bot, go look at parts of Australia. It will make LA appear to be virtually unscathed.

Sydney redacted

That is just unbelievable! That’s all I can say….

Let’s be glad that Los Angeles isn’t this bad!

Licence redaction ready to begin

FYI the redaction bot’s user name is OSMF Redaction Account.

Licence redaction ready to begin

Looking at the OSM Inspector, some cities still look bad, but it’s best to just be optimistic about all this. At least my city (Seattle, WA) will look fine!