OpenStreetMap
Today I noticed that a number of nodes appear to have been deleted from the Keweenaw Peninsula. Since I spent a few weeks working on the Michigan Technological University campus last fall, I’m confused and concerned at their disappearance. I’m attempting to revert the changesets that deleted such a significant amount of data, because they were deleted without any explanation. If my data was in error, please let me know so I can improve my map-making skills.
I conducted the reversion based on info at the following two pages: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Change_rollback http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Vandalism
Also, if anybody has up-to-date info on the status of the Moderation mailing list, please share. I’m not certain whether it’s ethically acceptable for me to simply revert the changesets that deleted the data from the map, but I don’t know what the proper reporting structure is for a moderator to help me out. If fellow mappers out there have suggestions for how to handle situations like this in the future, please message me.
Thank you!
Discussion
Comment from lyx on 5 April 2012 at 07:03
Apparently your data was deleted by a new user jlerath who only has three changesets, all of them deleting lots of data in the MTU area. I think it would be ok to simply revert the changesets; either the user made a bad mistake (then its ok) or it was a malicious act (and reverting that is ok). You probably should contact the user to get more information; if it was a mistake he needs to find out what went wrong. The moderation mailing list is no longer used; if vandalism continues in your area please contact the data working group.
Comment from maxolasersquad on 5 April 2012 at 10:09
When I spent a year mapping, in crazy detail, Southwood, the residential community I work in. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=30.39437&lon=-84.21297&zoom=15 It was a good place to learn. Since I work there I could spend lunch breaks surveying the area and taking them back and inputting my findings. Find a place you have frequent access to (your work area or neighborhood) and start hacking away at the map.
Comment from nickrosencrans on 5 April 2012 at 13:45
Thanks to Lyx and Maxolasersquad for your comments! I appreciate your perspective on the issue and I’ll keep your suggestions in mind going forward.
Comment from PurpleMustang on 5 April 2012 at 14:44
Was the data deleted as part of the data clean up? Looks like there are still some pockets of data that are going to be remove.
http://tools.geofabrik.de/osmi/?view=wtfe&lon=-88.19923&lat=47.24886&zoom=10&overlays=overview,wtfe_point_harmless,wtfe_line_harmless,wtfe_point_modified,wtfe_line_modified_cp,wtfe_line_modified,wtfe_point_created,wtfe_line_created_cp,wtfe_line_created
Comment from nickrosencrans on 5 April 2012 at 14:51
Hi PurpleMustang, I don’t think it was involved with the data cleanup. I reverted the following changesets:
As I mentioned before, these changesets deleted a significant number of nodes and ways without explanation. I see the issues you note on OSM Inspector, but I think those are separate from the sheer number of deletions I’m referencing. Without explanation on why 300+ nodes disappeared, I reverted the changesets in the hope that the data was deleted by mistake.
Please let me know if upon review these nodes were intentionally removed because of data cleanup, because I will want to rebuild the city and campus with better data. Also let me know how to avoid whatever errors I made, because I want our map to be as accurate and substantive as possible. Thank you!
Comment from PurpleMustang on 5 April 2012 at 15:07
Given she/he is a new mapper I would not think she/he is even aware of the change over.