5 ms·

It's incredibly annoying that this kind of thing is rampant, while my changes to places that are mislabeled or closed get declined.

by hxii 5y ago

cush 5y ago
In the scheme of things, maybe changes to places are far more important. If someone messes with the hours of operation of a store, they're directly affecting someone's livelihood. Naked man hiding on the far side of a panorama, not so much.
the_biot 5y ago
Consider making your changes in OpenStreetmaps. It's super easy to do in a mobile app, and the maps are great.
- moksly 5y ago
  This is a little unrelated but it’s a funny anecdote about submitting changes to OpenStreetmaps. A few years back we build an open source app to handle employee tax deductions and pay for work related driving together with a few other municipalities. Part of how it works relies on a local company to download data from OSM and feed it to us in an address to address routing api, but at one point we changed the driving direction on a rather important (very busy might be the right English?) street to become one-way. OSM got the direction wrong, so that it was suddenly impossible to reach the municipality of our second largest city. This was “fun” with tens of thousand of employees sending in issues, and I set out to fix it. So with our official municipality account (and not bothering to read the rules) I used Google maps as part of the evidence. I also included a photo I had taken from the street myself. Anyway, because you’re not allowed to reference Google maps I got our account banned and the change reversed so that OSM was wrong again, and it took me 3 days of arguing with the “amateur” contributors to get them to realise that I worked in the organisation who decided which way the direction of the street goes.
  - pwg 5y ago
    > I used Google maps as part of the evidence. This was the cause. OpenStreetMap has a very strict zero-tolerance policy of anything that might be sourced from a copywritten source. Maps were traditionally "big business" before OpenStreetMap, and map data was closely guarded (and the guards had no worries about attacking what they believed to be even the slightest infringements of their copyrights). > I also included a photo I had taken from the street myself. If you had used just the photo you took yourself, and not referenced Google at all, you'd have had no issue getting the fix made and having it stick.
    - moksly 5y ago
      I totally get that it was my own fault, hence the “not bothering to read the rules) part, and I also very much regret the language I ended up using in some of the communication at the time. Looking back on it now it’s sort of hilarious though.
    - hnburnsy 5y ago
      Yes, map makers have a long history of creating fake map features to catch copycats... https://gizmodo.com/the-fake-places-that-only-exist-to-catch-copycat-cartog-1695414770 https://gizmodo.com/the-fake-places-that-only-exist-to-catch...
  - ryandrake 5y ago
    I used to edit OpenStreetMap but one unfortunate experience really soured me to it. I was going through a city, "un-braiding" the dual carriage ways, which was at one point OSM's recommendation for dual carriage intersections (can't find the URL). After fixing up about 15 or so city blocks I got a very angry message from someone who demanded that I undo my edits because this was "his" area of the map. Not wanting to get into a pointless dispute with a nerd, I just reverted the commit and haven't really been into OSM since. Thanks for nothing, I guess. Maybe this was just one guy, or maybe OSM has the same "territorial editors" problem as Wikipedia.
    - habi 5y ago
- pwg 5y ago
  Yes, make the additions to OpenStreetMap (https://www.openstreetmap.org/ https://www.openstreetmap.org/). The more you add, the better the map becomes for everyone. Very easy to use app for adding info to OpenStreetMap from a mobile device: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplet... Full editor of everything OpenStreetMap on a mobile device (but does have a steeper learning curve than StreetComplete above) https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.blau.android/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.blau.android/
  - mattbk1 5y ago
    StreetComplete is a great Android app to help update OSM data by asking you questions while you're out walking around. So rather than drawing new features, you're just saying "yes, this is a house/no, there is no wheelchair ramp here/the building number here is 1234" etc.
    - the_biot 5y ago
      What impressed me most about StreetComplete was when I needed to add a feature. First time I used the app, no idea how to add some particular thing I saw walking around. So I added a freeform note for that spot, explaining what was there, and added a picture. Within an hour an experienced OpenStreepmap volunteer had handled the note and added the right map feature. That is never going to happen with Google Maps.
      - nicbou 5y ago
        Yes, I had the same experience. Now I contribute some changes, but still call experts when I don't know what I'm doing. OSM is an incredibly cool project with great maintainers.
      - aendruk 5y ago
        I keep an eye on the RSS feed of new notes in my neighborhood. Responding to these is fun and satisfying.
- globular-toast 5y ago
  Plus you won't be working for Google for free, you'll be helping the global community of map and geographical data users.
cataphract 5y ago
Around here most bullfight arenas are mislabeled as slaughterhouses (and FWIW the animals are not killed in the arena in Portugal). I once tried to correct it but all the changes got declined. I suspect that besides spam some people like to use Google maps for political statements.
HumblyTossed 5y ago
> It's incredibly annoying that this kind of thing is rampant... And that is why it IS rampant. Some people, due to issues that occurred during their youth, have compulsive attention seeking behaviors.

It's incredibly annoying that this kind of thing is rampant, while my changes to places that are mislabeled or closed get declined.

by hxii 5y ago

It's incredibly annoying that this kind of thing is rampant, while my changes to places that are mislabeled or closed get declined.

cush 5y ago

In the scheme of things, maybe changes to places are far more important. If someone messes with the hours of operation of a store, they're directly affecting someone's livelihood. Naked man hiding on the far side of a panorama, not so much.

the_biot 5y ago

Consider making your changes in OpenStreetmaps. It's super easy to do in a mobile app, and the maps are great.

moksly 5y ago
This is a little unrelated but it’s a funny anecdote about submitting changes to OpenStreetmaps. A few years back we build an open source app to handle employee tax deductions and pay for work related driving together with a few other municipalities. Part of how it works relies on a local company to download data from OSM and feed it to us in an address to address routing api, but at one point we changed the driving direction on a rather important (very busy might be the right English?) street to become one-way. OSM got the direction wrong, so that it was suddenly impossible to reach the municipality of our second largest city. This was “fun” with tens of thousand of employees sending in issues, and I set out to fix it. So with our official municipality account (and not bothering to read the rules) I used Google maps as part of the evidence. I also included a photo I had taken from the street myself. Anyway, because you’re not allowed to reference Google maps I got our account banned and the change reversed so that OSM was wrong again, and it took me 3 days of arguing with the “amateur” contributors to get them to realise that I worked in the organisation who decided which way the direction of the street goes.
- pwg 5y ago
  > I used Google maps as part of the evidence. This was the cause. OpenStreetMap has a very strict zero-tolerance policy of anything that might be sourced from a copywritten source. Maps were traditionally "big business" before OpenStreetMap, and map data was closely guarded (and the guards had no worries about attacking what they believed to be even the slightest infringements of their copyrights). > I also included a photo I had taken from the street myself. If you had used just the photo you took yourself, and not referenced Google at all, you'd have had no issue getting the fix made and having it stick.
  - moksly 5y ago
    I totally get that it was my own fault, hence the “not bothering to read the rules) part, and I also very much regret the language I ended up using in some of the communication at the time. Looking back on it now it’s sort of hilarious though.
  - hnburnsy 5y ago
    Yes, map makers have a long history of creating fake map features to catch copycats... https://gizmodo.com/the-fake-places-that-only-exist-to-catch-copycat-cartog-1695414770 https://gizmodo.com/the-fake-places-that-only-exist-to-catch...
- ryandrake 5y ago
  I used to edit OpenStreetMap but one unfortunate experience really soured me to it. I was going through a city, "un-braiding" the dual carriage ways, which was at one point OSM's recommendation for dual carriage intersections (can't find the URL). After fixing up about 15 or so city blocks I got a very angry message from someone who demanded that I undo my edits because this was "his" area of the map. Not wanting to get into a pointless dispute with a nerd, I just reverted the commit and haven't really been into OSM since. Thanks for nothing, I guess. Maybe this was just one guy, or maybe OSM has the same "territorial editors" problem as Wikipedia.
  - habi 5y ago
pwg 5y ago
Yes, make the additions to OpenStreetMap (https://www.openstreetmap.org/ https://www.openstreetmap.org/). The more you add, the better the map becomes for everyone. Very easy to use app for adding info to OpenStreetMap from a mobile device: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplet... Full editor of everything OpenStreetMap on a mobile device (but does have a steeper learning curve than StreetComplete above) https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.blau.android/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.blau.android/
- mattbk1 5y ago
  StreetComplete is a great Android app to help update OSM data by asking you questions while you're out walking around. So rather than drawing new features, you're just saying "yes, this is a house/no, there is no wheelchair ramp here/the building number here is 1234" etc.
  - the_biot 5y ago
    What impressed me most about StreetComplete was when I needed to add a feature. First time I used the app, no idea how to add some particular thing I saw walking around. So I added a freeform note for that spot, explaining what was there, and added a picture. Within an hour an experienced OpenStreepmap volunteer had handled the note and added the right map feature. That is never going to happen with Google Maps.
    - nicbou 5y ago
      Yes, I had the same experience. Now I contribute some changes, but still call experts when I don't know what I'm doing. OSM is an incredibly cool project with great maintainers.
    - aendruk 5y ago
      I keep an eye on the RSS feed of new notes in my neighborhood. Responding to these is fun and satisfying.
globular-toast 5y ago
Plus you won't be working for Google for free, you'll be helping the global community of map and geographical data users.

cataphract 5y ago

Around here most bullfight arenas are mislabeled as slaughterhouses (and FWIW the animals are not killed in the arena in Portugal). I once tried to correct it but all the changes got declined. I suspect that besides spam some people like to use Google maps for political statements.

HumblyTossed 5y ago

> It's incredibly annoying that this kind of thing is rampant... And that is why it IS rampant. Some people, due to issues that occurred during their youth, have compulsive attention seeking behaviors.