So I missed the whole exchange - so I read what little I see below and
here are my thoughts.....
I don't think it's too GIS geeky - it's too OSM geeky. There are too
many ways to get to a common goal - adding data. You can import, GPS,
walk around, etc etc.
There almost needs to be a list serve or a forum for new people -
somewhere you can walk people through editing woes and problems. I agree
- this list does get too bogged down in details.
Don't take the following as a complaint - but is someone says "So lets
say that I ask for a sample GeoTIFF, which I assume is just a big
graphic file similar to any other TIFF file (or jpg or whatever)" an
answer of "For the first one you install gdal with python bindings, run
gdal2tiles" (and it's a Excellent answer and I'm going to try it myself
on a geotiff I have here) but it's going to be too confusing for someone
new especially someone in the potlatch arena or a new user just getting
started.
Don't assume a technical question needs a technical answer. Start Simple
- build from there.
Randy
Randal Hale, GISP
North River Geographic Systems, Inc
http://www.northrivergeographic.com
423.653.3611 rjh...@northrivergeographic.com
twitter:rjhale
http://about.me/rjhale
On 4/15/2012 2:37 PM, Charlotte Wolter wrote:
The exchange between Frank Cox and others about importing data is a
perfect example of an ongoing problem with this list: Many of the
discussions and "answers" are simply too GIS geeky for the vast
majority of us.
Frank asked for a simple "do x then do y" kind of explanation. Several
members replied, but no one but Paul Norman tried to give him that
kind of answer. Unfortunately, Paul's answer contained a lot of GIS
technical language. Obviously, he's very knowlegeable, but he didn't
put the explanation at a level where Frank and the rest ofus could
understand it.
That's why reading the list often is frustrating. There's a lot of
talk about technical issues and minutiae, but little guidance for
those of us who just want to map using Potlatch 2, which is most of
us. (By the way, what is a "network," and where is it in Potlatch
coding?) Also, sometimes there are snippy disputes about issues that
seem obscure, which makes the list occasionally unpleasant to read.
Again, for those of us who just want to map, this isn't helpful.
What can be done to make Talk-US more useful for the average mapper?
Charlotte
At 04:59 PM 4/14/2012, you wrote:
> From: Frank Cox [mailto:thea...@melvilletheatre.com]
> Subject: Re: [Imports] tiff, dwg and nad83
>
> On Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:34:49 -0700
> Paul Norman wrote:
>
> > What I would suggest is to start with the GeoTiffs and go from there.
>
> All righty, now we're getting somewhere.
>
> So lets say that I ask for a sample GeoTIFF, which I assume is just a
> big graphic file similar to any other TIFF file (or jpg or whatever).
> The engineering department has these things (we assume), so he gives me
> a copy of one of them.
>
> I carry this thing home on my trusty flash drive (or whatever), plug it
> into my computer, and now I have a graphic file on my computer that I
> didn't have before.
>
> What now?
Depending on how big it is, you can either tile it with gdal2tiles[1] or
serve it with mapserver[2].
For the first one you install gdal with python bindings, run
gdal2tiles on
the geotiff, use a script (http://paste.ubuntu.com/928312/) to fix some
names, and serve that with apache. JOSM or Potlatch can then use it as a
background layer.
For the second one you install gdal and mapserver and tell it to
serve the
geotiff and then you can add it as a background layer with JOSM or
Potlatch.
I had a look at your town and given that it's a very small town and
the bing
imagery is actually quite good, I don't know that it's worth doing
any sort
of import. If you wanted street names you could get them from
CanVec[3]. Of
course collecting street names also gives you a chance to tag businesses,
amenities, etc.
[1] http://gdal.org/
[2] http://mapserver.org/
[3] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/CanVec
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Charlotte Wolter
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