Dave F via talk <talk@openstreetmap.org> writes: > In my area, AL are adding legitimate data which helps improve the > quality of the OSM database. I believe they make the same amount of > errors as any other contributors, including experienced ones. > > Unsure why he thinks OSMF should be keeping an eye on contributors > purely because they're paid. > I doubt Paul, when he started his first *paid* job was an expert at > it, & never made a mistake. > > It sounds like Paul's got his knickers in a twist over something other > than poor quality data.
This really seems unfair. When someone maps for OSM because they want to, they have goals and a typically a good attitude about community norms. When someone is a a paid mapper, their goals come from the person who is paying them, and they don't necessarily care about the overall health of OSM. So this "paid mapping is a bit scary" notion is 100% accurate. That doesn't mean all paid apping is bad; were I to take money from the local chamber of commerce to make sure all their businesses were on the map with opening hours and other details, all of it would be done in a way that other mappers would think is correct, or at least just as correct as if I were doing it for fun. But the idea that people are hired into a position and given instructions might lead to bad outcomes is quite sensible. Really these edits are not so different from mechanical edits, and I think the organizers need to own the responsibilility for high quality, and the standard should be quite a bit better than normal hand mapping norms. _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
