It's great to see these conflicting ideas! I agree, this is not simple at all - this is why we have no map namespace, but there is definitely a need. I'm hoping Zurich can provide a platform where we can get somewhere close in that direction and generate some momentum.
The fact we have a BetaFeatures now on the desktop site means we are free to explore ideas, for those ideas to fail and to buy us time to perfect them. I personally am interested purely from a readers perspective - it makes me sad everytime I see a static map made out of CSS and SVGs that looks like something I could play with and explore. I want maps to be a big part of the Wikipedia experience. I really think a good first step would be to lay the foundations - keep things as simple as possible - a simple way of storing the data and a simple way of viewing the data stored - whether that involves Wikidata or not I'm not sure but let's see what comes out of Zurich. For those not in Zurich, I hope some of you can participate on the IRC channel #wikimedia-dev ? If we come out of Zurich with various different solutions to the same problem that would also be awesome - a good problem to solve in future. :-) On Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 1:54 PM, Derk-Jan Hartman <d.j.hartman+wmf...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On 8 mrt. 2014, at 21:48, Russell Nelson <russnel...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Derk-Jan Hartman >> <d.j.hartman+wmf...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> This is thinking way too simple. Would it be nice to be able to do this ? >> Sure, but we already have dynamic maps. WikiMiniAtlas, the german OSM map. >> Those even have area highlights these days. Can they be better ? sure, is >> that something difficult, is it really needed ? No not really x2. >> Wikipedians are much more focused on making static maps usually. >> >> Refutation: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interurban_and_streetcar_railways_in_Syracuse,_New_York >> That map is utter crap, completely unusable for any kind of mobile usage, >> even if it were georeferenced. >> >> >> Is it possible / useful to generate thematic renderings of OSM tiles? Sure, >> and they look really good, for example here: http://www.itoworld.com/map/15 >> >> My feeling is that Wikipedia has desperately needed a map generator, whether >> static or dynamic, for at least five years now. Yet something always comes >> between Wikipedia and OSM for some reason. I think it's because people keep >> saying that that's too easy! We need to do something better, something more >> complicated, something that's a real challenge. Well, if it's so simple, why >> doesn't every page with coordinates have a map?? Obviously, it's NOT that >> simple. > > I see I failed to make my point. Its indeed NOT simple. We keep thinking that > it's simple: 'build some technology and people will come' but models like > that have proven to fail quite often (especially on en.wp). You need to find > the user stories, find the building blocks and see where you get the most > return for your money/effort. If you want something to succeed, you need a > very concerted effort that leads to integration and acceptance. Not just one > thing: Let's build the map. You need a line of careful steps with goals and > metrics, reflection and evaluation. One of those steps might be to "build the > map", but it's definitely not the only one. > > DJ > > _______________________________________________ > Wikitech-l mailing list > Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l -- Jon Robson * http://jonrobson.me.uk * https://www.facebook.com/jonrobson * @rakugojon _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
