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MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

maproulette.org

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Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#11

Post by xp84 »

knocte wrote: post #6
mkl wrote: post #2

I like the idea, but these tasks seem incomprehensible. I looked at some near me, and one is about traffic lights at an intersection that doesn't have traffic lights, and the others just say "Highway not on ground and no tunnel, bridge or covered tags" under "Instructions" but they're not highways or roads at all (though I guess they are on the ground).

I agree, I looked around my area and found a task on top of a parking lot that says: "These elements have rare (<20 uses) parking=* values." What does this mean? Does it mean that the parking log is marked to have a "<20" value when the value should be a number instead of a string? Obviously I'm not going to go inside the car park and count all the park slots, there could be hundreds!

I tried items with rare values for 'surface.' I found and fixed a footpath through a pasture (the docs seemed to imply that "dirt" is sufficient for a path through a pasture). But my next item was in China and the surface was "木" which apparently means Wood. But the rest of the fields of this pier were also in Chinese, and I was too shy to update it. I hope that localization is handled separately and that it would have been fine, but... it would be super annoying if a Chinese-speaking editor updated an American map to have details all in Chinese. Googling "are tags on openstreetmap supposed to always be in English?" gave no hints.

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#12

Post by xp84 »

This reminds me a bit of the obsessive fun of foursquare super-usering back when that app wasn't dead in all but name. I remember painstakingly updating whole strip malls and such to have every single business perfectly delineated and labeled, with the pins located right at the front door of each.

(At some point they made some change that left my class of SU behind, but since the original purpose of 4sq died long ago there wouldn't be a point to donate my time to it now.)

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#13

Post by morsch »

xp84 wrote: post #11
knocte wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, I looked around my area and found a task on top of a parking lot that says: "These elements have rare (<20 uses) parking=* values." What does this mean? Does it mean that the parking log is marked to have a "<20" value when the value should be a number instead of a string? Obviously I'm not going to go inside the car park and count all the park slots, there could be hundreds!

I tried items with rare values for 'surface.' I found and fixed a footpath through a pasture (the docs seemed to imply that "dirt" is sufficient for a path through a pasture). But my next item was in China and the surface was "木" which apparently means Wood. But the rest of the fields of this pier were also in Chinese, and I was too shy to update it. I hope that localization is handled separately and that it would ha…

The tags are specified in the wiki: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:surface

In this case, the spec allows for "commonly used" user defined values, which is unusual (how does a user defined value become commonly used enough in the first place?), measured per this site: https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/surface#values

You can find a few non English entries in there, but the vast majority and all of the most common ones are in English. "木“ has 2 entries, "wood" has >200k. I think it's pretty clear that even in cases when the specification is open, the intention is for values to be English whenever practical.

The alternative is so outrageous that they made it into an April fools joke: https://weeklyosm.eu/osm-tags-soon-in-german-and-french-and-...

Here's someone attempting to translate the tags/values (for display): https://github.com/osmlab/osm-planning/issues/20

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#14

Post by qwertox »

It makes no sense. I zoomed into a segment of my city, lowest level.

I see two clusters with "2", maybe that means that there are 4 tasks on the map segment which need fixing.

Clicking on any of the two clusters does nothing. The sidebar has just an odd "Global: [amenity=doctors] and [healtcare:speciality=*] missing [healthcare]", which, when I click it, reloads the page and shows me a world view with problematic doctors.

When I deselect "Cluster", then nothing is shown, instead of those 4 clustered tasks that apparently need fixing. I expected to see 4 individual tasks, instead of the two clustered ones.

At the same time a label tells me "23 tasks found", yet I see none. I assume those two pairs of clusters of two should represent 4 tasks, but I can't interact with them in any way.

I also can't easily navigate to a place of interest because there is no location searchbox.

I was expecting something like StreetComplete.

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#15

Post by derkades »

uoaei wrote: post #8

What does this accomplish that StreetComplete does not?

StreetComplete is about answering questions by doing a physical survey. MapRoulette seems to be about fixing tags in random places, inferring information from context, imagery, or the internet.

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#16

Post by spamtarget »

mngnt wrote: post #7

The problem with maproulette is the same thing that makes it fun: the gamification. Some people value imaginary internet points so highly, they edit OSM willy-nilly to make it conform to maproulette, disregarding ground truth, not checking if the tasks analysis is complete and mapping slightly wrong around the world. This is mad MUCH worse by the fact that the default setting in maproulette is that when you finish a…

The solution for this could be creating a review process and gamify that too

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#17

Post by stevage »

mngnt wrote: post #7

The problem with maproulette is the same thing that makes it fun: the gamification. Some people value imaginary internet points so highly, they edit OSM willy-nilly to make it conform to maproulette, disregarding ground truth, not checking if the tasks analysis is complete and mapping slightly wrong around the world. This is mad MUCH worse by the fact that the default setting in maproulette is that when you finish a…

Ugh, it really goes to a random place?

I used to do a lot of OSM editing. In my experience, it really helps to have edited a lot in one area to better understand local context, make better sense of imagery etc etc.

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#18

Post by Freak_NL »

morsch wrote: post #13
xp84 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried items with rare values for 'surface.' I found and fixed a footpath through a pasture (the docs seemed to imply that "dirt" is sufficient for a path through a pasture). But my next item was in China and the surface was "木" which apparently means Wood. But the rest of the fields of this pier were also in Chinese, and I was too shy to update it. I hope that localization is handled separately and that it would ha…

The tags are specified in the wiki: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:surface In this case, the spec allows for "commonly used" user defined values, which is unusual (how does a user defined value become commonly used enough in the first place?), measured per this site: https://taginfo.openstreetmap.org/keys/surface#values You can find a few non English entries in there, but the vast majority and all of the mos…

You misinterpreted the wiki page. That tag (like several others) explicitly supports user-defined values. This is useful, because you cannot define a complete set of values for something as open-ended as a way's surface. Innovations happen, and sometimes odd things are used to pave a way for a variety of reasons (art, tourist appeal, experiments, etc.)

So that table there lists all common values covering 99% of the use cases, and finally links to TagInfo for all values in use. That 'all commonly used values' bit is slightly misleading, because TagInfo lists all uncommon values, but it true in the sense that any common value missing from that table will be listed in TagInfo (being derived from the actual database).

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#19

Post by Freak_NL »

xp84 wrote: post #11
knocte wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, I looked around my area and found a task on top of a parking lot that says: "These elements have rare (<20 uses) parking=* values." What does this mean? Does it mean that the parking log is marked to have a "<20" value when the value should be a number instead of a string? Obviously I'm not going to go inside the car park and count all the park slots, there could be hundreds!

I tried items with rare values for 'surface.' I found and fixed a footpath through a pasture (the docs seemed to imply that "dirt" is sufficient for a path through a pasture). But my next item was in China and the surface was "木" which apparently means Wood. But the rest of the fields of this pier were also in Chinese, and I was too shy to update it. I hope that localization is handled separately and that it would ha…

OpenStreetMap generally follows the guideline that all tags and generic values (i.e., not names and other language dependant stuff) are written in British English. Exceptions exist due to the way this project works. The wiki is the primary place to go for documentation of tags and values.

So yes, surface=木 is wrong, but to replace it you would have to know if the path uses wood-chips (`woodchip`) or boards (`wood`).

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#20

Post by raybb »

Lately I've been thinking more about how to get better POI (like business) data into OSM. Apps like everydoor work okay but I feel it's still annoying to type it in and get the tags right.

I think it could be a really good use of AI to let me, for example, snap a photo of the menu and then have it automatically generate the OSM tags. Then someone just has to review if it all is appropriate.

Just bring able to walk down the street, snap a bunch of menu or sign pics, then go home and drop pins and confirm tags from photos would be great.

Heck it could even scrape their website to verify the information too!

Does anyone know if there is a project like this? Or have any thoughts on if this is a reasonable approach? I think as long as there's a human in the loop checking things it should be fine by OSM.

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