Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

maproulette.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 30 posts

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#21

Post by throwaway346434 »

stevage wrote: post #17
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.

No, you tick 'nearby' and it's a non issue.

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#22

Post by throwaway346434 »

raybb wrote: post #20

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 do…

Alltheplaces.xyz and experimental tools like https://matkoniecz.codeberg.page/improving_openstreetmap_usi...

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#23

Post by franga2000 »

raybb wrote: post #20

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 do…

In terms of scraping, there's already a huge project that collects business data in an OSM-compatible format: http://alltheplaces.xyz/

The main trouble is licensing and change tracking. Most of the scraped data is protected by copyright or database rights so it can't be imported.

And even if the licensing is solved, you have the problem of matching scraped data to OSM data and what to do when changes disagree. For example, a store might be scraped as a point in the middle of a shopping mall, but then an OSM editor would come by and move it to the correct section of the mall - the next import round shouldn't undo that. Or maybe a store changes opening times but forgets to update their website - an editor can fix that, but the next import would break it again.

I have a sort of "grey area" idea for this, but I haven't had the time to try it. Basically, I would track changes in AllThePlaces and create "change reports" such as "store X changed open times from AAA to BBB". Then, I'd make a UI that would show you the changed website alongside an OSM editor and a convenient "copy change" button.

This way, a human is still the one looking at the website and entering info into OSM, which is essentially the same as in-person surveying. The copy button is "just a convenience".

Still, I think this is too messy from a legal standpoint and the OSM editors wouldn't allow it out of caution...

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#24

Post by raybb »

franga2000 wrote: post #23
raybb wrote: post #20

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 do…

In terms of scraping, there's already a huge project that collects business data in an OSM-compatible format: http://alltheplaces.xyz/ The main trouble is licensing and change tracking. Most of the scraped data is protected by copyright or database rights so it can't be imported. And even if the licensing is solved, you have the problem of matching scraped data to OSM data and what to do when changes disagree. For ex…

Thanks for the great answer. Based on what I'm reading scraping a business website is probably fine in general but using data from Google Maps/Yelp/etc is generally not gonna fly.

What I think could work is if everydoor allows you to create notes with photos (https://github.com/Zverik/every_door/issues/184) then it would be pretty easy to later go back and drop those photos into an AI tool and extra websites and try to create some tags for review. Could also work with Streetcomplete but there it's not easy to see if a POI already exists.

In any case, I might experiment with this idea further. Some very basic testing shows me that Claude 3.5 Sonnet is pretty great at taking a photo of a menu turning it into decent tags.

So if I could run around taking photos of menus and the outside of businesses then quickly turn them into tags later that would be a nice workflow for me (and hopefully others).

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#25

Post by krick »

throwaway346434 wrote: post #21
stevage wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No, you tick 'nearby' and it's a non issue.

This really should be a default though.

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#27

Post by throwaway346434 »

qwertox wrote: post #14

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 doc…

Try mapswipe

Re: MapRoulette: the micro-tasking tool for OpenStreetMap

#29

Post by mjlee »

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).

The word highway in the sense OSM uses it predates cars and means pretty much any path. Think of highwaymen, for example.

See https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/23/924.3 which includes public pedestrian paths.

Post reply on HN