Thanks for the compliments :)
Yeah, the complexity of the other tools is the pitch of MapComplete
611 karma · joined October 25, 2020
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Yeah, the complexity of the other tools is the pitch of MapComplete
First: editing _attributes_ of geometries is totally possible, editing the _shape_ of geometries is not possible with MapComplete.
If one allows to edit shapes (aka: geometries), this means that one can draw or move lines around - for example: add/move a cyclepath. A contributor might thus move a line into another geometry (such as a building). But as MapComplete has focused maps, they might not be shown to this contributor!
Allowing to edit geomtry shapes this implies I should show all _other_ lines and polygons (e.g. forests, streams, buildings, ...) to avoid incorrect intersection.
The point of MapComplete is to keep it simple and focussed on a single topic. Showing all geometries is counter to that. On top of that, we already have an excellent tool which handles geometry drawing: the iD editor you'll find on openstreetmap.org/edit .
One could also argue that creating/moving points (which can be done with MapComplete) could also cause data errors; but the 'add new point'-wizard has some steps to invite to add with high accuraccy. And even if someone adds a point in a wrong location (e.g. in a building instead of outside of it), the impact of a misplaced point is generally way less then that of a misplaced line or area.
Editing attributes of relations is possible. Adding or deleting objects to relations might become possible one day. Editing geometries is out of scope for this project.
In other words, you need to log in with an OSM-account. Then, the 'move this feature' button at the bottom of the popup will be visible.
If the link is already there, it shows the relevant Wikipedia page. E.g. the 'Willow Street' would show the Wikipedia page on willows.
As a downstream effect: those links are also used in https://equalstreetnames.org/ to make gendered maps.
One of the major differences is that, in StreetComplete, an object is hidden from the view once all quests are done. That makes StreetComplete a 'contribution-only' tool. (This changed in recent years, where Westnordost created 'overlays'). StreetComplete was a major inspiration though.
In MapComplete, you will see _all_ objects (known in OSM) for a specific topic, wether or not there are unresolved questions. That makes it a tool for both using the data and contributing.
Another difference is that MapComplete started as a webapp (but there is a version packaged as Android app too); whereas StreetComplete is (for now) an Android-only app (iOS is in the works)
A more abstract difference is that MapComplete has some highly specialized questions.
At last, MapComplete has some integrations with other FLOSS-tools, such as: - Wikidata/Wikipedia for additional pictures and articles - Mangrove.reviews for reviews - Panoramax to add pictures - Mapilarry to link pictures to objects - Plantnet to determine the tree species on https://mapcomplete.org/trees
They are now aiming for "bigtech" as they cause many harms.
They never publish the precise target beforehand, but chances are high they'll occupy a data center.
We can all do our part, by using their products as little as possible, contribute to open alternatives (OpenStreetMap, Fediverse, Linux, Nextcloud...) and by stimulating our (non-techie!) friends and family.
But it is a lot of work :(
I also go in-depth on some topics, e.g. on restaurants and toilets
CartoDB packages this data into tiles you can use, but that doesn't lift this requirement.
It seems dead though...
We're around 31M trees now