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I am curious about the MASSGIS data and related updates. I see there is no tag like the TIGER:reviewed=no such as the case with the TIGER import. With so many errors in the TIGER data, is there a higher level of accuracy with the MASSGIS data, so the review was not required? I would also like to know how updates to the MASSGIS database are getting pulled to OSM. There must have been many updates, since the original import in 2007. Is there a team associated with maintaining this data? Who is a good contact for questions about this part of the map? |
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Short answer NO. Some MASSGIS stuff is OK, but masses of the earlier stuff also suffers from import practices which we'd throw our hands up now (for instance, the road network of each township was imported separately and not joined up: whereas for rest of US this was at county level) For landcover type data the MASSGIS is not as accurate as one would wish. We've learnt the same with other datasets for Georgia, New Jersey & most of Europe (Corine Land Cover). In addition there are multiple overlapping polygons: open space, conservation etc. All really need rationalising & re-aligning with real features, then we'll have data which is more useful for ordinary people rather than planners in state or local government. Take a look at Gray's Beach/Bass Hole for an example http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/41.72341/-70.23580. I suspect the huge amount of data already in OSM for MA, and the complexity presented in the editors may deter people from improving it. That being said there's still an amazing amount of dross even in tourist destinations such as Nantucket. The Quakers worship silently because they've all drowned: http://www.openstreetmap.org/node/358279633 |
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If I remember correctly, MASSGIS was considered higher quality than TIGER at the time. There is no automated mechanism to "pull" updates, nor do we want to have one, since OSM considers itself the authoritative database, and there's too much danger of things being broken by automatic updates. The import was meant to give the mapping community a head start but now it is down to individual mappers to keep OSM data up to date, just as it is practised in other parts of the world. |
