One of the problems I saw with FB’s contributions, and now the impact Grab is having on the Thai OSM, is neither organisation really took the time to explain what, and why, they were contributing to OSM …
I mean with Facebook, even the latest diary entry from them reveals a process in AI, and how they conquered data entry to add ways on a scale no-body had done before. Its all about computer geekery. Not once did they really look at the accuracy of the tagging. Sure, they eventually connected nodes accurately, and way hay, even taught the computer to draw bridges … but they never looked a the real mistakes of correct and appropriate tagging.
Which is why we are now still left with virtually everything tagged as a residential road, from tracks across fields, to peoples private drives, and Yes, even an airport runway !
So moving onto Grab …
For many living in Asia, both Grab and Uber have made a dramatic contribution the manner in how we travel “over here”. Uber’s software was pretty good, but for reasons only known to them, they sold out to Grab. At first we thought there would be no difference, but soon learned the Grab software is a long way behind that of Uber, and one area was the poor availability of, lets call them, waypoints. Grab insisted you needed a location in their map, presumably Google. The frustration of booking a Grab, only to have your confirmed pickup location appear hundreds of meters away, was annoying and led to many cancelled rides when the driver couldn’t find you.
When Grab introduced themselves to OSM, I thought great … a real opportunity to involve their organisation with local mappers, and as we live here, surely we know the places people want taxis from.
No, what we get is a bunch of kids playing with the map. No real explanation of what they want to achieve. No introduction to us (apart from Mishari). No experience on OSM … And from the apologetic grammar used in the Changeset comments, I doubt if they are even from Thailand.
This would be a great opportunity for Grab to align themselves with OSM, but instead, what we are seeing is another major organisation, allowing a bunch of amateurs loose on a training ground they call OSM. They are all being paid, while us volunteers, mop up the mess.
I suggest if any Grab senior management read this, how about taking some of that money and inviting us to a presentation where you can explain what you want, and we can help you achieve it. Otherwise you will just have a load of pissed off mappers deleting data as fast as you are putting it in.
I presume like airports, is good to have exit gate numbers mapped, and I presume the same would apply to many buildings. Every time I call Grab to my Condo, they drive to the small Soi behind, then leave in frustration as they cant find it. If through OSM, we can help them by plotting entrances, or drawing the small service roads that take them to the front door, I’m guessing we would surpass Google’s maps in terms of helpfulness to both drivers & passengers.
But no, if you carry on adding roads that don’t exist, and messing with the tagging of existing roads, how is that going to help Grab ?
We can be on your side, but they way you are starting off is just going to alienate your organisation from ours.
Russ.