I’ve recently noticed at least three instances of modifications altering my OSM contributions in some of Arabic countries I’ve visited recently (at least Kuwait, Oman). I’m quite concerned about their quality, short general descriptions of the changesets and lack of reasoning behind them.
Examples I’ve noticed so far (there might be more though):
Changeset: 160595598 | OpenStreetMap - mass adding access=private to the roads without verifying it on the ground. I’ve been there and driven there, anyone can freely drive after the gates (where it’s noted that you’re entering military area) until the military checkpoint. I’d consider this as no “access” tag at all or access=permissive
Changeset: 160778143 | OpenStreetMap - “improving” a street by “smoothing” 90-degree angles. There are really 90-degrees angles turns there, verified by me in person and mapped by me.
Changeset: 160827151 | OpenStreetMap “fixing validation errors” by changing the tags from highway=footway to residential. At least one of the changed streets is not even wide enough for cars to drive there, let alone the whole area which is more like touristic ruins.
The last changeset so far is the only one where I’ve received a reply from the contributor that he “saw cars on satellite” which I doubt for at least some streets there. But this still does not explain why the changeset changing something functionally was named “fixing validation errors”.
Does someone know more details about this “digitalegypt” working way outside of Egypt as claimed and overriding the work of other mappers for no reason? While I’ve also seen some of their changesets improving something (even on top of my own changes in the same timeframe), I’d still like to bring theirs and community attention to the amount of changes being made quickly after some other mappers and overriding their contributions…
@little_maper@Merna_mahmoud@salma_ayman not sure if it works here…
For these particular changes - yes, I noticed them and was able to revert it to some extent, although I’m still afraid that hundreds of similar changes went unnoticed and probably many other mappers are affected as well.
Hi Okainov,
Hi SomeoneElse,
Thank you “OKainov” for your efforts in ensuring that all edits on the server are accurate and adhere to OpenStreetMap standards. However, we would like to clarify that we are not vandals.
As the Digital Egypt Team, we have been contributing to OpenStreetMap for years, and our edits have always been consistent and compliant with the platform’s guidelines. We value the integrity of the map and remain committed to making meaningful contributions to the community.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Digital Egypt Team @okainov@SomeoneElse
Thanks for prompt reply! I appreciate the efforts and the improvements your team is doing and by no means I meant you’re vandals, I just ask you to put more attention to the edits (especially ones done on top of recent edits, looks like you have some automation which monitors recent patches, otherwise) and changeset namings.
I believe there should be a good reason to clearly override the changes other mappers have done recently and at least this should be communicated clearly. If you notice something which you believe might a mapper’s mistake (though I’m still not sure why 90-degrees pedestrian streets are even considered “mistakes” by your automation) - add comment to the recent changeset instead of silent override (I myself just noticed those by accident as I haven’t received any message or comment)
Thank you for your concern about the OSM server. We truly value your feedback and will certainly consider your words. Thanks again for your understanding.
Thanks - so you just need to add entries for the activities to the table on this page so that people can find it, and have pages describing each activity. Currently you have this page which is a bit light on detail (for example - what is the source of the data?) and this page which provides a list of Arabic speaking countries, but provides no other information.
Thank you for your detailed feedback! I’ll work on adding more details about us on our page.
Your insights are much appreciated, and I’ll make these updates as soon as possible. Please let me know if there are any additional details you’d like me to include.