Comments on: Google Will Open Source National Parcel Map

By: Data is to ESRI as Search is to Google « Fiducial Marks – Paul Bissett, WeoGeo CEO

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:51:40 +0000

[...] previous posts (here and here), I have made the case that the mapping industry will change because players like Google and [...]

By: Paul Bissett

Paul Bissett — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:57:00 +0000

I agree that motivation will be a key moving forward for continual updating of their navigation product. I also wonder (like Kirk on your post) about a sensor network power by android phones. I could imagine a pretty decent solution that used the sensor network as an automated self-correcting solution to the base map. This could greatly accelerate the correction of the base map.

By: Peter Batty

Peter Batty — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:35:04 +0000

Paul, I somehow missed your comment about "prominent geonerds fixing Google data for free" in my first pass through this post. I assume I am probably one of those geonerds based on this blog post. I just wanted to point out that you appear to misinterpret my intentions in submitting a couple of updates to Google - that was purely to test out the process and verify how well it works. As I point out in my latest post, I really question whether people are going to be very motivated to provide these updates to Google. I think that typical consumers are just likely to switch to using a different free system (MapQuest, Microsoft, Yahoo) if they see lots of errors (and see fewer errors in those other systems). And I think that geonerds will continue to contribute their time to OpenStreetMap so that their efforts can be used by a broad range of organizations rather than just Google (that's what I will do).

By: Paul Bissett

Paul Bissett — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:23:12 +0000

I think your addendum is what I was suggesting. Open source doesn’t mean crowdsource (at least not to me). I think I may have inadvertently suggested such. There would still need to be standards, and probably a quality control facility. I suggested the USGS, but have been told there might be some legal issues surrounding the feds assumption of this responsibility. The important thing would be to have some mechanism to facility what Roger is suggesting – get the data as quickly, and as accurately, as possible into the hands of the public.

By: Don Meltz

Don Meltz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:02:39 +0000

An addendum to my comment – open to all is OK by me as long as caveats are known. Editable by all sends shivers down my spine

Excellent points, Roger.

By: Roger Diercks

Roger Diercks — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:19:17 +0000

Don, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. You are absolutely correct that much of the public ascribes the degree of legal authority to parcel maps that only surveys and other documents signed and sealed by licensed surveyors carry. While I’m all for open geodata and am working hard to push my agency in that direction, I have the same fears you have about the confusion that is already bound to result with Google Maps parcels and would only be exacerbated with crowdsourced parcel data sets. I’ve been letting my County Assessor know what’s been happening with Google Maps because sooner or later it will affect his office.

In my mind, it’s more vital than ever that jurisdictions that have the legal authority to maintain parcel maps get their data out of the vault and into the public’s hands in ways that are easy to use and oriented toward answering the most commonly asked questions. Traditional GIS web apps that throw the entire kitchen sink at the average person are only going to go unused if there are far less painless ways for people to find the information they’re looking for, or at least something resembling the information they’re looking for.

By: Don Meltz

Don Meltz — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:01:01 +0000

In reply to Peter Rushforth and nomoreshoes regarding crowd updates to parcel data -

I seriously hope not. Parcel data and street data are two very different things. One major difference being that streets are generally publicly owned and accessible, while parcels are mostly privately owned. Local govs have enough trouble now, explaining to residents that the published county tax maps are not legal documents, and only useful for helping identify taxable parcels. I can only imagine the phone calls they would receive if all parcel data were published on Google, and then updated by their neighbors. Worse yet would be the strangers tramping across private property to “help update” the property boundaries they find on Google. That would be a mess.

GPS vendors already have enough trouble with nitwits driving into lakes or down railroad tracks because their GPS units said “there’s a road”. Can you imagine the conflicts that will ensue if property lines become open to, and editable by all?

By: Spatial is Special, Spatial IT is Not « Fiducial Marks – Paul Bissett, WeoGeo CEO

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:38:48 +0000

[...] stack could be laid at the doorstep of web advertising companies (e.g. Google), which are bringing billions of new dollars to bear on spatially enabling web services. Yet, I believe the trends were there before the release of (Google Maps and Google Earth, as [...]

By: Mikel

Mikel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:40:29 +0000

Geonerds fixing Google for free? Who’s that, and why aren’t they working on OSM?

By: nomoreshoes

nomoreshoes — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:20:48 +0000

Sure, have an Open Parcel Map and watch surveyors wet their pants.