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Re:Without even knowing: the HN post I missed by Demiurge on Monday March 18, 2013 @12:51PM (#5395378)
What is the reason you started this, as oppose to contribute to http://ideditor.com/ or OpenStreetMaps?

If people actually spend time on your site, they would be wasting it, as your data will not carry over to OSM based datasets, unless you spend more time converting the data into usable format for OSM. In which case, they probably should have been using http://www.openstreetmap.org/ to draw to begin with.

Re:Without even knowing: the HN post I missed by mapmeld on Monday March 18, 2013 @07:49PM (#5397938)
I'm a contributor to OpenStreetMap, and last year I helped Code for America import thousands of buildings.

OSM is rightfully skeptical of uploads. Even when cities give specific permission to OSM, it's up to the community whether a large import is helpful or risks drowning out local mappers. If anything, this site would be helpful to download a subset of the city's buildings as KML and use JOSM to upload.

This site exists as a custom mapmaker. It's easier for a non-GIS user to get data out and make custom maps compared to OSM APIs and tiles.

Re:Without even knowing: the HN post I missed by tmarthal on Monday March 18, 2013 @09:25PM (#5398345)
It's interesting that you mention custom mapmaking. Google provides a similar service - creating a KML file hosted from a Google Spreadsheet. Here is the newest version: http://www.google.com/earth/outreach/tutorials/spreadsheet.h...

I've recommended it to a non-technical family member (he's a realtor) and they were able to create and host their own kml-based maps within an hour's time. Note that it does not use polygon based building markers, but rather addresses (and coordinates), which are simpler for non-GIS people to use.

Re:Without even knowing: the HN post I missed by berodam on Monday March 18, 2013 @02:07PM (#5395997)
I actually built something similar idea wise just because it seemed like a fun project to play with (http://roofmapper.com). However my implementation was very simplistic in comparison.
Re:Without even knowing: the HN post I missed by Demiurge on Monday March 18, 2013 @02:39PM (#5396239)
That's cool, although I wouldn't rely on the Google map draw tools. It's cool to learn and have personal projects, but advertising yet another data collection tool without a clear idea for where the data is going or if it's even usable seems counter-productive to me, since we have a project like OSM.