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A comment on OpenStreetMap Then and Now. Parent comment

Re:OpenStreetMap Then and Now by rmc on Monday August 11, 2014 @07:33AM (#8162835)
To contribute to (say) the Linux Kernel, or Firefox, you need to be a good programmer. To contribute to Wikipedia is a little easier, but you probably need to be pretty knowledgeable about something non-trivial.

To contribute to OpenStreetMap, you only have to know somewhere. It's quite likely that almost everyone knows something that isn't in OSM.

Even 2 people from the same town, but live 1km apart could probably contribute different things to OSM.

Combine that with everyone wanting to see their own town/city/house/area on a map, and it's a recipe for explosive growth.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:OpenStreetMap Then and Now by asadotzler on Monday August 11, 2014 @10:57AM (#8163508)
Generally agree with the ease of contribution sentiment to OSM, but your characterization of Firefox contributors dismisses the valuable work that 9 out of 10 Mozilla contributors do who aren't programmers. You absolutely do not need to be a good programmer, or any kind of programmer at all, to contribute to Firefox. https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/contribute/
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Re:OpenStreetMap Then and Now by rmc on Monday August 11, 2014 @11:54AM (#8163773)
I misspoke, and apologise.

Most of my point still stands w.r.t. Firefox. QA, graphic design, education, translation and documentation are still skills that lots of people don't have.

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