I've added these to the table on the wiki, but I'm not sure if relations exist for them yet:
osm.wiki/WikiProject_U.S._Bicycle_Route_System

There's no reason you can't do both, accept the CT's so that your contributions can continue on in OSM (because Nearmap has explicitly allowed this), but all future contributions will be to FOSM (because you want to use the Nearmap imagery). If you read the list archive, the representative from Nearmap made it abundantly clear that users who mapped using Nearmap imagery are allowed to agree to the CT's so that contributions can remain in OSM (however future mapping in OSM via Nearmap is not allowed). If you don't want to agree to the CT's because you dislike ODbL or something, that's one thing, but don't try and use the Nearmap (non-)issue as an excuse. Your contributions are certainly valued and I hope you allow them to continue in OSM, even if future contributions go to FOSM.

Very cool! I'd love to see this kind of elevation profile service for other types of routes, like bicycling and hiking. I tried to use a relation ID for this type of route, but it failed, so I'm guessing it only works with route=mtb. Would you consider expanding the service to work with other routes, or perhaps sharing the source code so others could setup similar services? Great work!

Sorry to see you go, but glad you've decided to accept the terms for your existing contributions. I'm not happy with the CT/license process myself, but all I really care about is the map. If they wanted to go PD it wouldn't matter to me. If a CC-BY-SA fork is more successful than OSM (though I doubt it), then I'll switch to that project. Thanks for all your contributions!

Very cool, I can't wait to try it out!

There's certainly plenty of available data that is not of sufficient quality to be directly merged with OSM, but rather used as a guide like you've said. There is some high quality data though, and so it's worth looking at every dataset to make this determination, and to share those results with others. I can't seem to find any mention of Baltimore's data on the wiki page. Would you consider adding a section on their catalog, and add your comments about any particular datasets and their quality? Personally I always go straight to the wiki to see if anyone else has found data for a given county/city, and whether they've done anything with it. It would be a great help to others to document your work and save duplication of efforts (especially ones that lead to a dead end!). I've found that people don't document their work sufficiently, and I think the wiki is the single best place to put that information.

Welcome! Feel free to ask questions, and be sure to check out the JOSM plugins, like ImproveWayAccuracy, Turn Restrictions, and many more.

I think it would be great to ease the creation of hyperlocal sites, such as for HOAs. I would like to eventually create something like that for our HOA, that might have a custom stylesheet and some sort of specialized search or listing of amenities.

Welcome to OSM, and great to hear you're interested in HOAs! I think working with local HOAs are a great way to promote OSM.

I've been working in our local HOA in Virginia, and have had great interest from the Board of Trustees and other residents. There's interest to provide walking/biking directions, and of course locations of all the amenities and trails, and to eventually create a nice printed map. I've written an article for our newsletter which you can read here:
osm.org/user/JoshD/diary/13743

Also, I've created a wiki page for HOAs here:
osm.wiki/Homeowners%27_association

An important unresolved tagging issue involves subdivisions and neighborhoods. Our HOA (and I imagine some others) are divided up into multiple areas. I've created an article on it, and we should try and get a proposal through:
osm.wiki/Neighbourhood

I'm sure there are some other issues that are of particular interest to those mapping HOAs. I would encourage you to continue creating diary entries on your project, to make suggestions or improvements to the HOA wiki article, and feel free to ask on the mailing list about uncertainties you might have. It would be great to stay in touch, as I'm not only mapping our HOA, but am getting contacts with other HOAs near me, and I'm sure we could learn from each other.

Happy mapping!

I've been using MapQuest since they render almost immediately.

Little things, like provide a better custom render.

I'd totally agree about awareness, and encourage everyone to contact their local newspapers for interviews or editorials, and contact local interest groups like HOAs, cyclist/trail/hiking/pedestrian advocacy groups, and local government organizations. There's lots of potential out there, but we need to get the word to everyone!

I'll be keeping a lookout if you ever happen to make it as far east as Virginia. Thanks for contributing!

I think "they" have done a bad job with the license change, but all I care about is mapping so I just agreed to the new CTs. If momentum shifts to a fork of OSM, I'll go there, otherwise I'll stick to the "market leader".

If you really don't want to agree to the CTs, but also don't care who uses your data or gives you attribution, then put it in the public domain. That way someone else can "launder" your data to keep it in the main OSM database, but you don't have to agree to the new terms.

Those warnings are put there usually to notify beginning mappers that they may be doing something incorrectly. However sometimes those warnings should be completely ignored.

As far as buildings being on top of everything else, this is something that individual data consumers determine. All consumers I know of (Mapnik, Osmarender, etc) draw buildings on top of almost everything else. You can give a hint to the consumer with the layer tag in case you have some feature on top of a building that would normally be covered by the building when rendered.

The data producers and consumers themselves determine how this data is treated. If a group of contributors map a huge area in a particular way, and then a renderer adds support for it, it has essentially be come accepted practice. We get a sense of how data producers are doing things with Tagwatch/Taginfo/etc, which give information on how the data is actually tagged. What we need now is a similar service that summarizes how data consumers treat that data.

Things are still somewhat unclear, but it appears that all edits after a non-odbl edit will be deleted. So if one user who doesn't accept the new terms created a ton of objects, then hundreds of others further edit and refine the data, it will all be erased, as it considered "tainted". This is on the wiki somewhere, but I can't find it right now.

Thanks for the comments, I've tried to incorporate them into the version I've submitted to the editor. You can view it on the wiki (linked on original post).

compdude: I'm not saying I don't want anyone to map, I certainly do! However there's some part of me that is nervous to see "my work" altered in a way that I don't agree with. Trust me though, I am trying to get others involved; I'm working on an article for our community newsletter, and I'm going to be interviewed for a piece on our local Patch.com site.

Welcome to OSM! You can post anything you like, from a short daily blurb about what you're editing, to a long post presenting your thoughts on tagging or whatever. Have fun, and feel free to ask questions!

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