Data Working Group/DWG Activity Report Q2 2019

From OpenStreetMap Foundation

DWG Activity Report for Q2, 2019

Statistics

Dwg-cases-q2-2019.png

354 tickets were created in OTRS in this quarter (138 of these were copied from the web site issue tracker). Issues of minor importance are sometimes handled directly in the web site issue tracker and will therefore not be counted.

A total of 477 messages were received in the context of these tickets, and 980 messages and memos were written by DWG members.

29 tickets were follow-on tickets to older issues, 8 were discarded as spam. 311 tickets created in this quarter were closed, and additionally, 39 tickets from previous periods were closed.

The median time for the first (non-automated) response to tickets was 18 hours.

9 DWG members were active in the quarter (97% of cases were handled by the five busiest members).

The majority of tickets were handled in English (310), but we also used the languages French (12), German (11), and Russian (7). (We will also often include auto-translated versions of English messages in responses.)

Generally, all these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt because edge cases can be mis-counted in our statistics. Also, due to reorganisation or cleaning out of old information, it is possible that previous quarters shown in the above graph differ slightly from the numbers published at the time.

Comment and Notable Issues

Persistent POI copying from Google in Sri Lanka

In Colombo, Sri Lanka, what appears to have been a team of three or four people started adding a lot of POIs and, through a complaint by someone familiar with the area, it was established that these POIs were likely copied from Google Maps. The accounts were blocked and the edits redacted, but instead of getting in touch, the team either waited for the blocks to expire or created new accounts (often named like the old account but with -1, -2, -3 appended), and proceeded to add more POIs. This back-and-forth continued for weeks until the team gave up.

Generally, copying from copyrighted sources is not allowed. Before we do a large-scale revert we will usually try to make contact with the contributor and give them a chance to clear up any misunderstandings - for example, if data contributed to OSM is identical to Google, it could be possible that Google has derived it from a PD source, and the same PD source is now used to populate OSM. However, if we cannot elicit a response from mappers, and if they circumvent our blocks by creating new accounts, we must assume they are operating outside of what is legal.

Low-quality data import from Russian SEO company

All across the USA we had a large number of medical facilities and shopping malls added by a group of about 25 accounts that were connected to a Russian SEO firm. The shopping mall additions were generally of low quality, overlaying already existing objects with huge real estate rectangles. Our attempts at making contact with the company failed, and we blocked the accounts and reverted all their contributions which in some cases had been going on for over a year.

Generally, it is not forbidden for a SEO firm to contribute data to OSM, but they must comply with the Organised Editing Guidelines which means that people and processes must be documented, and inquiries must be replied to.

List of Cases

closed tickets from previous periods
Created Type Region Action
2017-10-15 policy violation USA reverted
2017-11-29 poor mapping Kazakhstan block issued
2017-12-13 poor mapping Costa Rica other
2018-06-05 poor mapping USA block issued
2018-07-24* poor mapping Brazil block issued, reverted
2018-08-16 policy violation Australia advice given
2018-08-26 user dispute or no response Iran block issued
2018-08-26* poor mapping Spain advice given, block issued, changeset commented, reverted
2018-09-14 other Georgia, Abchasia, South Ossetia advice given
2018-12-18 other global no action needed
2019-01-15 policy violation Poland block issued, changeset commented
2019-01-17* user dispute or no response Netherlands advice given, block issued
2019-01-22* user dispute or no response Austria advice given
2019-01-23 user dispute or no response Balkans advice given, block issued, changeset commented, community contacted, reverted
2019-01-29* vandalism Worldwide advice given, block issued, reverted
2019-01-31 other no action needed
2019-02-07 copyright Switzerland redacted
2019-02-10 international dispute Ukraine changeset commented
2019-02-16 policy violation Italy changeset commented, community contacted
2019-02-19* user dispute or no response China advice given
2019-03-07 other Russia no action needed
2019-03-09 policy violation Italy community contacted
2019-03-12 request for help or information Worldwide advice given
2019-03-14 vandalism Macedonia block issued, community contacted, reverted
2019-03-14 misdirected complaint Brazil advice given, other
2019-03-22* other Georgia advice given
2019-03-22* poor mapping Abkhazia no action needed
2019-03-22* poor mapping Panama block issued
2019-03-23* poor mapping Russia changeset commented, reverted
2019-03-25 poor mapping Crimea advice given
2019-03-26 user dispute or no response Portugal block issued
2019-03-27 request for help or information Paraguay advice given
2019-03-28 vandalism Uzbekistan no action needed
2019-03-28 vandalism Azerbaijan no action needed
2019-03-28* other France advice given
2019-03-30* vandalism Europe block issued, reverted
2019-03-30* request for help or information Gaza advice given
2019-03-30* poor mapping Indonesia advice given
2019-03-31 user dispute or no response Germany changeset commented
closed tickets from this period
Created Type Region Action
2019-04-01* poor mapping France block issued
2019-04-01 user dispute or no response Ukraine no action needed
2019-04-02 international dispute Europe block issued, changeset commented
2019-04-02 user dispute or no response Iran advice given
2019-04-03 3rd party complaint about data Germany advice given
2019-04-03* poor mapping France hiding of notes or comments
2019-04-03* poor mapping France hiding of notes or comments
2019-04-03 poor mapping Belarus
2019-04-03 request for help or information Ukraine advice given
2019-04-03 vandalism Crimea block issued, reverted
2019-04-04* vandalism Russia block issued
2019-04-05 misdirected complaint unknown advice given
2019-04-05 policy violation Greenland advice given, block issued, reverted
2019-04-07 request for help or information Saudi Arabia advice given
2019-04-07* poor mapping Italy advice given
2019-04-07* user dispute or no response Iran advice given
2019-04-08 policy violation UK no action needed
2019-04-08* user dispute or no response Russia block issued
2019-04-08 user dispute or no response Nepal advice given
2019-04-09 misdirected complaint Saudi Arabia advice given
2019-04-09 3rd party complaint about data Iran no action needed
2019-04-09* policy violation Russia no action needed
2019-04-09 poor mapping Ireland advice given, reverted
2019-04-10* user dispute or no response Moldova no action needed
2019-04-11* poor mapping USA advice given, block issued
2019-04-12 international dispute Ukraine advice given
2019-04-12* poor mapping Indonesia advice given
2019-04-12* request for help or information China advice given
2019-04-12* poor mapping Iran advice given
2019-04-12 user dispute or no response Zimbabwe advice given, community contacted
2019-04-13 policy violation Germany block issued
2019-04-13 user dispute or no response Germany advice given
2019-04-14 3rd party complaint about data USA no action needed
2019-04-14* other Uzbekistan changeset commented
2019-04-15 poor mapping Russia block issued
2019-04-16 user dispute or no response Germany block issued
2019-04-16* poor mapping Belarus no action needed
2019-04-16* other Mexico advice given
2019-04-17 vandalism Antarctic block issued, reverted
2019-04-17 policy violation India advice given
2019-04-18* policy violation Russia changeset commented
2019-04-19 poor mapping USA advice given
2019-04-19* poor mapping Germany advice given
2019-04-19* poor mapping Germany advice given
2019-04-19* poor mapping USA advice given
2019-04-19* poor mapping Poland advice given
2019-04-19 user dispute or no response Ukraine changeset commented
2019-04-19 other Afghanistan hiding of notes or comments
2019-04-19* poor mapping Mexico advice given, block issued
2019-04-19* poor mapping Saudi Arabia advice given
2019-04-19* user dispute or no response USA advice given
2019-04-19* policy violation USA advice given, reverted
2019-04-19* user dispute or no response Iran advice given, block issued, changeset commented
2019-04-19* user dispute or no response Turkey advice given
2019-04-19* poor mapping USA advice given
2019-04-20* vandalism USA advice given
2019-04-20* poor mapping Mexico advice given
2019-04-21 copyright Russia changeset commented, redacted
2019-04-21 user dispute or no response France no action needed
2019-04-21* other Philippines advice given
2019-04-21* vandalism Mexico block issued
2019-04-21 user dispute or no response Crimea advice given
2019-04-22* other South Korea advice given
2019-04-23* other Russia no action needed
2019-04-23* poor mapping Armenia block issued, changeset commented, reverted
2019-04-24 other Russia no action needed
2019-04-24* poor mapping Serbia advice given, block issued
2019-04-25 policy violation Australia no action needed
2019-04-25 poor mapping Russia block issued
2019-04-26 user dispute or no response Nepal advice given, block issued, changeset commented
2019-04-27* other France advice given
2019-04-27 international dispute Crimea no action needed
2019-04-28* vandalism Ukraine reverted
2019-04-28 request for help or information Greece no action needed
2019-04-28 user dispute or no response Greece advice given
2019-04-29* poor mapping Belarus no action needed
2019-04-29* other Spain advice given
2019-04-30 user dispute or no response Worldwide advice given
2019-04-30 request for help or information n/a advice given
2019-04-30* other Russia other
2019-05-01 user dispute or no response n/a advice given
2019-05-01* vandalism Iran block issued, reverted
2019-05-01 request for help or information Pakistan advice given
2019-05-01* privacy issue France hiding of notes or comments
2019-05-01 vandalism Germany no action needed
2019-05-01 user dispute or no response USA advice given
2019-05-01 policy violation Germany: Berlin community contacted, map edited
2019-05-02 international dispute Crimea advice given
2019-05-02* other South Korea advice given
2019-05-02 user dispute or no response Germany no action needed
2019-05-02* poor mapping Ireland advice given
2019-05-02* user dispute or no response Portugal advice given
2019-05-02* poor mapping Lebanon advice given
2019-05-03 request for help or information Austria advice given
2019-05-03 poor mapping France block issued, community contacted
2019-05-03* poor mapping France redacted
2019-05-03* poor mapping Germany advice given
2019-05-03* poor mapping Singapore advice given, block issued
2019-05-03* poor mapping Brazil advice given
2019-05-03* user dispute or no response Indonesia advice given
2019-05-03* user dispute or no response USA advice given
2019-05-03* poor mapping USA advice given
2019-05-03* poor mapping Worldwide advice given, block issued, reverted
2019-05-04* user dispute or no response Netherlands block issued
2019-05-04* poor mapping Worldwide block issued
2019-05-04 other Russia no action needed
2019-05-04 international dispute Georgia advice given
2019-05-04 user dispute or no response Slovakia advice given
2019-05-05* poor mapping USA advice given
2019-05-05* poor mapping Serbia advice given
2019-05-05* user dispute or no response Russia changeset commented
2019-05-05* other Russia no action needed
2019-05-05* other Russia no action needed
2019-05-06* other Ukraine advice given
2019-05-08* poor mapping Kyrgyzstan reverted
2019-05-08 request for help or information Worldwide advice given
2019-05-08* poor mapping Russia reverted
2019-05-09 3rd party complaint about data USA advice given
2019-05-09* user dispute or no response Russia no action needed
2019-05-09* poor mapping Great Britain hiding of notes or comments
2019-05-09 request for help or information n/a community contacted
2019-05-09 poor mapping Australia advice given
2019-05-09* poor mapping Europe advice given
2019-05-09* user dispute or no response Europe advice given
2019-05-09* request for help or information Serbia advice given
2019-05-09* user dispute or no response Iran advice given
2019-05-09* user dispute or no response Iran advice given
2019-05-09 poor mapping USA advice given, block issued, reverted
2019-05-09* poor mapping USA advice given
2019-05-09* poor mapping Poland advice given, reverted
2019-05-09* user dispute or no response Armenia advice given
2019-05-10 copyright Australia no action needed
2019-05-10 international dispute Georgia advice given
2019-05-10* poor mapping Spain advice given
2019-05-10* poor mapping Worldwide advice given
2019-05-11 3rd party complaint about data Canada map edited
2019-05-11 vandalism Lebanon advice given, block issued, changeset commented
2019-05-12* poor mapping Russia block issued, reverted
2019-05-12* poor mapping USA advice given, changeset commented
2019-05-12 request for help or information UAE map edited
2019-05-13 user dispute or no response OSM diaries community contacted
2019-05-14 vandalism Israel reverted
2019-05-14* poor mapping Russia block issued
2019-05-14* other Israel hiding of notes or comments
2019-05-14* other Israel hiding of notes or comments
2019-05-15 copyright Netherlands community contacted
2019-05-16 vandalism USA block issued, reverted
2019-05-16 privacy issue USA map edited
2019-05-16* other Italy advice given
2019-05-16* other Switzerland other
2019-05-16* other South Korea advice given
2019-05-16* other Cyprus advice given
2019-05-16 user dispute or no response Ukraine advice given
2019-05-16 policy violation UK changeset commented
2019-05-17 poor mapping Mexico advice given
2019-05-17 user dispute or no response Ukraine block issued
2019-05-18* poor mapping Ukraine hiding of notes or comments
2019-05-19 3rd party complaint about data UK advice given, map edited
2019-05-20 user dispute or no response Russia no action needed
2019-05-20 policy violation Italy advice given, community contacted
2019-05-20 misdirected complaint France advice given
2019-05-20 request for help or information South Africa hiding of notes or comments
2019-05-21 vandalism USA advice given, block issued, reverted
2019-05-21 user dispute or no response Belgium no action needed
2019-05-21* poor mapping Paracel Islands no action needed
2019-05-21* user dispute or no response Iran block issued
2019-05-21 vandalism New Zealand block issued, reverted
2019-05-21 user dispute or no response Ukraine advice given, block issued
2019-05-21 policy violation Baltic States advice given
2019-05-22 request for help or information Iran advice given
2019-05-22 request for help or information Germany: Berlin advice given, map edited
2019-05-22 policy violation Japan advice given
2019-05-22 3rd party complaint about data Germany advice given
2019-05-22* poor mapping Philippines hiding of notes or comments
2019-05-23 request for help or information USA advice given
2019-05-23* user dispute or no response Germany: Berlin block issued, changeset commented
2019-05-23 poor mapping Russia reverted
2019-05-24 other no action needed
2019-05-24 request for help or information USA no action needed
2019-05-24 3rd party complaint about data UK advice given, map edited
2019-05-24* other Italy advice given
2019-05-24* poor mapping Kyrgyzstan reverted
2019-05-24* poor mapping Kyrgyzstan reverted
2019-05-24 policy violation Uganda advice given
2019-05-25* other Colombia block issued
2019-05-25 request for help or information France community contacted, no action needed
2019-05-25* user dispute or no response Venezuela advice given, block issued, changeset commented
2019-05-26* other Algeria advice given
2019-05-26* other Spain no action needed
2019-05-26 poor mapping Russia block issued
2019-05-26* request for help or information Turkey no action needed
2019-05-26* user dispute or no response Colombia block issued
2019-05-26* poor mapping USA advice given
2019-05-26* vandalism Germany block issued, reverted
2019-05-26* poor mapping USA block issued
2019-05-26* poor mapping Iran block issued
2019-05-27 policy violation Indonesia block issued
2019-05-27 policy violation Sri Lanka block issued, redacted, reverted
2019-05-27 poor mapping Thailand advice given, block issued, changeset commented, reverted
2019-05-27 request for help or information France advice given
2019-05-27* other Belarus advice given
2019-05-27 request for help or information Nicaragua reverted
2019-05-28 other advice given
2019-05-28 international dispute Western Sahara advice given
2019-05-28* other Turkey no action needed
2019-05-29 other Germany advice given
2019-05-29* poor mapping China no action needed
2019-05-30 policy violation Uganda reverted
2019-05-30* poor mapping USA
2019-05-30* policy violation Iran changeset commented, redacted
2019-05-31 other advice given
2019-05-31 misdirected complaint USA advice given
2019-05-31* other Vietnam other
2019-05-31 poor mapping world changeset commented
2019-06-01* other China advice given
2019-06-01* poor mapping Russia changeset commented, reverted
2019-06-01* user dispute or no response Portugal advice given
2019-06-01* poor mapping Chile advice given
2019-06-01 policy violation Worldwide block issued, reverted
2019-06-01 user dispute or no response Germany reverted
2019-06-02 request for help or information n/a advice given
2019-06-03* poor mapping Ukraine no action needed
2019-06-03* privacy issue France hiding of notes or comments
2019-06-03 other USA advice given
2019-06-04* poor mapping Belgium advice given, block issued, changeset commented
2019-06-04* poor mapping Japan no action needed
2019-06-05* other Brazil changeset commented
2019-06-05 user dispute or no response Latvia advice given
2019-06-05 3rd party complaint about data USA advice given
2019-06-06 policy violation Australia advice given, community contacted
2019-06-06 poor mapping USA advice given, map edited
2019-06-06* poor mapping USA reverted
2019-06-07 3rd party complaint about data Italy advice given
2019-06-07 poor mapping Russia block issued, reverted
2019-06-08 policy violation Austria reverted
2019-06-09 poor mapping USA changeset commented
2019-06-09 request for help or information Georgia advice given
2019-06-09* user dispute or no response Russia no action needed
2019-06-09 user dispute or no response Greece community contacted
2019-06-09 poor mapping Germany no action needed
2019-06-09 vandalism Iraq changeset commented
2019-06-09 user dispute or no response Croatia no action needed
2019-06-09 user dispute or no response USA block issued
2019-06-09 policy violation Albania reverted
2019-06-10 policy violation Albania block issued
2019-06-10 vandalism USA advice given
2019-06-10 other Unknown no action needed
2019-06-10* poor mapping Singapore no action needed
2019-06-10 user dispute or no response n/a no action needed
2019-06-10 vandalism Greece no action needed
2019-06-10 poor mapping Gaza no action needed
2019-06-11 other
2019-06-11* poor mapping Peru changeset commented, reverted
2019-06-12 privacy issue Thailand community contacted
2019-06-12 poor mapping Ukraine block issued
2019-06-12 user dispute or no response UK changeset commented
2019-06-12 request for help or information Unknown advice given
2019-06-12 poor mapping Romania advice given
2019-06-13 other n/a community contacted
2019-06-13 user dispute or no response Australia block issued
2019-06-13 other Armenia block issued
2019-06-13* other India no action needed
2019-06-13 user dispute or no response India changeset commented
2019-06-13* copyright Ukraine no action needed
2019-06-14 user dispute or no response Greece block issued
2019-06-14 user dispute or no response USA block issued
2019-06-16 user dispute or no response USA advice given
2019-06-16* request for help or information Iran advice given
2019-06-17 user dispute or no response USA block issued, changeset commented, reverted
2019-06-17* poor mapping Worldwide block issued
2019-06-18* poor mapping Indonesia advice given
2019-06-18 other USA
2019-06-18 request for help or information Thailand advice given
2019-06-18* poor mapping UK advice given
2019-06-18 privacy issue Canada community contacted, map edited
2019-06-18* poor mapping Russia block issued, reverted
2019-06-18 user dispute or no response Singapore advice given
2019-06-18 request for help or information USA advice given
2019-06-18* poor mapping Germany advice given, block issued
2019-06-19 3rd party complaint about data USA map edited
2019-06-19 poor mapping USA block issued
2019-06-20* other Italy no action needed
2019-06-20 user dispute or no response Italy block issued
2019-06-20 policy violation Spain advice given, changeset commented
2019-06-21 user dispute or no response Greece changeset commented
2019-06-21 poor mapping USA block issued
2019-06-21 request for help or information USA advice given
2019-06-22* request for help or information USA advice given
2019-06-22* copyright Malaysia block issued, redacted
2019-06-22 request for help or information Iran advice given
2019-06-23 request for help or information France map edited
2019-06-23 request for help or information Slovakia hiding of notes or comments
2019-06-24 request for help or information Western Sahara advice given
2019-06-24 user dispute or no response India community contacted
2019-06-24* user dispute or no response Worldwide changeset commented
2019-06-24* poor mapping Australia changeset commented, hiding of notes or comments
2019-06-24 request for help or information USA advice given
2019-06-25 request for help or information Australia advice given
2019-06-25 vandalism Azerbaijan block issued, changeset commented, reverted
2019-06-26 poor mapping Tajikistan map edited
2019-06-26 poor mapping USA reverted
2019-06-26* poor mapping Ukraine reverted
2019-06-26 request for help or information New Zealand advice given
2019-06-27 user dispute or no response USA advice given
2019-06-27 poor mapping Nicaragua advice given
2019-06-28* other Brazil advice given
2019-06-29 user dispute or no response UK advice given, block issued, changeset commented
2019-06-29 other mailing list community contacted
2019-06-29 poor mapping Germany community contacted
2019-06-30 spam Germany no action needed
2019-06-30 user dispute or no response Germany changeset commented

* an asterisk behind the date marks tickets that were created from web site "issues".