Comments on: Open Neighborhood Boundaries? http://blog.geoiq.com/2008/04/17/open-neighborhood-boundaries/ News and updates from GeoIQ Sun, 20 May 2012 18:37:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Drew Meyers from Zillow http://blog.geoiq.com/2008/04/17/open-neighborhood-boundaries/#comment-332 Drew Meyers from Zillow Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:50:44 +0000 http://blog.fortiusone.com/?p=290#comment-332 I just saw this post, so my apologies for joining the conversation late. In my mind, one of the biggest benefits to an open set of neighborhood boundaries is the resulting innovation. For example, a site such as <a href="http://www.teachstreet.com" rel="nofollow">TeachStreet (which just launched)</a> probably would not have integrated a neighborhood search (at least at this early stage) if the data had to be licensed. Sean- One thing we are doing as a result of feedback we received is to add the ability to lookup a neighborhood for a specific property into our API, which will make it far easier to build an application that can return a neighborhood name and then give the option to the user to tag that property as a different neighborhood if incorrect. Obviously, there is still back-end work after capturing that data, but it's certainly a good start in my opinion. If something like open streets is organized for neighborhoods, we're happy to discuss the possibility of different licensing of our neighborhood boundaries to help that effort succeed. I just saw this post, so my apologies for joining the conversation late. In my mind, one of the biggest benefits to an open set of neighborhood boundaries is the resulting innovation. For example, a site such as TeachStreet (which just launched) probably would not have integrated a neighborhood search (at least at this early stage) if the data had to be licensed.

Sean-
One thing we are doing as a result of feedback we received is to add the ability to lookup a neighborhood for a specific property into our API, which will make it far easier to build an application that can return a neighborhood name and then give the option to the user to tag that property as a different neighborhood if incorrect. Obviously, there is still back-end work after capturing that data, but it’s certainly a good start in my opinion.

If something like open streets is organized for neighborhoods, we’re happy to discuss the possibility of different licensing of our neighborhood boundaries to help that effort succeed.

]]> By: Sean Gorman http://blog.geoiq.com/2008/04/17/open-neighborhood-boundaries/#comment-331 Sean Gorman Sat, 19 Apr 2008 04:56:07 +0000 http://blog.fortiusone.com/?p=290#comment-331 I put all the blame on the marketing folks ;-) I think the argument is the same as why do you need open street maps when you have NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas. I think OSM proves the model that you do not need to be autocratic in defining boundaries of geographic features. Especially in something as nebulous as neighborhood boundaries there is no better expert than the "local". Sure you'll have disputes but I think the OSM model has show resiliency to it. I do not think this impinges on Urban Mapping just as OSM did little to impact TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ's business. If anything it reinforces how important what they do is. Has Urban Mapping thought about creating a feedback mechanism on their data like TomTom does for driving directions. It would be an interesting model to blend expert and crowd sourced model. A local can submit a boundary or suggest and edit but it is not published till verified by the expert. I put all the blame on the marketing folks ;-)

I think the argument is the same as why do you need open street maps when you have NAVTEQ and TeleAtlas. I think OSM proves the model that you do not need to be autocratic in defining boundaries of geographic features. Especially in something as nebulous as neighborhood boundaries there is no better expert than the “local”. Sure you’ll have disputes but I think the OSM model has show resiliency to it. I do not think this impinges on Urban Mapping just as OSM did little to impact TeleAtlas and NAVTEQ’s business. If anything it reinforces how important what they do is. Has Urban Mapping thought about creating a feedback mechanism on their data like TomTom does for driving directions. It would be an interesting model to blend expert and crowd sourced model. A local can submit a boundary or suggest and edit but it is not published till verified by the expert.

]]> By: ian http://blog.geoiq.com/2008/04/17/open-neighborhood-boundaries/#comment-330 ian Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:57:05 +0000 http://blog.fortiusone.com/?p=290#comment-330 it's something we've thought about for a long time, but one needs to establish credibility--who defines what, what makes them an expert, etc...this is the fundamental problem in defining 'opinions' as fact. poly creation tools are secondary and i wonder what's the real value in such a project? i'm all for open projects, but i don't know what problem it solves. We offer a free API at urban mapping so developers can find point within poly. we're the closest to a standard as you can get with all portals and IYPs. also, i had 'off the map' on the Umiblog before you did! shame on you, sean! ;) it’s something we’ve thought about for a long time, but one needs to establish credibility–who defines what, what makes them an expert, etc…this is the fundamental problem in defining ‘opinions’ as fact. poly creation tools are secondary and i wonder what’s the real value in such a project? i’m all for open projects, but i don’t know what problem it solves. We offer a free API at urban mapping so developers can find point within poly. we’re the closest to a standard as you can get with all portals and IYPs.

also, i had ‘off the map’ on the Umiblog before you did! shame on you, sean! ;)

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