openstreetmap
Add a third status to Notes for work-in-progress
Notes are a useful QA tool for the map. Their function could be enhanced by adding a third status for an issue that is either a work in progress (WIP) issue ~~or one that needs more information~~. The status, selectable by any logged-in user, including the originator.
The purpose of the new status is to indicate an issue where more information is needed to resolve the issue. The status should change the visual design of the note icon to a yellow question mark (?) icon.
The status should be relatively open-ended, allowing users to add it when they feel a note is acknowledged but something else, e.g. more information, on-the-ground knowledge, new imagery, etc., is needed to resolve it.
Example user stories
- As a mapper that is resolving notes, I want to change the status of an open note after I comment, letting other mappers know that I've acknowledged the issue but need to do more research to resolve it.
- As a mapper that is reviewing notes, I want to comment on the note with a question back to the originator and I want to let other mappers know that this issue is active.
- ~~As the mapper that originally put the note on the map, I want to change the status to WIP to let other mappers know that this is a note-to-self and that I will resolve it later.~~ (removed per @tomhughes comment)
- As a mapper reviewing potentially spammy notes, I want to give the originator a chance to address the question I write, before closing it.
I'm really not sure this is useful while we allow anonymous notes as, in the vast majority of cases, the person who raised the note will never see the request for more information.
Also notes are a shared resource, and this sounds like a scheme for mappers to "claim" a note as theirs and discourage others from resolving it.
To be honest I'm confused about what you are even proposing as "needs more information" and "I'm working on this" are too entirely different things so how would one status cover both?
Tom, I think you're right that this is a bit confusing. I didn't want to propose too many statuses for simplicity sake. However, as you point out, this has become more confusing. I updated the title and the body.
My main objective with this suggestion is to let users indicate that a note is in progress. This should not prevent any other user from contributing.
I don't want to see users "claiming" issues either, but you could certainly have a scenario where a local mapper would comment indicating that they need to go check on this on the ground. If another knowledgeable user fixed it in the meantime, so be it.
So how does it help exactly? I mean you're already free to leave a comment to that effect, and if you don't want it to discourage other people from solving it then how does it help to set some special flag?
It helps by providing a visual filter between new notes and ones with some activity.
Some mappers may not want to get involved if a Note already has some comments; they could be ignoring these already. The extra status would basically provide a means to identify fresh notes, and those with activity, visually.
Perhaps to discourage people misusing this status to "claim", all notes with >0 comments would get the in-progress status.
I have occasionally wanted to have an "in progress" status for notes that I can't close immediately without something like:
- ask for clarification or more info
- should go to the place and ground truth
- check back later to see if the edit fixes the issue
It would be nice to have them stand out visually.
Update: here are some examples of the kinds of notes where I would use this status: https://www.openstreetmap.org/note/294064 https://www.openstreetmap.org/note/116163 https://www.openstreetmap.org/note/324180 https://www.openstreetmap.org/note/273703
This sound like adding pointless complication for limited benefit.
https://www.openstreetmap.org/note/116163 provided by bhousel seems to be a good illustration of creating next category of cleanup - notes permanently stuck in WIP state.
In general @bhousel notes from https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/issues/1578#issuecomment-313982753 include completely different categories
- note that may be fixed only in future
- note waiting since 3 years for response
- note waiting for ground survey
- note describing no longer existing problem
I am not convinced that increasing complexity (OSM complexity is already one of main problems) just to create category that will include will mix and provide very limited benefit would be useful.
Maybe triaging notes into "require ground survey"/"armchair mappable" would be more useful - but I am not convinced that it justifies additional complexity.
The notes dialog needs to be reworked. There are so many anonymous notes. Why don't you ask for an optional e-mail or remind to create a OSM account? Without it, the note-creater doesn't get any information about "in progress", "clarification needed" or "solved".
