Organised Editing/Activities/Paralo
Rationale
The purpose of this activity is not to copy proprietary golf-course data into OSM, nor to optimise OSM solely for Paralo. The purpose is to make improvements to OSM where features are visible or otherwise confirmable from OSM-compatible sources.
The activity is being documented as organised editing because Paralo may coordinate mapping priorities, contributor instructions, review and potentially pay for contributors' work.
Contact
- Organising entity: Paralo
- Website: https://getparalo.com/
- Accountable organiser: Zaheer Merali
- Contact email: zaheer@getparalo.com
- Product/source/QA owner: Zaheer Merali, Paralo
- OSM user accounts involved: ZaheerMerali (on OSM · edits · contribs · heatmap · comments)
Contributors will be instructed to monitor and respond to changeset comments. Good-faith questions from OSM contributors should be answered within two working days while the activity is active. If a question raises a source, tagging, import, licensing or community-process concern, similar edits should pause until the issue has been reviewed.
Community Consultation
Community consultation has not started yet. The current status is draft/preparation.
Before any public or paid contributor programme begins, Paralo will:
- publish this activity page
- add the activity to Organised Editing/Activities
- notify relevant OSM community channels
- wait at least one week after community notice before any public/paid bounty launch
- respond to good-faith questions and adapt the process where appropriate
Potential channels to contact, depending on pilot geography:
- OSM Community Forum category for the relevant country/region
- talk mailing list or local mailing list where still active
- relevant local OSM channels/wiki pages
- changeset comments where questions are raised on individual edits
Community contacted:
- TBD - not yet contacted.
Community objections or concerns:
- None yet. Draft not published.
Hashtag
Contributors will be asked to use:
- paralo-golf-mapping
Timeframe
- Internal preparation: TBD
- Small pilot: TBD
- Community notice: before pilot/public rollout, channel and date TBD
- Public bounty or wider contributor launch: not before pilot review, activity-page publication, community notice and waiting period
- End date: TBD. If the activity continues beyond the pilot, this page will be updated with the ongoing scope and review status.
Current status: draft/preparation. No public bounty and no scale editing has started.
Tools and Data Sources
Tools
Potential tools:
- iD editor
- JOSM for experienced mappers
- FairwayMapper for golf-course review and QA where useful
- OSM editor validation tools
- OSMCha, Achavi or similar changeset review tools
No automated or bulk edits are planned for the pilot. Any future bulk import or automated edit would require separate review and the relevant OSM import/automated-edit process.
Allowed data sources
Allowed sources must be compatible with contribution to OSM under the ODbL. Initial allowed-source policy:
- existing OSM data
- OSM editor background imagery that is licensed/available for OSM tracing
- Bing aerial imagery where available through OSM tools
- Esri, Maxar or other editor-provided imagery only where permitted by OSM editor/source terms
- Mapillary or other OSM-compatible street-level imagery
- on-the-ground survey or first-hand mapper observation
- explicitly licensed club/course data only where written permission confirms it may be contributed to OSM under ODbL-compatible terms
Sources not allowed
The following must not be used as mapping sources unless a separate OSM-compatible permission review has been completed and documented:
- Google Maps
- Google Earth
- Apple Maps
- Golf apps
- proprietary club course planners
- copied club PDFs, course maps, scorecards or course diagrams
- any source whose licence is unclear
Decision rule: if source compatibility is unclear, the source is not allowed until reviewed.
Participants
The pilot participants are TBD and will be listed before editing begins.
Expected participant categories:
- Paralo organiser/accountable contact: Zaheer Merali
- Product/source/QA owner: Zaheer Merali, Paralo
- Pilot mappers: TBD OSM usernames
- Reviewers: TBD OSM usernames
All edits should be made from individual OSM accounts, not anonymous or undisclosed accounts. If Paralo creates a generic OSM account, it should be used for communication or documentation only unless the community explicitly accepts another arrangement.
Participant table to complete before pilot:
| OSM username | Role | Affiliation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Organiser/contact | Paralo | Accountable organiser |
| TBD | Mapper | TBD | Pilot contributor |
| TBD | Reviewer | TBD | QA/review |
Measuring our Success
Success will be measured by quality not by edit volume.
Pilot success criteria:
- activity page published before scale editing
- community notice completed before any public/paid launch
- all pilot edits use allowed sources only
- all pilot edits use descriptive changeset comments and #paralo-golf-mapping;
- each pilot changeset has a logged course, mapper, date, source, editor/tool, changeset URL, reviewer and review outcome;
- editor validation warnings are reviewed;
- changesets are small enough to review;
- no unresolved source-licensing concerns;
- no unresolved serious community objections;
- any mistakes are corrected or reverted promptly.
Example mapping-quality indicators:
- visible greens, tees, bunkers, fairways, paths and water features are more complete where source quality supports mapping them;
- existing mapper work is preserved unless there is a clear reason to change it;
- no guessed hole routing or hidden features are added;
- tags are consistent with OSM golf-tagging conventions and local practice.
Training/Instructions
Contributors will receive written instructions before editing. Instructions will cover:
- what may and may not be mapped;
- allowed and disallowed sources;
- suggested tagging approach;
- how to handle uncertainty;
- how to request review;
- how to respond to OSM community feedback;
- when to pause or escalate.
Core contributor rules:
- Do not use Google Maps, Google Earth, Apple Maps, copied club maps, proprietary scorecards or commercial course planner data unless explicit OSM-compatible permission has been reviewed and documented.
- If you are not sure a source is allowed, do not use it.
- Map only features that are visible, verifiable and useful.
- Prefer smaller, reviewable changesets over large edits.
- Use a descriptive changeset comment plus #paralo-golf-mapping.
- Record sources used.
- Do not delete existing mapper work unless you understand why it is wrong.
- If challenged by an OSM contributor, pause and escalate to the Paralo organiser.
Suggested changeset comment format:
Improve [feature types] at [course name] using [source]. #paralo-golf-mapping
Examples:
Improve greens, bunkers and paths at Lambourne Golf Club using Bing aerial imagery. #paralo-golf-mapping
Add visible tee areas and fairway outlines at [course name] using Mapillary and Bing imagery. #paralo-golf-mapping
Suggested mapping scope, when verifiable from OSM-compatible sources:
- tees
- greens
- fairways
- bunkers
- paths
- water hazards, ponds and streams
- golf-hole routing where appropriate and verifiable
- course boundaries where clear and verifiable
- relevant woodland/tree areas where visible and meaningful at map scale.
Avoid:
- guessing hole routing from a scorecard
- mapping every individual tree unless there is a clear OSM reason
- over-detailing features beyond what the source supports
- mapping temporary or seasonal course layouts as permanent facts
- deleting or replacing existing mapper work without review.
Post-Event Cleanup
After each pilot edit and at the end of the pilot, Paralo will review and clean up the activity.
Pilot review checklist:
- course is in pilot scope
- mapper has read contributor instructions
- sources are confirmed allowed
- existing OSM data was reviewed first
- changeset is bounded to one course or coherent area
- changeset has descriptive comment plus #paralo-golf-mapping
- source tags/comments are included as appropriate
- editor validation was run
- geometry and tagging are reviewed
- accidental deletion or displacement of existing features is checked
- overmapping or guessed features are checked
- problems are fixed or reverted promptly
Pilot edit log fields:
- course
- mapper
- date
- sources used
- editor/tool used
- changeset URL
- reviewer
- review outcome
- follow-up actions
If community feedback suggests a policy or process issue, Paralo will pause similar edits until reviewed. Data Working Group concerns should be escalated immediately to Zaheer and treated as a stop-work issue until resolved.
Results
No results yet. The activity is in draft/preparation and no public bounty or scale editing has started.