## About the Conflator Audit Webapplication This is a help page for users of the **Conflator Audit** (short **cfaudit**) web application - a free service hosted and enhanced by the Institute for Software (IFS) at the University of Applied Sciences Ostschweiz (OST), Campus Rapperswil. :::info ***Hint:*** Do you have any feedback? Don't hesitate to contact us. Prof. Stefan Keller. ::: ### Overview The Conflator Audit webapplication compares **external data** (called **map objects**) with **OpenStreetMap (OSM)** data (called **OSM elements**) so that only those map objects that are not already in OSM need to be audited. This avoids duplicate entries. This process is called **auditing**, **validating** or **matching/reconciling**. Conflator Audit belongs to the data conflation toolset **OSM Conflator** which has been implemented by Ilya Zverev (see the [OSM Wiki page](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Conflator)). For each external data set that is to be integrated into OSM typically someone with programming skills create a so-called **profile** and prepares the project data with the OSM Conflator tools. It's also possible to provide just a GeoJSON. :::info ***Hint:*** If you want to know how **OSM Conflator** works behind the scenes, read the ["OSM Conflator" page on the OSM Wiki](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Conflator). ::: ### The Start Page The start page of the Conflator Audit GUI shows the current **projects as a list**. Clicking on a project displays the project dialog with a description and the validation statistics. When you click on "**Start Validation**", the actual validation is started on randomly selected map objects as explained below. Don't be scared! Conflator Audit only **saves your validations locally** on our server and does not change the OSM database yet. After validation ended we will check the validations again and will finally update the data to OSM.org. This means you won't see any created nor updated OSM elements on OSM.org until then (see chapter "The Finish"). ### Create and Update Conflator Audit covers "**Create**" and "**Update**" OSM element. Then there's sometimes also "**Delete**" OSM element. Buttons at the bottom of the dialogs - such as "**Confirm**" or "**Don't Change**", "**Mark as Duplicate**" - should be self-explanatory. If you choose "**Skip**", the map object will be placed in a temporary location, which can be put back to the validation process later. With **"Invalid / Insufficient"**. "Invalid" can mean, among other things, that the data does not make sense. However, it can also mean that the data tagging does not fit and must be treated specially afterwards. The reason for this is that you cannot spontaneously "re-tag" in cfaudit. There are following cases when conflating a dataset into another, like here where an external dataset is being conflated into OSM: * With "**Create...**", an OSM element is proposed to be created and you must check on the OSM map view whether there really is no OSM element in the vicinity. If there is, select "Mark as Duplicate". The green marker, whose coordinates come from an external source (in this case swisstopo), can be moved if necessary so that the location fits topologically with other OSM elements. * With "**Update...**", the new values of the tags are shown on the left and new tags are added once you click on 'Confirm'. By default, it preselects the new value from the external dataset. If you wish, you can override new values and keep the existing ones from OSM. The dark blue marker on the map is the OSM element that is updated with the tags, the semitransparent blue marker visualizes the location from the external dataset that provides the updated and new tags. The location of the OSM element cannot be changed. * With **Delete**, the OSM Object is marked as going to be deleted. Remind that it's just marking for deletion and that the effective deletion is beeing kept track in a history in OSM. ### Principles of Validation Here are some principles of OSM to be considered when validating: * If in doubt, select "Skip" or "Don't change". * If "Why?" (give reason) appears, you can click directly on "OK" if necessary. * Respect the work of the mappers, i.e. when in doubt, leave the data as it is - especially if you are not familiar with the area. * In OSM, the correct neighborhood of elements (topology) is more important than location accuracy. Here are some details to consider during validation: * When using the "name" tag, make sure that both the tag name and the tag name:de (or name:fr, name:it) are used. Add them in the fixme tag field. * Here are some special language codes: Schwyzerdütsch name:gsw, Rumatsch Grischun name:rm, [Lombard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_language) name:lmo, [Franco-Provençal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Proven%C3%A7al) name:frp. ### Special Cases If you directly "Update" or "Create" (or "Delete") on open OSM.org with "View on..." and if you update or add (or delete) this OSM element directly there, click on "Don't Change" or "Mark as Duplicate" (or "tbd.") in the Conflator Audit GUI. The world is complex, so there are dozens of combinations of tags in OSM. So sometimes the best option then is to select "Skip" or "Don't change". ### The Finish Once all map elements have been validated, we proceed as follows - and you can sit back and relax :smile:: 1. We put back the skipped map elements - hoping there aren't too many - and vaildate the rest ourselves. 1. Then we use the OSM Conflator tools to reconcile (i.e. finding ways to avoid or resolve conflicts) all validated data with OSM, as it may be that some OSM element have been updated in the meantime. 1. Finally, the upload to OSM.org is carried out with the JOSM editor. The validated external dataset with it's map objects is now finally integrated into OSM! :::info ***Hint:*** Want to learn more about OpenStreetMap tools? See OpenSchoolMaps.ch. ::: ### Known Limitations These are some known limitations: * There is no "back" or "undo" function in Conflator Audit: Once you've validated a map object, you can't undo your edits. There will be a final round by us as described in "The Finish", but still, please be careful. * When you update an OSM element, you won't be able to add or delete a tag. _This is a HedgeDoc. It is hosted by Coredump.ch. Contents © 2024 IFS OST. All rights reserved._