About Wikimapia

Revision as of 15:01, 21 May 2012

What is Wikimapia

WikiMapia is a privately owned, online map and satellite imaging resource that combines Google Maps with a wiki system, allowing users to add information, in the form of a note, to any location on Earth.

Wikimapia goal

Wikimapia is an editable interactive map. The goal of Wikimapia is to create and maintain a free, complete, multilingual, up-to-date map of the whole world. Wikimapia intends to contain detailed information about every place on Earth.

Philosophy

NPOV

A neutral point of view (or "NPOV") is paramount to any description of a place in Wikimapia. Places that are not neutrally described, and does not provide a resource when information is challenged, may be edited or even deleted. The reasons for this are clear: no two people may agree on their feelings and emotions for a place, and therefore editing the places may become a repetitive cycle that strains the resources of Wikimapia as well as the patience and goodwill of the Wikimapia community.

A NPOV is not always possible in the physical world in which we live in, as there are many internal and external forces that affect our opinions and the way we perceive truth. Yet, in the world of cyberspace, and more namely, within the confines of Wikimapia, it is unfair and unproductive to provide a slanted or skewed view of places when describing them to others.

What NPOV is not

Since Wikimapia's maps and the information contained therein, are not a forum for discussion, places added must be done so with extra care. This is especially true of places that are sensitive and controversial in nature. Therefore, brevity is sometimes preferable over verbose information because the temptation to pad out descriptions with opinions and promotions of personal interest is lessened. Typical verbiage to be avoided include:

• Feelings, opinions, experiences. Words which display a personal bias or agenda
• Politics
• Religion
• Publicity or advertising.

When in doubt, follow the old saying: If you do not have anything nice to say do not say anything at all. Non-NPOV descriptions shall either be removed or updated to reflect objectivity in compliance with Wikimapia's NPOV policy.

Etiquette

Wikimapia's contributors come from many different countries and cultures. We have many different views, perspectives, opinions, and backgrounds, sometimes varying widely. Treating others with respect is the key to collaborating effectively in creating a free, complete, multilingual, up-to-date map of the whole world.

Principles of Wikimapia etiquette:

• Assume good faith.
• Be civil.
• Be polite.
• Work towards agreement.
• Argue facts, not personalities.
• Do not make misrepresentations.
• Do not ignore questions.
• If another disagrees with your edit, provide good reasons why you think that it is appropriate.
• Concede a point when you have no response to it, or admit when you disagree based on intuition or taste.
• (more to follow)

Advertising

I own a business. Can I tag it?

Yes, you can score. You can give factual information: company name, address, what you do or sell, how long has the company, a link to its website, that sort of thing. You should not include promotional material ("the best in town", "good prices", prices in general ...), that would be considered propaganda. On the other hand, you can say: "See my website for availability and prices."

For commercial buildings, shopping malls, complexes, etc., where there are several companies in the same building, there would be a mess if everyone create their own bookmarks. In this case there should be only one tag for the building, and if you want to mark your company, leave a comment in the markup of the building.

What is the policy on advertising land for sale?

Policies

Wikimapia Guidelines

The Wikimapia Guidelines is the official legislation for Wikimapia and should be adhered to and regarded as the official regulations enactment in addition to the Terms of Reference.

Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference is an agreement notice which one must accept to abide by in order to use Wikimapia and its services. It also covers the Terms of Use, Copyright Notice and Privacy Notice in greater detail.

Forum Guidelines

The Forum guidelines is a set of community rules which must be adhered to by users participating in Wikimapia's forum.

Photo policies

A photo (or photos, photograph(s)) are images that assist in describing places in Wikimapia that words cannot accurately express. We encourage you to upload photos that will help describe places, and make Wikimapia tags even more worthwhile. However, we do have some rules, mainly because Wikimapia does not wish to, nor allow its users to violate copyrights; nor should photographs and images be used to bypass Wikimapia's philosophy of Neutral Point of View.

At present the photos in Wikimapia stand by themselves, and there is no method to associate them with notes, nor with any associated copyright information. If you wish to add notes, then the best you can do is to add a comment that describes the photo and write your notes there. Note, however, that if you are a registered user then your name will be displayed beside the photo when it is enlarged (click on it), so that makes it a little easier to associate a photo with a comment.

Photo uploading

You are free to upload any photo you took yourself. If you want to contribute a photo you found on the web, however, you must first determine whether it is protected by copyright. If the website you got the photo from states that their content is copyrighted, you must gain permission to use that photo, or follow their usage guidelines. once you have uploaded a photo you grant WikiMapia license to use and distribute it according to the Wikimapia Terms of Reference.

Photo deletion

Personal photos (in close up), images hurtful to someone's feelings, pictures inciting national, religious or political discord, pornographic images, pictures advertising goods or services as well as images that are not relevant to the place itself should be deleted.

Comments deletion policies

Offensive, meaningless, talk between users, or unrelated comments will be removed by the Advanced Users or by the Wikimapia Team. If you find any comments that falls into this category, please report them for removal in this thread of the Wikimapia forum, providing a link to the place where you found the inappropriate comments.

Restrictions/banning policies

Restrictions and banning policies are applicable to users who infringe Wikimapia's policies. For the purpose of simplicity, a user who commits violations shall be called an infringer.

Banning is the act of restricting an infringer's account, and therefore the privileges it offers, by Advanced Users and Wikimapia Administrators. Although, Wikimapia Administrators reserve the right to ban any user, Advanced Users can only ban an infringer as per the ban reasons listed under section 4. of the Wikimapia Guidelines.

The Restrictions/banning policy comprises of four core modules:

• Wikimapia Guidelines
• Terms of Reference
• Banning Guidelines
• Ban Moderation

Banning Guidelines

The Banning Guidelines is provided by the Wikimapia Administration to guide Advanced Users on the process of determining and banning an infringer.

Banning Moderation

Ban Moderation is a corrective procedure that must be followed closely by Advanced Users in order to ensure an infringer is afforded exhaustive resources for rehabilitation before a permanent ban is considered. Ban Moderation comprises of four actions, they are: Guidance, Warning, Temporary ban and Permanent ban.

AU Codex

This AU Codex is a code of conduct for Advanced Users.

Interpretation issues

Please note, the interpretation of Policies should be literal (i.e. as is written) and not subjective. With this said however, there is no sure way to apply an absolute definition to the wordings of any legislative document and so there will always be a margin of vagueness or ambiguity involved. In situations where you are unsure about an interpretation, you should:

• use sound judgement
• discuss the point with Advanced Users
• contact the Wikimapia Administration

Advices for new users

1. Read this User's Guide. You do not need to memorize it, but you'll see how it helps to know what topics are covered here.
2. Add local places, as many as you want, but they must be accurate, useful and organized. Remember that the number of places created is not really important, then more and more places should not be your goal. It is MUCH more important that you create local places (tags) with QUALITY: Places that will be of interest to others, that will help people learn about the world.
3. Read the Terms of Service, especially the part in bold letters. Some of the more relevant parts are section 1.B.b where you agree that you have the written consent of every identifiable person you mention (so do not add the homes of their friends and neighbors), and section 1.B.c where you agree to not submit falsehoods, obscene, copyrighted or advertising material, for example. The list is longer than that, so have a look at the original, please.
4. Familiarise yourself with the Guidelines.
5. Edit the created local that you own and those of others, if you know that they need fixing.
6. Create places, as many as you wish, but they should be correct, useful and non-cluttering. Remember that the number of places you create isn't really important, so creating many, many places should not be your goal.
7. Think twice before you edit or delete a particular location that someone else created.
8. Give short and succinct descriptions of places.
9. Do not advertise, Wikimapia is a geographical website and not a shopping guide.
10. Be patient, be good, and be co-operative with other Wikimapia users.
11. Avoid bad words. Do not defame anyone.
12. Visit the forum and get familiar with the topics discussed there, the problems and their solutions. Participate in the discussions. When in doubt, ask the more experienced users in the forum.

Remember: you are representing yourself, your family, your community and your country. Try to give a good impression on them all.