User talk:Moabdave/maps

Background
There was a request to have a guideline or policy on the usage of Maps as sources that started at WT:OR. I volunteered to assemble the discussed points into a proposed guideline. I have advertised this proposed guideline on WT:USRD and Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Trains. The discussion has also been mentioened Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Mountains and WP:RIVERS and WP:HWY. Please provide comment below. Dave (talk) 05:50, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Suggestions
I would suggest starting off by drawing a distinction between using a map as a source for informaon, and using a map as an illustration of information. Your proposed guideline discusses the first usage well, but does not address the second. WP:NOR allows for user created images (which would include maps)... the key is that such images should simply illustrate what is discribed in the main text (which should be sourced and cited). Blueboar (talk) 00:21, 28 November 2008 (UTC)
 * WP:USRD/MTF handles user-created maps for illustrations. --Rschen7754 (T C) 08:53, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

My use of maps has mostly been for streams and railroads, so maybe I'm missing some road-specific issues, but I'm a little concerned with the sentence "A single map should not be used to source general description and should never be the main source for article prose." It seems that going to a USGS topo map to describe the general course of a stream from source to mouth, which seems perfectly reasonable to me, would violate the policy as proposed. Is there any way we could make this a little more nuanced? Choess (talk) 01:20, 28 November 2008 (UTC)
 * We can, I would welcome your proposals. The intent is to avoid situations where the route description section of an article about a stream/road/railroad/etc. is just a rehashing of the information available from google maps, or whatever. In the case of railroad, most notable lines have books written about them that could be used to supplement the route description to avoid purely relying on maps. Most rivers noted for their rafting, etc. would have also. But your point is duly noted on streams that are notable enough to have a route description, but may not have much written about them in prose form as they are not navigable by raft/ship/whatever. I'll give it a shot, feel free to propose changes. Dave (talk) 06:02, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Still an active proposal?
Just trying to clean up Category:Wikipedia proposals so wondering if this is still an active proposal or if it can be tagged otherwise? Hiding T 09:52, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Yeah this went nowhere. With that said, I think there is some merit. Any advice on what I should do next time to get more feedback? Dave (talk) 15:59, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 * On a subject like this, it is hard to know what to do. It's sort of halfway between a style guide and a content guide. Did you mention it at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Maps?  They'd likely have ideas, they might even want to adopt it into their project space?  Also, you could bring it up at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style, see if they know what to do, or even Wikipedia talk:Reliable sources.  Ultimately, to get any proposal through you need to engage a core group of people, but there's a far greater resistance to any new guidance these days.  Maybe you could move it into the Wikipedia namespace, maybe Using maps, and see what people at those two talk pages have to say?  Looking at it, it might just be too specific to be a guideline right now, but if it proves useful, it may just get there. If it's in the Wikipedia space, you could start adding it to relevant see also sections on guidance and policy pages. Hiding T 19:28, 25 August 2009 (UTC)