[draft] Thesis 3: Consistency In Our Maps

[Luca]

Thesis 3: Consistency In Our Maps

PREAMBLE. Recollecting that the map of the Region was first created four years ago in late September of 2019 by Refuge Isle and Sylh Alanor,

Noting that consistent and high-quality updates of the Regional map occurred thereafter across 46 instances, nearly exclusively in one-month intervals,

Aware that this regular map operation handled hundreds of applications, including special requests to recognise sapient aquatic species, raise or lower land masses, and make raw data files available such that Member States could reproduce, extrapolate, and experiment with their own map versions,

Iterating that Statute Revision #28 created the Regional Council seat of Cartography in order to reconcile multiple regions of the map and alleviate "challenges to decision making and organisation" as a result of not being administered by parties who were Councillors elected to do so,

Lamenting that regular updates to the map have since ceased, the map's quality has decreased, and its public raw data access has been reduced, while the format of the map itself has become a matter of political debate,

Concluding that while it was never understood what the Revision was referring to when suggesting problems that appointed individuals create, it is certainly clear that issues of decision-making and organisation are established and renewed every election cycle under the current scheme, jeopardizing the consistency, continuity, reliability, expedience of the Region's cartography, and consequently:

Abolishes RRS 7(f). and its subsections.

Authored by: Refuge Isle
Seconded by:

[Emily]

I agree that the map should be handled by us again, but I have a thought on this. What do you think of us taking the original map over again, but leaving the Councillor of Cartography position in place to oversee secondary maps and RP treaties? That way we have a consistently-updated map, but if people do have novel ideas on things they can change or enhance the position with, they still have some opportunity for that.

[Luca]

I agree that the map should be handled by us again, but I have a thought on this. What do you think of us taking the original map over again, but leaving the Councillor of Cartography position in place to oversee secondary maps and RP treaties? That way we have a consistently-updated map, but if people do have novel ideas on things they can change or enhance the position with, they still have some opportunity for that.

One primary issue would obviously be duelling awareness and legitimacy. There would, presumably, be a links which read "Regional Map" and "RP Map", yielding an indefinite stream of questions about what the differences were between the two and why one would be preferable to the other. While this solution may make sense from an administrative perspective, that may be the only perspective where it is viable.

A second issue would be that there is presently no user-interfacable way for someone to regularly update and publicly back up the map data on CalRef servers, meaning that there is no infrastructure in place to handle administration changes in spite of attempts to carry out malicious data removal or sabotage (such as was seen from Operations earlier this year). I would not (and should not) feel rushed or compelled to create new software to address a liability that did not exist when I was managing the map exclusively.

Both of these concerns would be relatively moot if the Councillor of Cartography map were, instead, a game map that rest every term and did not depend on stable transitions between administrations and did not promise long-term continuity, but interest in that manner of service has never been expressed.

[Emily]

Both of these concerns would be relatively moot if the Councillor of Cartography map were, instead, a game map that rest every term and did not depend on stable transitions between administrations and did not promise long-term continuity, but interest in that manner of service has never been expressed.

This actually sounds pretty cool. I'd like to see if anyone would be interested in term-long maps. Maybe that would inspire some more RP activity?

But you're right about the issues with my suggestion. I'll be happy to second this unless anyone else has thoughts on it.