How should we handle overlap with Stack Overflow? Unlike SU, where there is almost no overlap there is quite a bit of overlap between GIS and software devlopment. Both in terms of questions which already exist there and in terms of what logically falls into each domain. For example if I create an arcgis model, export to a script, and then start working on that I'm not really "developing" in the SO sense, but development knowledge is involved.
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5 Answers
For me, this is a lot more clear than it is for the Pro Webmasters site. GIS programming almost always requires specialized domain knowledge. There will almost certainly be some pure-programming questions here, but IMO the majority will be on-topic and best answered by domain experts.
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1Agreed - my main focus is on the Stats Exchange, which also has some overlap with SO, but the division here is even clearer. I barely know what y'all are talking about half the time, so I'm not sure that programmers without direct GIS experience would, either. Hopefully those who do have GIS experience will make their way here. Aug 5, 2010 at 21:23
I think anything intersecting the domains GIS/location/geography and programming is probably okay.
I've actually got a current question I'm in doubt about where I should ask it, It's a bit of Ajaxy and a bit ESRI WebADFy. It might be born in an Ajax request but the method that generates the output for my "bug" is a standard ESRI WebADF method...is this a SO or GIS question?
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+1 for great example. This should belong to gis.stackexchange. Is it a question about AJAX itself or about webadf? Aug 4, 2010 at 12:43
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The problem is that it might be an AJAX issue, but I can only reproduce it with a method-call in a custom CommandAction for the ADF Editor :)– cyberzedAug 4, 2010 at 13:39
I'm already finding this overlap pretty frustrating though: I answer a lot of questions on the StackOverflow geolocation tag, and now sometimes they get re-posted over here and I'm not sure if my answer at SO will now simply go to waste or if I need to repeat my answers at gis. It also seems pretty frustrating for questioners who have to repeat their question and then monitor two locations for answers.
Are software developers just supposed to keep in the back of their heads a list of every StackExchange site so that when they're about to post a question that might be related to topic X on StackOverflow they instead switch to a new domain? I think ideally questions could be shared between sites (via a special tag, say); if not, then I think the community needs a lot of documentation (and documentation that appears just in time) on both sites about which questions go where.
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1Answers really shouldn't "go to waste." Search results (e.g. Google) should always provide links to both sites (as long as the questions/answers have the same keywords in them). Also, someone familiar with one site and not the other will get good results either way. It would be nice if they were somehow linked, though. Aug 2, 2010 at 3:42
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1there is a feature request at MetaSO for cross site Smart Tags which doesn't seem to be getting much attention or traction. Maybe some activity there will help generate a better solution. Aug 3, 2010 at 18:31
I don't know if this is related, but this url: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/arcobjects
returns:
There are no Featured questions in the arcobjects tag at the moment. Perhaps you'd like to select a different tab (sic)?
Note that there are indeed questions in SO with the arcobjects tag.
Is this part of an effort to encourage users to move to https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arcobjects ?
If so, maybe the message could be a bit more informative.
Update: I realize now I had earlier navigated to "featured" questions before browsing to the arcobjects tag, so there is no bug. Still I wonder if SO could inform users about GIS.stackexchange.com when they choose certain tags, then migration could be encouraged. Certainly other stackexchange sites face a similar issue.
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