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OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

blog.emacsen.net

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Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#41

Post by sydd »

Avamander wrote: post #28
duozerk wrote: post #16

OSM gives people the tools to create their own map rather than offering them a simple, out of the box solution On this point and the main part of the first argument, I kinda disagree; the OSM project should specifically aim to do that: providing means for one to create a service. However, providing an actual map service would cost much, much more in bandwidth and I doubt a free software project like this has that kin…

Time to move away from awful raster maps and to vector maps?

There are some, e.g. OSMAnd on Android, they are awfully slow. I wonder why no one has written a proper, fast Opengl renderer for osm

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#42

Post by milcron »

acabal wrote: post #15

I remember just a few years ago, I got a new phone and was interested in replacing as many Google apps with OSS maps that I could. (K9 instead of Google's mail app, etc.) Naturally I turned to OSM instead of Google Maps. But I was really surprised by how strange and difficult it was to install and use. As the author mentioned, OSM itself doesn't have any apps, which is very confusing. After some research I figured ou…

What about OSMAnd for Android? https://osmand.net/

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#43

Post by planck01 »

jedberg wrote: post #23
striking wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps.me is pretty killer, though. The only issue I see with OSM is lack of traffic data. Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic.

> Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic. You should try Waze. I too mostly use Google to route me around traffic, but Waze is an order of magnitude better at it. It has more frequently updated traffic data and is willing to take you on side streets. For example the other day I was driving down a major road, and Google said to just stay on it,…

Google bought Waze quite some time ago. Did you know that? I see maps and waze slowly converging.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#44

Post by y4mi »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #29
emacsen wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The post calls for OSM to essentially become Mapbox The problem is that most companies using OSM are using Mapbox. This leads to a few problems, including attribution, which I decided not to touch on, but is a serious problem that Mapbox doesn't address sufficiently. If they could use OSM directly, they'd be engaged with OSM directly. They'd care about OSM. Right now OSM shoves these users away and makes them into…

> The problem is that most companies using OSM are using Mapbox. Is that even true? And is number of companies even a good metric? Based on revenue/market cap, the bulk of companies use OSM directly. The world's biggest company (Apple) uses OSM directly. Telenav uses it directly. Don't Tesla and Uber use OSM directly too? And we use Mapbox at Gaia GPS, but we also use OSM data directly. > How about letting users expe…

> The world's biggest company (Apple) uses OSM directly

sigh apple zealots... its big, i give you that, but sure as hell ain't the biggest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_r...

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#45

Post by andrewljohnson »

y4mi wrote: post #44
andrewljohnson wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is that most companies using OSM are using Mapbox. Is that even true? And is number of companies even a good metric? Based on revenue/market cap, the bulk of companies use OSM directly. The world's biggest company (Apple) uses OSM directly. Telenav uses it directly. Don't Tesla and Uber use OSM directly too? And we use Mapbox at Gaia GPS, but we also use OSM data directly. > How about letting users expe…

> The world's biggest company (Apple) uses OSM directly sigh apple zealots... its big, i give you that, but sure as hell ain't the biggest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_companies_by_r...

Largest by market cap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_corporations_by...

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#46

Post by reaperducer »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #39

Even Apple the most valuable company in the world with hundreds of billions of dollars of cash on hand is way behind Google in terms of mapping. https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat/ If Apple has trouble keeping feature parity with Google Maps, there is no way that an endeavor like Open Street Maps has any real chance of making something with the breadth, features, and usability of Google Maps.

> there is no way that an endeavor like Open Street Maps has any real chance of making something with the breadth, features, and usability of Google Maps

But does it need to? Isn't there a market for basic mapping, without all the needless feature bloat?

I'd rather a mapping service concentrate on getting roads right, and not whether there is a Howard Johnson's nearby.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#47

Post by SippinLean »

jedberg wrote: post #23
striking wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps.me is pretty killer, though. The only issue I see with OSM is lack of traffic data. Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic.

> Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic. You should try Waze. I too mostly use Google to route me around traffic, but Waze is an order of magnitude better at it. It has more frequently updated traffic data and is willing to take you on side streets. For example the other day I was driving down a major road, and Google said to just stay on it,…

I thought GM used all the Waze data in their routing ever since they acquired Waze?

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#48

Post by puzzle »

jedberg wrote: post #23
striking wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps.me is pretty killer, though. The only issue I see with OSM is lack of traffic data. Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic.

> Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic. You should try Waze. I too mostly use Google to route me around traffic, but Waze is an order of magnitude better at it. It has more frequently updated traffic data and is willing to take you on side streets. For example the other day I was driving down a major road, and Google said to just stay on it,…

Is Waze's traffic really updated more frequently? Depending on the area, Google Maps can be down to roughly once per minute. (Open a view at a busy time of the day and figure how often the traffic data refreshes.) Perhaps it's a matter of reacting more rapidly to new data.

Yes, Waze is willing to take you on side streets, by design, just like Google Maps isn't, deliberately. Waze is Gentoo, Google Maps is Ubuntu. One is tuned for the quickest drive, the other for directions that are simpler and thus easier to follow or remember (e.g., it doesn't reroute you if it knows it will save you just 2-3 minutes).

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#49

Post by skybrian »

jedberg wrote: post #23
striking wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps.me is pretty killer, though. The only issue I see with OSM is lack of traffic data. Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic.

> Generally when I drive with Google Maps, I already know the route but want Google to step in when there's traffic. You should try Waze. I too mostly use Google to route me around traffic, but Waze is an order of magnitude better at it. It has more frequently updated traffic data and is willing to take you on side streets. For example the other day I was driving down a major road, and Google said to just stay on it,…

This is more a matter of degree. Google Maps does occasionally suggest surface streets when there's major traffic, and will also suggest alternate routes during a trip.

In my experience, though, traffic has to be very bad for it to do this. Maybe it does it less often?

Re: OpenStreetMap Is in Trouble

#50

Post by spectre256 »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #39

Even Apple the most valuable company in the world with hundreds of billions of dollars of cash on hand is way behind Google in terms of mapping. https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat/ If Apple has trouble keeping feature parity with Google Maps, there is no way that an endeavor like Open Street Maps has any real chance of making something with the breadth, features, and usability of Google Maps.

True, at least for the moment, although that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

One nice thing about open data is it can outlast. What do you think will survive and be readily accessible on the internet longer, Wikipedia or Quora? My money's on Wikipedia 100%.

With OSM things are similar. Obviously geo data has additional ways it can grow stale, but still. Google is big today but there's no guarantee for the future.

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