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Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

openstreetmap.org

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Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#201

Post by cube00 »

niutech wrote: post #199
crazygringo wrote: post #111

I totally support OSM 1000%... But frankly, it seems it's still a lot of work to build OSM into your own website/app, setting up your own tile server. I know there are instructions for this [1] [2] -- but to really get popular, it seems like there really ought to be up-to-date, auto-updating, officially recommended and totally secure server images on Digital Ocean, AWS, Google Cloud and Azure where anyone can spin it…

What keeps you from using Leaflet https://leafletjs.com with one of the free tile servers? https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_servers It is a one-liner: L.tileLayer('https://{s}.tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png', {attribution: '© OpenStreetMap contributors'}).addTo(map)

This is what stops me: "OpenStreetMap data is free for everyone to use. Our tile servers are not."

https://operations.osmfoundation.org/policies/tiles/

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#202

Post by rmc »

cube00 wrote: post #201
niutech wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What keeps you from using Leaflet https://leafletjs.com with one of the free tile servers? https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_servers It is a one-liner: L.tileLayer('https://{s}.tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png', {attribution: '© OpenStreetMap contributors'}).addTo(map)

This is what stops me: "OpenStreetMap data is free for everyone to use. Our tile servers are not." https://operations.osmfoundation.org/policies/tiles/

Is that a big problem for you? The OSM operations working group is run by volunteers, on semi-donated hardware. They don't offer SLAs, they don't offer uptime guarantees. If you create an app that's (say) responsible for a 20% increase on load, they'll block you. If you're that popular buy a tile service from someone else.

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#203

Post by beagle3 »

ant6n wrote: post #149
mtmail wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://maps.me/download/ (free for iOS and Android) let's you download countries for offline use. Includes search and car navigation. Based on OpenStreetMap data.

I just downloaded the app and opened it, and it showed me white, and told me I had to download my city first (56MB). I doubt you can download whole countries at that rate. Also, including the App that was a lot of downloading just to look at a single map.

You are not getting a working google maps (or here maps, or bing maps) app for much less.

I have several countries and states on my phone, totaling about 600MB; I download a country on WiFi before leaving for the airport, and I'm guaranteed to have a working map with routing regardless of how well data works when I arrive.

maps.me is really excellent. The only thing is, it's owned by Yandex (the russian equivalent of Google), so your whereabouts are reported to the NKVD/KGB/FSB/whatever-it-is-called-these-days rather than to the NSA.

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#204

Post by badosu »

_khau wrote: post #200
jimmaswell wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can’t really use google maps in the Danish public sector where I work, because they track your data. Perfect example of stifling regulations hurting the average person.

This has to be sarcasm.

It certainly feels like it.

If it did not have that snark though, one could make the point that the data could still be 'deanonimitized'.

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#205

Post by rmc »

sho_hn wrote: post #90
eigenvector wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Entire countries and continents are far more detailed on OSM than Google. There's a feedback cycle where having lots of active users to passively harvest data or receive user-submitted corrections from improves your map quality. Well, Google Maps is a really bloated app that can barely open on the budget Android phones people use in most developing countries (hell, GMaps pegs the CPU on a 2-year old flagship for seve…

It strikes me as obvious that what Google should do is support OSM upstream and use OSM data in their product, just as what they do with Wikipedia.

> use OSM data in their product

OSM has a share-alike clause, which would require G to share all their own data with everyone.

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#206

Post by criley2 »

marcosdumay wrote: post #80
criley2 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google makes it trivial to download maps for offline use, I have multiple states downloaded in Maps. Google Maps experience with offline downloaded maps is 100% quality and absolutely not "sub-par" or "frustrating".

It may be trivial, but I have actually never found a way to mark them and assure myself the download was complete and the maps are available before a trip.

The download included a persistent notification informing me of the entire download process, including percentage and a finish message. Perhaps you disabled notifications from the app.

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#207

Post by marcosdumay »

criley2 wrote: post #206
marcosdumay wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be trivial, but I have actually never found a way to mark them and assure myself the download was complete and the maps are available before a trip.

The download included a persistent notification informing me of the entire download process, including percentage and a finish message. Perhaps you disabled notifications from the app.

Ouch! Yes, I did disable it. That explains it, thanks.

Google Maps keeps notifying me of "you are at X, would you like to review it?" So it can't make useful notification anymore either.

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#208

Post by Jiri_Komarek »

Qwertie wrote: post #100
tristanho wrote: post #95

> The latest change (June 2018) has much more impact : Google decided to reduce the limit of free requests (25000 map display per day to 28000 per month - that's around 1000 map display per day, so 25 times less) IMO the biggest takeaway from this article. I've hacked up plenty of projects on using Google Maps, but would definitely think again with this much lower free limit. Though, on the bright side, it seems that…

Around a similar time Mapbox also made their pricing much cheaper for lower usage users.

Not Mapbox, but MapTiler Cloud lowered the price recently - https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/plans/

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#209

Post by tripzilch »

Maps make even more sense to be free for the public to access, than the summary of human knowledge known as Wikipedia.

This is a literal description of the physical space we occupy. The knowledge of "what is there" should not be owned by any entity.

Now, I am aware that map data includes more than just "what is there" and one could argue that certain types of metadata can be more appropriately owned than others. But on the whole they should be the minority. In particular, the metadata required to "make sense of it all" should be free: Systems for searching between the wildly different naming conventions and other mapping oddities in various parts of the world.

I am also aware that certain parts of map data may be classified to certain governments. Exceptions could be made. I'm not sure what the best solution is but it's not that important as these spots are a minority of the world's mapped area.

Re: Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

#210

Post by HNLogInShit »

lalp1 wrote: post #118

Back in the days, I rode hundreds of kilometres on my bike to map empty areas of OSM, but I never really used OSM. Google Maps is not perfect but is there an OSS alternative to : - a map - a strong search engine - POI synced on the cloud - powerful transport/traffic route calculation I can't use a map service without these features.

Why is this modded down? Pathetic.
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