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How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

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Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#111

Post by rmc »

orblivion wrote: post #3

Seems like OSM has a future. This is great. Only sad thing is perhaps some day we won't be able to have the fun of making contributions ourselves, if the big companies handle all that for us like Google does. In the mean time, though, I can make an easier case to people as to why they should care about this, since it's now used by Apple and Pokémon Go.

> Only sad thing is perhaps some day we won't be able to have the fun of making contributions ourselves, if the big companies handle all that for us like Google

There is some opposition within the OSM community from getting big tech corps to do all the work.

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#112

Post by rmc »

pymai wrote: post #89
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been wondering, given that you've made all of the building blocks, why hasn't Mapbox built and released an open source maps app for Android? It looks like you're just weekend's work away from having an open source app which is competetive with Google Maps on F-Droid.

I presumed they open sourced it already since the "Maps" app in the fdroid store is the same app just minus some ads or something

The "Maps" app in fdroid[1] is actually a recompilation of Maps.me[2], which is from another company, not Mapbox.

[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.maps/ [2] https://maps.me/

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#113

Post by rmc »

sidstling wrote: post #95
orblivion wrote: post #3

Seems like OSM has a future. This is great. Only sad thing is perhaps some day we won't be able to have the fun of making contributions ourselves, if the big companies handle all that for us like Google does. In the mean time, though, I can make an easier case to people as to why they should care about this, since it's now used by Apple and Pokémon Go.

Why wouldn’t it have a future? We use it quite a lot in the European public sector where we can’t use google maps because of privacy issues. We’ve written a small app that does route calculations for us to make reporting business related driving (you get a refund, but that has to be taxed in specific ways) an automated process. We use OSM in that, but we do pay a company to do the routing algorithm and supply the dat…

> if a street is wrong, and you supply the correct information, it’s not always accepted right away

I'm a long time OSMer, and I'm a little confused by this, because OSM is a wiki. There are no data controls. When a user makes a contribution, it's saved into the global OSM database straight away.

Can you explain more about what you've experienced?

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#114

Post by rmc »

lucideer wrote: post #67
jaakl wrote: post #32

There is also some controversy around it : the big players do data mixing from different sources, which is not strictly compliant with OSM licenses. Also some say that their bulk editing creates nice map data, but harms local potential mapping communities, with early case of Netherlands where AND contributed map data resulted to no real manual map updates afterwards. So some say that community, not map must come firs…

> There is also some controversy around it Do you have a link to some commentary on this? I'm aware of MS's generated US building footprints[0] but this hasn't (yet) been integrated into OSM (largely I think due to quality and bulk-import etiquette worries). And also StreetSide[1] but this isn't imported into OSM itself, rather it's displayed as an aid for editors. Facebook is looking at contributions similar to MS's…

> Do you have a link to some commentary on this?

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Talk:AI-Assisted_Road_Tr... https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=57942 https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=63456 https://forum.openstreetmap.org/viewtopic.php?id=57387

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#115

Post by rmc »

vanous wrote: post #103

So OsmAnd and maps.me look great. Is there an Android app which i could run to contribute traffic data flow and traffic events (accidents or obstacles on the road) like Waze does?

There might be 3rd party apps that do it, but OpenStreetMap doesn't store or support traffic data flow.

Maybe http://opentraffic.io/ ?

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#116

Post by sidstling »

kqr wrote: post #104
sidstling wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn’t it have a future? We use it quite a lot in the European public sector where we can’t use google maps because of privacy issues. We’ve written a small app that does route calculations for us to make reporting business related driving (you get a refund, but that has to be taxed in specific ways) an automated process. We use OSM in that, but we do pay a company to do the routing algorithm and supply the dat…

> The disadvantage of OSM is actually the submission process, like if a street is wrong, and you supply the correct information, it’s not always accepted right away. In what way does this happen? I haven't experienced it yet and I get the impression my edits are accepted automatically. Is someone reverting your changes with no good justification?

I had a change denied because I didn’t attach open source evidence, so it was my fault, but because it got contested I couldn’t just redo the change.

An account vetting system would solve this. Being an official municipality it’s kind of silly that we can change the actual direction of a street, but not use our internal maps as evidence for it. ;)

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#117

Post by Freak_NL »

fireattack wrote: post #57
nickysielicki wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second best? At least in my experience, OSM data is leaps and bounds better than Google Maps in every way possible, and it has been that way for a couple years now. The reason that I still use Google maps is that it's fast and well-integrated with my phone, and it has a lot of added features on top of the actual mapping that makes it very useful --- things like location sharing when you're on a longer road trip, crea…

My problem with OSM, besides the lack of satellite layer, is that it doesn't seem to offer any (detailed) info of landmarks - just the name, sometimes not even that: for example, some churches are just marked with a cross.

If a church has its own Wikipedia lemma you can tag it. Most cathedrals have those. An image can be linked to, and of course the church website can be tagged as well.

For example:

    https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/4532022
But in areas with fewer mappers tagging will be limited:

    https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/390264609
It all depends on the local mappers adding and validating data.

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#118

Post by rmc »

fireattack wrote: post #57
nickysielicki wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Second best? At least in my experience, OSM data is leaps and bounds better than Google Maps in every way possible, and it has been that way for a couple years now. The reason that I still use Google maps is that it's fast and well-integrated with my phone, and it has a lot of added features on top of the actual mapping that makes it very useful --- things like location sharing when you're on a longer road trip, crea…

My problem with OSM, besides the lack of satellite layer, is that it doesn't seem to offer any (detailed) info of landmarks - just the name, sometimes not even that: for example, some churches are just marked with a cross.

OSM is a very flexible data model. It's possible to add a lot of detail to things. Just because there isn't the data there for everywhere, doesn't mean it can't be added.

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#119

Post by Freak_NL »

sidstling wrote: post #116
kqr wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The disadvantage of OSM is actually the submission process, like if a street is wrong, and you supply the correct information, it’s not always accepted right away. In what way does this happen? I haven't experienced it yet and I get the impression my edits are accepted automatically. Is someone reverting your changes with no good justification?

I had a change denied because I didn’t attach open source evidence, so it was my fault, but because it got contested I couldn’t just redo the change. An account vetting system would solve this. Being an official municipality it’s kind of silly that we can change the actual direction of a street, but not use our internal maps as evidence for it. ;)

That shouldn't be a problem as long as you provide sources for a contested change. E.g., a photograph of the road signs, or simply explaining who you are in a comment on the changeset that reverted your edit and providing a screenshot of your internal maps.

Most local mappers will gladly work with you in resolving such issues. Try the country-specific subforum on https://forum.openstreetmap.org/ if you get stuck.

Re: How Facebook, Apple and Microsoft Are Contributing to OpenStreetMap

#120

Post by rmc »

lwansbrough wrote: post #25
nickysielicki wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mapping is not a subjective topic, though. I'm saying that OSM data is objectively better for the rural parts of the world I've been to.

An interesting benefit of Google Maps which (I don’t think?) is available in OSM: different maps for countries with boundary disputes. Google is basically the de facto map, even as far as many governments are concerned, and so showing localized maps of disputed areas may actually be saving lives.

Yes, OSM.org shows one map for everyone. But you can take the OSM database, and make your own map to show whatever you want.

For example, the Indian OSM community have an OSM map, which shows the borders of India as per Indian law (w.r.t. Kashmir)

https://openstreetmap.in/#5/22.150/79.081 vs https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/22.167/79.102

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