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Switch to OpenStreetMap

switch2osm.org

31–40 of 210 posts

Re: Switch to OpenStreetMap

#31
post #4

I've tried over and over again to switch to OSM but everytime I've reverted back to Google Maps and Citymapper. I've even contributed to OSM to fix bits I'm around but it's hard. I don't drive so I rely heavily on public transport, and so for me that's the biggest selling point for any such tool. Unfortunately I've yet to find an OSM app that can do this in a useful manner as Citmapper and Google do. Unfortunately th…

Maps.me is what finally has allowed me to mostly switch with offline maps, good routing, and support for all modes of transit I use consistently.

https://maps.me/

Re: Switch to OpenStreetMap

#32

Timely. Just started a project to document Bosnia and Hercegovina's remaining minefields on OSM. The build system consumes PDFs from the European Union Force as they are updated, georeferences them and pushes the features to OSM. Many tile sets on live maps are updated within the week!

Do you georeference them by grid coordinates and corners of the map or are doing something not so simple?

Re: Switch to OpenStreetMap

#34
Has bug-correcting editing improved over the years? We use OSM quite a bit in the public sector because they aren’t snooping. Three years ago one of our internal routing systems broke because someone had reported the street leading up to our administration center as a one-way street in the wrong direction.

This meant our 7000 employees couldn’t get compensation for any work related driving, and we couldn’t submit the correct tax-records.

When I submitted my correct edit, I was banned because my account was new and I had submitted a evidence from our internal street planning system, where we mapped the direction of the street, which is proprietary to us. Heh, it took two weeks to get it fixed after that because every subsequent edit got denied. Which felt kind of silly, considering it was my department who decided the street should become a one way street in the first place. Really needed a “verified” account system.

Considering I haven’t needed to correct anything since is a testament to its quality though.

Re: Switch to OpenStreetMap

#35
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Osmand for Android is pretty good, they should promote it.

Is there anything that renders the mapps prettier? The difference between osmand and Google maps is jarring.

Maps.me looks better, faster but don't have as much features

Re: Switch to OpenStreetMap

#36
I've been using OSM data for a side project I've been working on (an app to find "green" running routes, avoiding busy roads and preferring trails/rivers/parks, and optionally meeting some minimum target distance).

It just would not have been possible without OSM's data, full stop. The tag data associated with each road ("way" in OSM parlance) is invaluable, as is the ability to work with all of this information on a planet-scale in a single database (I use osm2pgsql to import the whole planet into a single box with 256GB RAM, and have plenty of headroom to run my app on top of that too).

The APIs provided by Google Maps and Apple Maps do not provide the functionality I want, even if I could pay their massive fees. Additionally, Google Maps' mapping of trails is much worse in my experience.

Whilst the data is far from perfect in some areas, I am still extremely grateful that OSM exists, and will now make a donation via https://donate.openstreetmap.org/

Re: Switch to OpenStreetMap

#38
post #4

I've tried over and over again to switch to OSM but everytime I've reverted back to Google Maps and Citymapper. I've even contributed to OSM to fix bits I'm around but it's hard. I don't drive so I rely heavily on public transport, and so for me that's the biggest selling point for any such tool. Unfortunately I've yet to find an OSM app that can do this in a useful manner as Citmapper and Google do. Unfortunately th…

Maps.me is what finally has allowed me to mostly switch with offline maps, good routing, and support for all modes of transit I use consistently. https://maps.me/

Unfortunately it looks like they may share your data with third parties, which includes their parent company, mail.ru. I personally don’t trust them.

Re: Switch to OpenStreetMap

#39

Timely. Just started a project to document Bosnia and Hercegovina's remaining minefields on OSM. The build system consumes PDFs from the European Union Force as they are updated, georeferences them and pushes the features to OSM. Many tile sets on live maps are updated within the week!

> Just started a project to document Bosnia and Hercegovina's remaining minefields on OSM. That's brave - one bug and you could have people walking into a minefield that you've told them was somewhere else.

Yeah, but the first rule for hiking through the countryside in war torn regions like Bosnia is to avoid known areas of conflict (the war ended in 1995., so memories are fading) and known (or suspected) minefields.

This helps a lot, but it's not a replacement for brain.

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