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OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

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Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#71

Post by sorenjan »

lqet wrote: post #69
Ayesh wrote: post #4

Good that OSM is accurate in cities as well, because in hiking, skiing, or even some ferry routes, OSM simply wins because that's often the only mapping provider to even have _any_ data. Some of my first hand experiences: - French GR-20 routes. Google maps are laughably empty, while OSM has you covered with almost the same information as the hiking maps you can buy on the trail. - Anapurna - similar to GR-20 situatio…

While I agree that OSM is great and highly accurate, I would be careful using it in remote locations where your life may depend on a correct trail. It is very easy to edit OSM (changes are propagated into map tiles after a few minutes), and malicious intent is not immediately spotted. The latter is especially true in remote locations.

I usually look at Strava's heatmap when I'm unfamiliar with an area. Chances are if there's a path on the map, it shows up on the heatmap.

https://www.strava.com/heatmap

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#72

Post by djrogers »

throwaway2245 wrote: post #20
dewitt wrote: post #17

"Road directionality" being only 98.9% accurate seems to be a huge problem for a navigation app!

Road directionality is variable over time. I'm not sure at what rate it changes but I bet it's a lot more than 1.1% per year.

Hmm, I’ve seen maybe a handful of two-way streets change to one-way over my entire life, and have never seen a one-way street change direction. If ~1% of streets changed direction every year, there’d be mass confusion and frustration.

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#73

Post by MayeulC »

thitcanh wrote: post #21
Ayesh wrote: post #4

Good that OSM is accurate in cities as well, because in hiking, skiing, or even some ferry routes, OSM simply wins because that's often the only mapping provider to even have _any_ data. Some of my first hand experiences: - French GR-20 routes. Google maps are laughably empty, while OSM has you covered with almost the same information as the hiking maps you can buy on the trail. - Anapurna - similar to GR-20 situatio…

Is there an easy way to contribute from my phone? If I could just turn the GPS on and let it track my path I’d be able to contribute all of my random hikes that might not be on OSM.

I quite like that interactive website that helps visitors choose a mapping tool: https://whatosm.pavie.info/

It asks the difficulty level, time you'd like to spend, and whether you want to map at home or on the terrain.

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#74

Post by tracerbulletx »

As Google has lost it's sheen of benevolence over the last decade public knowledge projects like this become ever more appealing. Wikipedia proves they can be wildly successful all without capital investment and the perverse incentives that follow.

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#75

Post by contravariant »

xorcist wrote: post #59
einpoklum wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using an app called Maps.Me, which seems to be OSM-based. It's kind of commercialized, which I don't like, but it's usable. I'd be interested in something more FOSSy, myself.

There used to be a free fork of Maps.me called simply Maps on F-Droid here: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.axet.maps Very nicely designed. It seems to be gone now however, maybe someone else knows why.

I was looking for a more lightweight FOSS map app (as opposed to OsmAnd+, which is excellent but not the most performant), as far as I can tell the Maps maintainer had a falling out with / didn't respond to the F-Droid maintainers.

That said I had to piece this together from some commit messages by the F-droid maintainers so I'd prefer a better source myself.

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#76

Post by roelschroeven »

ghaff wrote: post #9
Ayesh wrote: post #4

Good that OSM is accurate in cities as well, because in hiking, skiing, or even some ferry routes, OSM simply wins because that's often the only mapping provider to even have _any_ data. Some of my first hand experiences: - French GR-20 routes. Google maps are laughably empty, while OSM has you covered with almost the same information as the hiking maps you can buy on the trail. - Anapurna - similar to GR-20 situatio…

OSM isn't perfect--especially on trails that aren't official in any way. (Although there are some totally informal trails literally out my door that are far better than you could reasonably expect. And the missing sections are probably on private land which is one reason I haven't filled them in.) But Google seems to have pretty much zero interest in mapping even popular official trails in many cases.

Nothing is perfect, not even official paper maps.

I remember a hike we did on holiday in the Drôme department of France when I was a little kid, long before OSM or Google Maps or even Microsoft's Terraserver. Must have been somewhere in the mid to late 80's, I think. We did have a paper map though, and I think it was an official topographic map. We started in one valley and the plan was to hike up the ridge and then down to the neighboring valley, where we knew the Tour De France was going to pass that day. Watching the Tour was not really the main objective, otherwise we would have driven to a more suitable spot by car, but it was an incentive to keep us kids going. In hindsight we could never have made it on time.

The map clearly showed paths on both sides of the ridge, and sure enough, walking up the ridge went smoothly (if tiring) along that path. But when we arrived at the top, there was no path down the other side to be seen. There simply wasn't one, and the terrain was not exactly suitable for walking down without a path. The world simply didn't conform to the map. So we stayed there for a while and saw the Tour pass far below us, much too far to recognize anything except the helicopters but even those looked more like flies than helicopters from our high point of view.

That wasn't the only time we saw significant differences between French maps and France itself, but it was by far the most memorable one.

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#77

Post by lindner »

One thing that someone might consider is working with Data Portability laws to allow for export of user contributed data to corporate map platforms.

I'd like to add my Google Maps contributions to OSM

I'm a Level 7 local guide there and was an active user of MapMaker back in the day..

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#79

Post by wizzwizz4 »

petre wrote: post #37
angott wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an issue with all map services, really. I see the same thing happening on Google and Apple Maps, lots of places that are permanently closed haven't been updated yet.

Apple, Amazon, Facebook and MS have been lately contributing a lot to OSM, so what you see on Apple Maps might very well be OSM data. https://joemorrison.medium.com/openstreetmap-is-having-a-mom...

Apple Maps has been OpenStreetMap for years.

Re: OpenStreetMap proven to be a highly accurate map in top US cities

#80

Post by gevz »

sorenjan wrote: post #71
lqet wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that OSM is great and highly accurate, I would be careful using it in remote locations where your life may depend on a correct trail. It is very easy to edit OSM (changes are propagated into map tiles after a few minutes), and malicious intent is not immediately spotted. The latter is especially true in remote locations.

I usually look at Strava's heatmap when I'm unfamiliar with an area. Chances are if there's a path on the map, it shows up on the heatmap. https://www.strava.com/heatmap

That is a fantastic idea. Thank you for sharing. I just checked a few trails that were missing in OSM and they all showed up as bright yellow on heatmap.
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