OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple • Hacker News Board

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#81

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:11 PM UTC

sdoering wrote: post #7

sambeau wrote: post #2

"It’s also missing the necessary credit to OpenStreetMap’s contributors; we look forward to working with Apple to get that on there."

Why is that, that if Apple ignores credit/copyright (on a massive scale), that everybody loves their move. But if anybody would rip of an Apple product, the descendants of mighty Steve would come raining down with swords, axes and lawyers. Do you really think they did it, to support OSM. Or should I ask myself: "Where is the money?" The money, they do not have to pay Google anymore for the use of maps, while not cred…

[deleted]

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#82

Post by lbotos » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:12 PM UTC

orblivion wrote: post #58

ugh wrote: post #20

Then congratulations Apple, for making a not so great map even worse. I can't really judge map quality in the US, but in Germany it sucks. Cities show up twice or are missing completely, labels are often small, unreadable and ugly. There is no consistency in the placement of lables. OSM has its fair share of inconsistencies but it's not that bad. The map is ok for what it is: Just for presentation inside of iPhoto, n…

> Then congratulations Apple, for making a not so great map even worse. I can't really judge map quality in the US, but in Germany it sucks. That's very disappointing to hear. I understood that it was ever better than Google Maps in some parts of Europe.

In my short time playing with openstreetmap I learned that openstreetmap is more of a spec/aggregate/foundation entity that seems to be grouping "open street mapping" efforts under their banner. It's more of a spec than a single data source. I learned this when I had to go elsewhere (government sites and colleges) to find "open" street mapping data. It's was a little confusing to say the least and I still may be misunderstanding their actual position, but that's what I've learned.

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#83

Post by rmc » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:12 PM UTC

dan1234 wrote: post #51

Has it been confirmed that they're using OSM data or could the data be a product of their acquisition of Placebase (back in 2009)? Apple have actually been using this tile set for a while (it's used in the slide show mode of the current version of iPhoto for OS X).

Yes, it looks like OSM. There are small roads that I've mapped that are only on OSM, and are present on these maps. The data from OSM is from april 2010 (based on "The road added to OSM on $DATE1 is on these appple tiles, but the the road added on $DATE2 isn't")

And yes, it looks like they've been using it for a while, no-one noticed till now.

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#84

Post by lbotos » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:16 PM UTC

dochtman wrote: post #14

randallsquared wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of these is far nicer and clearer than the other: http://alastaira.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/image3.png http://alastaira.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/image4.png Apple's version comes up really lacking in comparison to the default OSM one, which I would call gorgeous, personally.

Meh. I love what OSM is doing, but IMO their tile style doesn't hold a candle to Google's (but then I dislike Apple's style here, as well).

Anyone can make their own tiles with things like tilemill (http://mapbox.com/tilemill/)

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#85

Post by soult » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:16 PM UTC

Metapony wrote: post #54

Link is down. I'd ask for a google cache link, but the irony would make me implode.

I don't know if you posted this just for pointing out the irony, or if you really don't know: Retrieving the website from the Google Cache is as easy as searching for "cache:FULL_URL" with Google, there isn't even a results page or anything, you get directly to the cached page.

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#86

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:18 PM UTC

rmc wrote: post #78

JVIDEL wrote: post #75

What is the word I'm looking for, "disappointed"? The lack of given credit to OSM doesn't seems like an accident, and I was looking forward to see what Apple was doing with that amazing mapping technology from SAAB. This is underwhelming to say the least, I was expecting much more from Apple.

I presume the missing attribution was an accident. They cannot avoid it for much longer. It's legally required under the OSM copyright licence (CC-BY-SA)

[deleted]

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#87

Post by sharmi » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:20 PM UTC

I see this as a favorable move to OSM. Hopefully the OSM's data would be enriched further considering the huge volume of people who would come in contact with OSM. OSM still lacks in a few places like middle east (Kuwait). But what was surprising was, wikimapia has several orders of magnitude better data for the same region compared to OpenStreetMap or other commercial map providers ( That includes google maps, yahoo maps etc )

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#88

Post by fennecfoxen » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:31 PM UTC

afterburner wrote: post #67

ElliotH wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think it's quite messed up that a company as rich as Apple can't abide putting credits for people who have put some really good work in (I've even made small updates to OSM in my time) I do think that this is a very classy move by the OSM people, no ranting blog post or 'Apple stole our stuff', welcoming people presents a much better image of the project.

Given the behaviour of Steve Jobs over the years, that attitude is probably embedded in the culture.

If Steve Jobs were still alive, he'd probably be pledging to deplete every last dollar of Apple's billions to run this stolen product into the ground. Who does OpenStreetMap think they are, anyway?

;)

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#89

Post by awj » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:32 PM UTC

rmc wrote: post #77

ElliotH wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think it's quite messed up that a company as rich as Apple can't abide putting credits for people who have put some really good work in (I've even made small updates to OSM in my time) I do think that this is a very classy move by the OSM people, no ranting blog post or 'Apple stole our stuff', welcoming people presents a much better image of the project.

Attribution is required by the OSM copyright licence.

I think ElliotH knows that. His point is that OSM is probably going to be more effective publicly welcoming and reminding than throwing a hissyfit, even though they'd be justified in doing so.

Re: OpenStreetMap: Welcome Apple

#90

Post by fennecfoxen » Thu, Mar 08, 2012, 5:33 PM UTC

cbs wrote: post #13

ticks wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better to approach these things positively, than assume the worst case and risk creating resentment.

It's idealistic naivete to assume the best of everyone. But you're right, pretending to does make it more comfortable to operate in the world.

It can also make it expedient and more effective to operate in the real world. You can always say "we tried to approach them and work with them nicely" when you start making noise and going nuclear after they don't respond.