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OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

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Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#11

Post by eisa01 »

Ruthalas wrote: post #10

If you appreciate OSM, consider installing the StreetComplete mobile app[0]! It lets you contribute to OSM in a very simple manner, via simple questions like, "Is there a marked crosswalk here?" I'm not affiliated, I just think it's cool. It's very satisfying to complete quests in your local area. [0] https://streetcomplete.app/

And until there's an iOS version [1], you could try EveryDoor - especially great for POIs

[1] https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 [2] https://every-door.app

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#12

Post by eisa01 »

jesperlang wrote: post #9

OSM has the potential to be the open, available source of truth for so much of our data. From there, we can simply build curated UIs that displays what we need (keep in mind that OSM is not a “map”). Opening hours for example. Today this info is either on a webpage or google maps. Sometimes contradicting each other, where a Facebook status update has the most accurate info.

Which makes it a shame that Overture's Place data don't contain the opening_hours: https://github.com/OvertureMaps/schema/discussions/243

(Overture is a "standardized" version of OSM, except for the Places data where they use Microsoft and Meta data)

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#13

Post by hk__2 »

jesperlang wrote: post #9

OSM has the potential to be the open, available source of truth for so much of our data. From there, we can simply build curated UIs that displays what we need (keep in mind that OSM is not a “map”). Opening hours for example. Today this info is either on a webpage or google maps. Sometimes contradicting each other, where a Facebook status update has the most accurate info.

Unfortunately OSM doesn’t solve the problem if the POI owners don’t use it; and in my experience they often don’t even know it exists. Even in my densely-populated area with tons of OSM contributors a lot of POIs are still outdated because restaurant and store owners care only about their website/Instagram/FB or Google Maps and don’t know about OSM. When I started contributing ~12 years ago a main contributor used to say it was a waste of time to map restaurants because the data quickly becomes outdated if nobody’s there to check; I don’t know if he still thinks the same.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#14

Post by hk__2 »

circularfoyers wrote: post #6
politelemon wrote: post #5

OSM is the only implementation of maps that has been done with privacy in mind. It's a real shame that DDG chose to drop it for a much worse alternative. OSM has been an absolute necessity when out hiking in the sticks, and knowing that someone has done work to map this trail out without expectations from me. It's also led to many useful derived maps like public toilets and parking and accessibility. I've always made…

I believe they did it because OSM in most places is very outdated or even non existent for businesses, which was probably one of the top uses of it in a search engine. Having contributed quite a lot to OSM, I can say though that it was generally a lot better for hiking tracks than Google maps.

Agreed. For up-to-date info on businesses I rely on Google Maps, but for hiking it’s totally useless compared to OSM. I still buy some "official" paper maps of the area I hike in because I’ve had bad surprises with OSM, mostly because some mappers sometimes invent some paths based on outdated, blurry aerial imagery, with no real experience of the area. I wish there were a tag like checked_at on paths to mark those that were verified vs. those that were only drawn on Bing Imagery.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#15

Post by globular-toast »

hk__2 wrote: post #13
jesperlang wrote: post #9

OSM has the potential to be the open, available source of truth for so much of our data. From there, we can simply build curated UIs that displays what we need (keep in mind that OSM is not a “map”). Opening hours for example. Today this info is either on a webpage or google maps. Sometimes contradicting each other, where a Facebook status update has the most accurate info.

Unfortunately OSM doesn’t solve the problem if the POI owners don’t use it; and in my experience they often don’t even know it exists. Even in my densely-populated area with tons of OSM contributors a lot of POIs are still outdated because restaurant and store owners care only about their website/Instagram/FB or Google Maps and don’t know about OSM. When I started contributing ~12 years ago a main contributor used to…

This will be massively controversial I'm sure, but I'm starting to think it should be illegal for companies to get the (unpaid) public to contribute to their own private database. Those store owners don't want to make the data available to Google, they want to make it available to the public. Companies like Google are abusing the public to further their own goals at the detriment to us all. Pay someone to do it? Fine. It's yours. Get it from the public? Then it's public data and you have to make it available to the public.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#16

Post by moffkalast »

All hail OSM, the only online mapping service that actually lets you access the raw tile server for completely free without any login or tokens or anything, making it the absolute ideal for app integration. May it stay funded forever and maybe get some satelite data one day. Completely unironically.

Honestly it is a bit surprising that there hasn't been like a government programme or a crazy billionaire wanting to improve their image somewhere that would launch a rideshare cubesat and have it continuously record an actually open source dataset for all.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#17

Post by deng »

The amount of data OSM has nowadays is a treasure. It's just a shame that there's no well done generic web frontend that would make all this data accessible in a way that could rival Google Maps. The official openstreetmap.org web site just provides bare functionality with an almost unusable search, and otherwise focuses on editing OSM data.

Probably the best generic "frontend" for OSM is Organic Maps, which however is confined to Android and iOS. I think if there would be a web version of Organic Maps, this could greatly accelerate OSM adoption.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#18

Post by raybb »

eisa01 wrote: post #11
Ruthalas wrote: post #10

If you appreciate OSM, consider installing the StreetComplete mobile app[0]! It lets you contribute to OSM in a very simple manner, via simple questions like, "Is there a marked crosswalk here?" I'm not affiliated, I just think it's cool. It's very satisfying to complete quests in your local area. [0] https://streetcomplete.app/

And until there's an iOS version [1], you could try EveryDoor - especially great for POIs [1] https://github.com/orgs/streetcomplete/projects/1 [2] https://every-door.app

For folks not too familiar with OSM, POI are points of interest, usually shops, parks, water access, restroom, etc. Just one point and a few labels. Much easier to map on the go than sidewalks or buildings that require more precision.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#19

Post by pietervdvn »

jesperlang wrote: post #9

OSM has the potential to be the open, available source of truth for so much of our data. From there, we can simply build curated UIs that displays what we need (keep in mind that OSM is not a “map”). Opening hours for example. Today this info is either on a webpage or google maps. Sometimes contradicting each other, where a Facebook status update has the most accurate info.

I'm trying to build this with https://mapcomplete.org

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#20

Post by pietervdvn »

deng wrote: post #17

The amount of data OSM has nowadays is a treasure. It's just a shame that there's no well done generic web frontend that would make all this data accessible in a way that could rival Google Maps. The official openstreetmap.org web site just provides bare functionality with an almost unusable search, and otherwise focuses on editing OSM data. Probably the best generic "frontend" for OSM is Organic Maps, which however…

It depends on what exactly you want. Google Maps does more then just being a map, such as navigation, streetview, reviews,...

In either case, I've heard quite some people being in love with Qwant Maps.

And I try to get to build specialized maps with https://mapcomplete.org

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