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OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

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Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#61

Post by beej71 »

afavour wrote: post #55
aembleton wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think mapy [1] is the best frontend I've seen for OSM. Its search still isn't as good as Google Maps though. They also have iOS [2] and Android [3] apps. I can't speak for the iOS app, but the Android one lets you download offline maps in a very space efficient way, similar to Organic Maps. 1. https://en.mapy.cz/zakladni?x=-2.2989613&y=53.1629710&z=8 2. https://apps.apple.com/cz/app/mapy-cz-maps-navigation/id4114..…

I feel like an ass just for saying it but I downloaded the iOS app at the map style is so… busy. Granted I’m in NYC so there’s a lot going on but it’s showing me every single bus stop (there are literally seven in a one block radius) and building outlines even when zoomed out. It’s very visually overwhelming. This is something Google and Apple Maps really nail, I hope OSM can too at some point.

I get what you're asking here, but I think it's important to note that OSM's primary value is in its data, not in a human-consumable map.

So if I could respectfully amend your request, I'd say I hope some third party can really nail this at some point. Organic Maps is pretty good, but I still need Google maps for a number of things. But even if that doesn't ever happen, the free OSM data is invaluable in a large number of GIS contexts.

(I'm an opinionated OSM contributor since 2007. :)

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#62

Post by mathstuf »

dtech wrote: post #35
xethos wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot describe [0] my pleasure and satisfaction when, visiting Germany, we found an icecream shop closed. We'd stopped by with the assumption Google Maps would have the correct hours; they did not, and we carried on without icecream. OSM, on the other hand, correctly showed the shop as closed for the day. [0] I can't, but my fiancee used the words "impossibly smug"

I mean, both rely on community contributions for this sort of thing, so it feels weird to be smug about this... It just depends on who decided to put the correct hours in.

"Smug" is what I would give the Google Maps response that I submitted when we came across a store closed due to wrong hours (in Seattle). I sent a picture of the hours plate and the response was "nah, we think Google Maps is correct here". I stopped submitting error corrections to Google after that.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#63

Post by bdjsiqoocwk »

thefz wrote: post #7

Having an offline, updated map in my pocket is invaluable when hiking and cycling in the mountains. I have been contributing to it as much as I can, to at least give something back.

Do you know of an OSM app that gives directions to get from A to B, and works offline?

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#64

Post by cletus »

I fully support the OSM effort. Interestingly, through OSM and even Apple Maps you see just how difficult it is to build a mapping dataset.

One story I heard was that the Chinese government intentionally makes its published maps inaccurate by basically offsetting it by a few meters. I'm not sure if this is still current. I'm not sure of the reasoning. It's not like it would stop an invasion if the highway was a few meters from where you thoguht it was. Anyway, to counter that humans basically had to adjust the published maps by overlaying them onto satellite photos to remove the error. AI helps with this but it's still labor intensive.

IN addition to being labor-intensive, there are so many disparate data sources that you need to match up. Much of that data conflicts. The likes of Yelp and even Foursquare exist primarily by selling location data.

Even something like listing the opening hours of a business is incredibly labor intensive. Google has (had?) a system where an AI would call the business to ask their hours of operation. I think they had to modify it to say it was an automated call.

Oh you want directions? I guess you need accurate direction data for roads. You probably need to know where bike paths are. Different locales can define a bike path differently. In some places bikes can share the road with cars. In others they can't.

You want to integrate public transit? Well, every place is going to have a weird API.

It's a good example because something that seems so simple involves a ton of labor and integrating thousands of data sources.

Disclaimer: Xoogler.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#66

Post by dieortin »

cletus wrote: post #64

I fully support the OSM effort. Interestingly, through OSM and even Apple Maps you see just how difficult it is to build a mapping dataset. One story I heard was that the Chinese government intentionally makes its published maps inaccurate by basically offsetting it by a few meters. I'm not sure if this is still current. I'm not sure of the reasoning. It's not like it would stop an invasion if the highway was a few m…

> One story I heard was that the Chinese government intentionally makes its published maps inaccurate by basically offsetting it by a few meters

It’s still current but much more complex than this, and offsets can be of more than 500 meters (that’s not just a few). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_dat...

I still don’t think it makes much sense currently. I would guess any opposing army would get coordinates for a strike from satellite imagery, and not from maps (let alone Chinese ones)

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#67

Post by lolc »

bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #63
thefz wrote: post #7

Having an offline, updated map in my pocket is invaluable when hiking and cycling in the mountains. I have been contributing to it as much as I can, to at least give something back.

Do you know of an OSM app that gives directions to get from A to B, and works offline?

I primarily use Osmand. Organicmaps is another option.

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#68

Post by lolc »

tictacttoe wrote: post #44

First, happy customer of OSM and it’s impressive what they’ve built! That said, I’ve noticed their company website field is sparsely populated. Any recommendations for acquiring the place website URL through an API or ethically scraping it at scale? I’m specifically wondering about options that wouldn’t involve Google Places.

Read up on what OSM is before you scrape!

And maybe Overpass will work for you: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Overpass_API

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#69

Post by heffer »

bdjsiqoocwk wrote: post #63
thefz wrote: post #7

Having an offline, updated map in my pocket is invaluable when hiking and cycling in the mountains. I have been contributing to it as much as I can, to at least give something back.

Do you know of an OSM app that gives directions to get from A to B, and works offline?

OsmAnd

Re: OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

#70

Post by lol768 »

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's all a bit of a licensing nightmare as well, if you want to embed the maps.

If you want actual FOSS, you need to be aware of which libraries to avoid (i.e. don't touch anything Mapbox with a bargepole anymore - to be honest, their anti-union, anti-open agenda put me off a few years ago regardless of the license change, which is a shame because they used to do really good work).

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