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StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

streetcomplete.app

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Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#71

Post by Cider9986 »

freakynit wrote: post #25

Just downloaded and made 15+ small contributions in the vicinity of my area. Very well built app. Super simple to use. And gamification is top-notch. Recommended.

I naively thought that Duolingo's gamification was for a good cause, helping you learn a language by addicting you, but now I know it's not only an extremely ineffective way to learn a language, but they're an advertising/social media/data broker company, which makes the gamification unethical.

I wonder if there are any other FOSS apps or websites with gamification that are for a good cause, like StreetComplete.

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#72

Post by juliangmp »

plorg wrote: post #67
GreyStache wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Change that to definitely. I added a brand-new road on OSM and a week later it was on google maps.

On the other hand, I've been trying to submit changes to Google for several new and vacated roads for over a year (having already updated OSM) and they are constantly rejected. I suspect it is much more that their updates are responsive to car traffic. The segments I'm submitting are or were low-traffic although they include a road that a local municipality has directed people to in official communication for overflo…

I had a similar experience with Google Maps, I used to live in a place where the house on Google maps was located on the wrong street, like one parallel street off. I put in a few requests from time to time because deliveries were a huge pain, to no avail. I opened a thread on some Google forum or support place and then it was mentioned that I actually can't change that because only the city is allowed to... why I get the option in the app I don't fully understand. At some point it got fixed but I have no idea why. Of course it was a few months before I moved out

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#73

Post by lapetitejort »

edent wrote: post #42
hirako2000 wrote: post #18

One thing missing on osm is pictures. Would defeats Google maps if it had some, where users would feedback and bad shots would get wiped to save space. We would get the best shots the world has to offer.

OSM does have a pictures layer. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Panoramax I use https://mapcomplete.org/ to add images of artworks to OSM objects.

I had been using mapcomplete to add images of artwork, which in turn used panoramax. However I saw someone else use Wikimedia Commons, and to me that makes more sense. Wikimedia ties into more systems, so if you wanted to create a Wikipedia page about an artist, there will be readily available images to use.

On the flip side, panoramax can be used as an open source StreetView. Different sites for different purposes I suppose

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#74

Post by pteraspidomorph »

earth-tattoo wrote: post #51

It sucks that Google is probably using OSM data to check what they are missing and adding it to their maps, but we can't do vice versa. OSM should change their license to something like if you use our data, you have to make yours open as well.

> It sucks that Google is probably using OSM data to check what they are missing and adding it to their maps

If only. Maps are still super broken around where I live. I personally mapped everything in OSM (which thankfully is used by most third party services these days) a couple years ago, but Maps is still people's primary source for routing and traffic related stuff.

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#75

Post by mips_avatar »

JacobKfromIRC wrote: post #56
earth-tattoo wrote: post #51

It sucks that Google is probably using OSM data to check what they are missing and adding it to their maps, but we can't do vice versa. OSM should change their license to something like if you use our data, you have to make yours open as well.

The license seems to already require this: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright/ Maybe I am misunderstanding the summary, but it says: "If you publicly use any adapted version of this database, or works produced from an adapted database, you must also offer that adapted database under the ODbL." https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/summary/ >

Yeah the problem is what's considered an adapted database. If it was strict it would mean apps like Alltrails (which is 90% openstreetmaps data) would need to list their trailmaps as open databases, but they don't.

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#76

Post by tancop »

Cider9986 wrote: post #71
freakynit wrote: post #25

Just downloaded and made 15+ small contributions in the vicinity of my area. Very well built app. Super simple to use. And gamification is top-notch. Recommended.

I naively thought that Duolingo's gamification was for a good cause, helping you learn a language by addicting you, but now I know it's not only an extremely ineffective way to learn a language, but they're an advertising/social media/data broker company, which makes the gamification unethical. I wonder if there are any other FOSS apps or websites with gamification that are for a good cause, like StreetComplete.

> an extremely ineffective way to learn a language

thats only if you use duolingo exclusively without things like reading news in the language (which is common unfortunately).

its a problem with their specific design using a weird hybrid of spaced repetition with traditional separate lessons. you only learn a couple words for each section but if they decide you know a word they never repeat it again so its easy to forget.

if they made it harder with more open questions and removed combos/perfect lessons to compensate it would be a lot more effective. non linear with multiple paths would also be great, like you decide you want to learn more grammar so you click on that instead of vocab exercises.

the addictive and social pressure parts are the whole point. its giving people motivation to learn and well designed interactive tools are always better than passively reading textbooks [1]. even the ui is made with lots of animation, colors, positive messages to make you feel good every time you get something right.

if streetcomplete added daily progress bars and fireworks every time your edit gets accepted it would probably have a lot more users. ive actually been thinking about making a new anki frontend with this type of addictive ux. that would be more effective and more general than duolingo but lose some of the features like open questions. would need to integrate a llm to fix that.

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11933506/

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#77

Post by herrherrmann »

looperhacks wrote: post #6
Schiendelman wrote: post #3

Hi! Is this yours? Would you like help porting this to iOS?

Not mine, but you can check this issue: https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/issues/5421

Wow, that is one well-documented migration project! Thanks for sharing, I wasn’t aware they are so seriously on it.

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#78

Post by cwillu »

mips_avatar wrote: post #75
JacobKfromIRC wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The license seems to already require this: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright/ Maybe I am misunderstanding the summary, but it says: "If you publicly use any adapted version of this database, or works produced from an adapted database, you must also offer that adapted database under the ODbL." https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/summary/ >

Yeah the problem is what's considered an adapted database. If it was strict it would mean apps like Alltrails (which is 90% openstreetmaps data) would need to list their trailmaps as open databases, but they don't.

The problem is that factual details aren't copyrightable in the first place, so no amount of licensing will prevent organizations with enough money to pay a lawyer from understanding this and using the data as they see fit. And on the flip side, those organizations can pay those same lawyers to write scary boilerplate to make it seem like their map data is “proprietary” and therefore “protected by copyright” even though it isn't.

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#79

Post by cwillu »

pteraspidomorph wrote: post #74
earth-tattoo wrote: post #51

It sucks that Google is probably using OSM data to check what they are missing and adding it to their maps, but we can't do vice versa. OSM should change their license to something like if you use our data, you have to make yours open as well.

> It sucks that Google is probably using OSM data to check what they are missing and adding it to their maps If only. Maps are still super broken around where I live. I personally mapped everything in OSM (which thankfully is used by most third party services these days) a couple years ago, but Maps is still people's primary source for routing and traffic related stuff.

Various driving/delivery apps ultimately use OSM data. Doordash and instacart both use it to various degrees via mapbox, for instasnce.

Re: StreetComplete: Fixing OpenStreetMap, one tiny quest at a time

#80

Post by macintux »

ivanjermakov wrote: post #68
jnpnj wrote: post #65

Are there other similar apps to stimulate soft "crowdfixing" ? I'm sure there are plenty of other aspect of society that would benefit from a light way to know where someone can contribute or notify so other can fix things (forest dumps, random trash). Homeostatic apps to ensure our surroundings are close to a good state :]

> forest dumps, random trash Likely you can report such occasions to local authorities via online form. Of course every city/county would have their own.

My city had a very vanilla, but very useful mobile app for submitting problems like missed trash pickup or dead traffic lights.

Someone apparently decided it needed to be "more modern", making it nearly unusable for quick reports like traffic light problems while I was stopped at the light. Every page was a separate request to a server, slow JS, etc.

They've since improved the flow and performance, but it still asks me for contact information before I can submit it. Fortunately they haven't started server-side validations yet, so I can still submit bogus info.

Just let me tell you your traffic light is out! Why is this so hard?

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