OpenStreetMap Is Turning 20

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/

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.

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 it a point to try and contribute back whenever I can.

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.

I really enjoy using OSM for my projects! It can be a bit daunting to figure out how to use the data because there are so many different tools in the ecosystem. I wrote this article recently to help anyone looking to get started querying OSM:

https://wcedmisten.fyi/post/how-to-query-osm/

I'm very glad OpenStreetMap is still around. It has often contained data that I couldn't easily find elsewhere, and I've enjoyed being able to contribute to the places I care about.

I love that you can host your own version of OpenStreetmap, and even create a street address lookup from coordinates (reverse geocode) only with a bit of Python and SQLite, using the OSM data: https://github.com/punnerud/rgcosm

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.

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.

On ios i have been a beta tester and use the free program go map!! [1] When out and about. I find it fast and fun for osm updates on the go.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/go-map/id592990211

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.

It's a shame it's not become a bigger thing. I feel uptake has pretty much stagnated. The weird/pointless attribution requirement has really kneecaped them. A lot of open government data can not be relicensed under a more restrictive license and can't be injested. And if you want to use their data it's also inherently problematic when you need to watermark every map that uses OSM data

I hope some day a truely open data set is compiled - b/c honest I find the attribution requirement doesn't even serve the function of giving the authors/contributors any kudos

I love OSM and its default web app, especially when travelling. The commercial maps are too dynamic and fuzzy, zooming in may make previously visible POIs go away. It also gives a general view of what is available in a given place.

I can’t find a supermarket using google maps in a new country, the search function usually fails and I don’t even know if I should use English, my native language or the destination’s language to find places. A more oldschool and less dynamic map allows to look for basket or cart symbols.

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.

Damn, I hate those news, it make me fell old. I did some editing, maybe 15 years ago when I was on a LUG (Linux User Group, does this exists anymore ?). Good time.

Another way to contribute is my project https://mapcomplete.org

I'm trying to build a somewhat generic map view, which features many thematic maps (e.g. shops, restaurants, bicycle pumps, toilets, ...)

Most data comes from OpenStreetMap, but it also allows to make changes, upload pictures, show wikipedia or make reviews with mangrove.Reviews

Adding (or correcting) opening hours for businesses, libraries, shops, etc in OSM is quite tedious sometimes IMHO.

Maybe that could be a useful task for some AI? Pass it a photo of the data and a location and let it generate the needed additions to OSM ...

Is there a good UI for OpenStreetMap which is as good as Google Maps? I really want to contribute to OSM but the UI is not as simple as Google Maps. I do keep putting things on Google Maps but i have started to feel guilty about it.

I want a reasonably good, plain and simple C99 implemented, tile renderer.

Is there any or I have to use the python3 one that to avoid to pull an abomination of c++ or rust compiler?

I recently started using TomTom amigo for car navigation in preference to Google maps and I noticed it uses openstreetmap data. Data seems good.