Comments on: OpenStreetMap: The Wikipedia of Maps

By: Mohan

Mohan — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:42:06 +0000

OpenStreetMaps is cool, there is a great FLOSSWeekly podcast about it. Very insightful on how they get it done there.

By: MarkS

MarkS — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 13:44:18 +0000

Whilst adding a new road to OSM requires that you have a GPS and upload the data there is plenty people can do by just editing the existing data. For example adding points of interest or things like addresses doesn’t require the commitment of collecting the data. So don’t be afraid of getting stuck in.

The other joy of OSM is that it often has more data than sites such as google maps (for example OSM has footpaths) and that you can use the data in many ways (for example I use tools developed by the community to transfer the maps to my Garmin GPS unit).

By: housetier

housetier — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:51:24 +0000

OSM is especially nice when you want to print maps on flyers or invitations. Not all map services allow you to use portions of their maps for commercial purposes; OSM does.

Furthermore, for metropoles in developed countries OSM has the most detailed map data: every little bent of a trail, parking lots, unidirectional roads and more are precisely laid out. It often beats official maps or those from google and the likes.

However, for some regions there is no data at all; here OSM is still waiting for volunteers’ data.

(I am not affiliated with OSM, I just like the superb maps of my home town Berlin)