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I've tried using OpenStreetMap -- but it doesn't seem to know the names of places I go to, or sometimes even the area I'm in when I type certain city names. ma

I've tried using OpenStreetMap -- but it doesn't seem to know the names of places I go to, or sometimes even the area I'm in when I type certain city names. maps.google.com works great though. I wish I wasn't supporting Google's massive operations but it is convenient to use.

jcoyne 11y ago
Have you looked at http://www.geonames.org/ http://www.geonames.org/ ?
- squeaky-clean 11y ago
  I've used this for a place database and really liked it. They provide data dumps of the database (as well as diffs between previous dumps) so we don't need to rely on their web APIs, and still have the data in case geonames ever shuts down. They also offer a paid service, which should guarantee some sort of protection against a random shutdown. AFAIK they don't have path/street data, just a massive location dataset, so you can't use it for directions by itself.
squeaky-clean 11y ago
Do you mean you're using the map on https://www.openstreetmap.org/ https://www.openstreetmap.org/ to search for things? This map isn't really meant to be searched, and the usability is generally terrible, I'm not sure why they keep it up on the website. Zooming in over my workplace (in Miami, FL) and searching "Pizza" brings up results for Italy and Nigeria. OpenStreetMap is a great datasource and set of APIs though, on which other people have built really useful map applications. But OSM itself is not an attempt to compete with all of Google Maps, just to provide high quality tiles, path/nodes and place database to developers.
- Doctor_Fegg 11y ago
  Yep. osm.org's search is only a placename search, basically.
- hellbanner 11y ago
  What's the open source alternative to maps.google.com then? Or is it just not yet built?
karussell 11y ago
The point is that osm.org is not intended for end users. I learned it the hard way ;) And osm.org just shows the data best for mappers. Also the address search is good but not perfect due to lack of data but also limited software. But the nice thing about OSM as a developer is: you can do anything with this data. Build your own address searcher, routing engine and mapping stuff etc.
lfam 11y ago
Anyone can contribute to OpenStreetMap. So if you find something missing, you may consider spending the time to add the missing information so that we can have maps that are owned in common: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Database_License https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Database_License

jcoyne 11y ago

Have you looked at http://www.geonames.org/ http://www.geonames.org/ ?

squeaky-clean 11y ago
I've used this for a place database and really liked it. They provide data dumps of the database (as well as diffs between previous dumps) so we don't need to rely on their web APIs, and still have the data in case geonames ever shuts down. They also offer a paid service, which should guarantee some sort of protection against a random shutdown. AFAIK they don't have path/street data, just a massive location dataset, so you can't use it for directions by itself.

squeaky-clean 11y ago

Do you mean you're using the map on https://www.openstreetmap.org/ https://www.openstreetmap.org/ to search for things? This map isn't really meant to be searched, and the usability is generally terrible, I'm not sure why they keep it up on the website. Zooming in over my workplace (in Miami, FL) and searching "Pizza" brings up results for Italy and Nigeria. OpenStreetMap is a great datasource and set of APIs though, on which other people have built really useful map applications. But OSM itself is not an attempt to compete with all of Google Maps, just to provide high quality tiles, path/nodes and place database to developers.

Doctor_Fegg 11y ago
Yep. osm.org's search is only a placename search, basically.
hellbanner 11y ago
What's the open source alternative to maps.google.com then? Or is it just not yet built?

karussell 11y ago

The point is that osm.org is not intended for end users. I learned it the hard way ;) And osm.org just shows the data best for mappers. Also the address search is good but not perfect due to lack of data but also limited software. But the nice thing about OSM as a developer is: you can do anything with this data. Build your own address searcher, routing engine and mapping stuff etc.

lfam 11y ago

Anyone can contribute to OpenStreetMap. So if you find something missing, you may consider spending the time to add the missing information so that we can have maps that are owned in common: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Database_License https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Database_License