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Hmm, this really does make me worried for OpenStreetMap. If the competition is so powerful and has a moat protecting it that will only grow larger, how can it e

Hmm, this really does make me worried for OpenStreetMap. If the competition is so powerful and has a moat protecting it that will only grow larger, how can it ever hope to catch up? This isn't a case like Wikipedia where it entered a market that was barely there (e.g. online/software encyclopedias). Instead, you have to face off against giants with enormous resources and the money for any type of data. Amateur volunteers working on their own areas won't really be able to keep up. And it'll be even harder to recruit more workers because the competition is so entrenched/good while OSM can be subpar in some aspects. Oh, and these volunteers will instead give their time to Google because it's something they already know and use (I have a friend who does things like answer questions, take pictures of places, for points).

maxerickson 9y ago
Niantic switched Pokémon Go and Ingress over to using OpenStreetMap as the base map last week. That's one way OSM can compete with Google, it is available for the low price of attribution. Pokémon players have quite some interest in improving OSM. OSM can also end up with data for things that Google doesn't find interesting. Google doesn't have the nice walking path/bike trail in a local park that I added to OSM several years ago.
- rmc 9y ago
  > is available for the low price of attribution That depends. The OSM licence requirements depends on what you do. If you don't produce a geo database, then there's only an attribution requirement, otherwise you have to attribute and release changes to the data you made, along with any other data that you mixed in. It's like BSD for some uses, and GPL for others.
- cmg 9y ago
  I noticed the swap only because - at least in my residential neighborhood in a small city - OSM has sidewalk data on their maps, which Google did not.
rmc 9y ago
> this really does make me worried for OpenStreetMap. If the competition is so powerful and has a moat protecting it that will only grow larger, how can it ever hope to catch up? When OSM started in 2004 (before Google Maps), the only real place you could get map data was from governments. The idea of everyone walking around with GPSes to make their own map sounds like it'll never work. And yet here we are. > This isn't a case like Wikipedia where it entered a market that was barely there (e.g. online/software encyclopedias). The encyclopedia market did exist, for decades, before Wikipedia. I'll bet very few people are buying family encyclopedias now.
k3a 9y ago
I am thankful for projects like OpenStreetMaps. If I ever switch to a libre mobile operating system it, will take little time to get OSM-based maps app there. Main priority of giant corporations is money, no matter what. They will always support mainstream closed platforms only.

maxerickson 9y ago

Niantic switched Pokémon Go and Ingress over to using OpenStreetMap as the base map last week. That's one way OSM can compete with Google, it is available for the low price of attribution. Pokémon players have quite some interest in improving OSM. OSM can also end up with data for things that Google doesn't find interesting. Google doesn't have the nice walking path/bike trail in a local park that I added to OSM several years ago.

rmc 9y ago
> is available for the low price of attribution That depends. The OSM licence requirements depends on what you do. If you don't produce a geo database, then there's only an attribution requirement, otherwise you have to attribute and release changes to the data you made, along with any other data that you mixed in. It's like BSD for some uses, and GPL for others.
cmg 9y ago
I noticed the swap only because - at least in my residential neighborhood in a small city - OSM has sidewalk data on their maps, which Google did not.

rmc 9y ago

> this really does make me worried for OpenStreetMap. If the competition is so powerful and has a moat protecting it that will only grow larger, how can it ever hope to catch up? When OSM started in 2004 (before Google Maps), the only real place you could get map data was from governments. The idea of everyone walking around with GPSes to make their own map sounds like it'll never work. And yet here we are. > This isn't a case like Wikipedia where it entered a market that was barely there (e.g. online/software encyclopedias). The encyclopedia market did exist, for decades, before Wikipedia. I'll bet very few people are buying family encyclopedias now.

k3a 9y ago

I am thankful for projects like OpenStreetMaps. If I ever switch to a libre mobile operating system it, will take little time to get OSM-based maps app there. Main priority of giant corporations is money, no matter what. They will always support mainstream closed platforms only.