> 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

> 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.