4 ms·

One should compare Openstreet map vs Google Maps.

• lucb1e 9y ago
  I'm a big fan of OpenStreetMap and a regular contributor, but that's just not a fair comparison. Using a billion dollars a year, of course Google has street view, satellite view, 3d buildings, live traffic info... all of which I see as nigh impossible for OpenStreetMap. But I still use OSM daily. My main mapping needs are basic needs like everyone else's: where is this thing and how do I get there? OSM is very good at that in every place I've been (most of western Europe). It's also something I believe should be free data (as in freedom), but Google keeps it all locked in. Other basic data about our physical world, like where railways or forests are, is also very accurately in there. When I need advanced stuff like live traffic, or want to see something on satellite, I'll have to resort to other services. And I think that's reasonable: they're costly to setup and maintain, so paying someone for that makes sense. If we make such a comparison, I'd rather see Google Maps starting with a large negative score for keeping it locked-in, and then comparing whether they're actually, functionally better for different common uses, rather than "oh look at this gimmick, they even have the air ducts mapped on the roof over there" as this article seems to do.