18 ms·

Why Use OpenStreetMap Instead of Google Maps?

557 points by tdurden 8y ago

theomega 8y ago
While I love OSM for the data and the free approach, one thing which annoys me with OSM is that their main map doesn’t support hdpi (retina) displays. That makes the map look ugly on iPad and MacBooks at least, I suspect on much more recent devices.
- Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
  There's tentative discussions underway about providing a vector-based rendering on osm.org to augment the current raster styles, which of course would be resolution-independent.
- Symbiote 8y ago
  These look fine on my 4K display, but too small in my phone. https://osm.rrze.fau.de/testhd.html https://osm.rrze.fau.de/testhd.html OpenMapTiles.org provide vector tiles using OSM, but they don't include all the data for efficiency. I think the problem for OSM is choosing which data to include in the vector tiles. The tile could get very large, but the outdoor view benefits from including electricity pylons.
tehabe 8y ago
What I would love to see in OpenStreetMaps are translated or transcripted place names. And since place names are extremely political, this should also be mentioned that a place has several names in different languages and cultures.
- Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
  Here's exactly that in action: - https://openmaptiles.org/languages/native/#0.88/0/0 https://openmaptiles.org/languages/native/#0.88/0/0 - https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/06/28/interactive-maps-now-in-your-language/ https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/06/28/interactive-maps-now-i...
- timthorn 8y ago
  That exists. This blog post explains how to add Welsh names: http://cardiff.theodi.org/2018/02/23/mapio-eich-milltir-sgwar/ http://cardiff.theodi.org/2018/02/23/mapio-eich-milltir-sgwa...
  - maxerickson 8y ago
    There's quite some resistance to adding translations and transcriptions, as they aren't really names as such. An example would be small towns in the US. They probably don't have a Welsh name, even if there happens to be a direct translation into Welsh.
    - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
      Cymraeg users often have a strong hatred of English language use, and users, and want to deny that Welsh counties were annexed in to England and want to try and hold back the tide wrt English language use in preference to Cymraeg. We get silly things in Wales like Cymraeg mono-lingual government announcements/adverts on the radio (accessible to about 7% [1] of the population vs c.100% if they were in English), motorway signs that are only in Cwmraeg for half the people passing them (they change over, useless if you passed already), travel announcements in Cymraeg first. Heck, if you ring 999 in an emergency you have to wait for the Cymraeg speaker to finish their 20s message before you start your call. Welsh people use British-English language predominantly; the Welsh name is the name in English, the Cymraeg name sometimes differs. [1] roughly: ~15% of the adult population say they know any Cymraeg, half of those are fluent (self reported). FWIW half of those fluent say they prefer to use English. So one could argue you're catering to <4% of the population.
      - gerdesj 8y ago
        Cymraeg users often have a strong hatred of English language use, and users, Not my experience (English - Somerset based - with quite a lot of work and friends the other side of the bridges). If you show some respect towards others, I generally find it returned. They are also not users but speakers. The only time I find dual language to be a bit of a pain is in lifts: being told the doors are closing in two languages is bloody stupid. and want to deny that Welsh counties were annexed in to England and want to try and hold back the tide wrt English language use in preference to Cymraeg. You might want to reread your history books and concentrate around 1066. The Norsemen didn't really give a shit whether you were "welsh" or "english" (neither of which, as we now know them, really existed as such at the time). You were probably a vassel, whatever language you spoke. I can't remember or even be bothered to look up when the concept of county was created. I think we still had hides and hundreds back then.
alexandernst 8y ago
I always wondered who actually pays for the bills in OSM? Who pays all the servers, all the traffic, etc...?
- craftyguy 8y ago
  The Openstreetmap Foundation[1]. They publish financial info too [2]. 1. https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Main_Page https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Main_Page 2. https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- dharma1 8y ago
  https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances https://hardware.openstreetmap.org/thanks/ https://hardware.openstreetmap.org/thanks/
- Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
  Donations and a little assistance in kind (discounted/donated hosting). But OSM is incredibly efficiently run. Turnover in 2017 was just £185,395 and that includes the State of the Map conference. The foundation has just one part-time employee for administrative support. Compare to Wikimedia which has turnover of around $80m and 280 employees.
- dmortin 8y ago
  With OSM you have to host the map tiles yourself if you add maps to your website, because OSM servers only provide limited traffic hosting via the API.
  - imhoguy 8y ago
    Anyone providing service on top of OpenStreetMap can or ideally should host/render stuff on own mirror server. However for small uses I recommend utilising simple reverse proxy caching e.g. with nginx. Here is snippet of nginx config from my geo side-project: https://pastebin.com/brTQ68nw https://pastebin.com/brTQ68nw
yosito 8y ago
Open Street Maps is great as a data source, but the front end client apps for using it are somewhat lacking. On my iPhone, I use Maps.me when I travel to Cuba and Google Maps almost everywhere else. If I was building an app, I'd definitely use OSM and probably Mapbox.
- craftyguy 8y ago
  On Android, Osmand works very well.
  - makomk 8y ago
    I've found it rather slow and temperamental, plus their business model of charging for access to map updates basically means that you have to pay them to use corrections you contribute to OSM.
    - craftyguy 8y ago
      > plus their business model of charging for access to map updates Not sure what you are talking about, but I am not prompted to pay for updates. In fact, I'm installing some updates and new maps right now. Even the 'live' feature works. I am using the f-droid version of the app though, so maybe that's the difference?
      - jraph 8y ago
        The version in f-droid provides anything free, which the version in google play does not. This app is excellent. I'll probably donate. I would be totallly comfortable with doing this if they made their UI free, making osmand a completely free software. I which I could use it on a regular computer, or if a web service provided something similar to what we get with osmand, the experience of its offline search included. Next step would be mapillary providing a free app to contribute to their database or osmand providing a way to do it.
    - maxerickson 8y ago
      They charge $9, which is basically just covering server resources. I haven't done it in quite some time, but if that is overly burdensome, it is also possible to avoid needing access to their servers by building a map file yourself.
1996 8y ago
And if you can't use OSM, try Here maps. They are easy to download for offline use. Following the suggestion of friends, I have repurposed an old phone as a "travel phone" with maps of the whole world (or at least the parts I can download!) Not perfect, but when I catch a plane, I don't have to worry about local networks. Fun story: recently in Europe, Google Maps stuttered. Now and then, there was a networking issue. It is almighty wiseness, Google Maps was then showing a white page instead of showing me the previously downloaded maps. This was irksome, especially in navigation mode. I was litteraly following my way on the screen, when it turned white in front of my eyes. Several times. I turned white too. After that, I decided I would take a chance with the backup plan. I turned off the phone and used the travel phone instead. No network, so no lookup of business names, but Here maps offline with street addresses did better than Google Maps online. I called that a learning experience. I later was told Google Maps lets you download some tiles, but it is not as convenient as having litteraly every continent saved. I do not want to plan what part I may need. Just "down it all"!
- the_new_guy_29 8y ago
  I would say that when it comes to Europe maps, TomTom ones are hands down the best. But thats not weird as majority of their business resolves around Europe.
- dev_dull 8y ago
  Your anecdote falls into the trap I see often when comparing OSS software vs proprietary. You’ve found a obscure, uncommon use case where OSM works better. However, the opposite needs to be true for adoption. OSM needs to work better for 80% of the use cases, not the other 20.
  - wtallis 8y ago
    Are gaps in cell coverage really that obscure a use case? Sure, if you're only using the maps to route you around traffic jams in your home town, offline maps aren't going to offer you any benefit. But I think most users also want their maps to continue to be reliable when heading out of town on a road trip. Google has improved the behavior of their maps app when data connectivity is interrupted, but it's still a sub-par experience and quite frustrating.
jstanley 8y ago
I quite like https://maps.openrouteservice.org/ https://maps.openrouteservice.org/ as a UI for OSM that has sensible search and routing. The routing has many different cycling modes, and you can also click the little leaflet icon on the right and switch the view to "OpenCycleMap" to get a more cycling-oriented map view.
- Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
  Another OSM-based cycle map and routeplanner you might be interested in: https://cycle.travel/map https://cycle.travel/map (disclaimer - my site! Western Europe/North America only at present).
  - jstanley 8y ago
    Very nice, interestingly it doesn't always come up with quite the same route as openrouteservice does.
cdg7777 8y ago
Well, Google can "correct" your spelling and take you to the correct city (let's say it's not a big deal), but mainly Google Maps rules for multiple points navigation A->B->C->... I think it allows 10(-ish) intermediary points.
- jraph 8y ago
  Osmand on android provides this feature. You can also ask to avoid a specific road in the map. Correcting the spelling and always guessing what your query means... Well not so much.
shiburizu 8y ago
I just recently spent a few hours working with OSM and Nominatim as part of a project for my university, an event planning page for ActivityPub social media: http://fedevent.herokuapp.com/ http://fedevent.herokuapp.com/ OSM maps are quite detailed, perfectly serviceable...but Nominatim is not very good (at least in my experience?) I used https://github.com/perliedman/leaflet-control-geocoder https://github.com/perliedman/leaflet-control-geocoder to interact with Nominatim but entering something that can sound relatively common (like a mall or an abbreviation of an institution) will come up with locations in entirely different countries than the user had in mind and at least in the case of that geocoder control (props to the dev for making it, BTW) there isn't a clear way to determine WHERE something is before selecting it. I noticed this when I searched for "Mall San Pedro" and was returned the right location but it was displayed as something completely different, under the name of the street. It's a little disconnecting. I appreciate that it might come down the libraries and tools that are querying Nominatim with certain design decisions, but the useful of a database is in the implementation of it into tools.
- 0XAFFE 8y ago
  Did you have a look at overpass turbo[1]? With this API a lot more is possible than with nominatim. [1] http://overpass-turbo.eu/ http://overpass-turbo.eu/
  - shiburizu 8y ago
    This looks useful for the purposes of describing areas in detail but setting an event usually doesn't require more than a couple pins to show where it takes place. I will keep this handy for any future geomapping projects I work on (which sounds like a possibility given that this was interesting to work with)
  - rmc 8y ago
    Overpass turbo is a great tool, but it's not in the same category as a geocoder like nominatim. Overpass is for querying OSM objects, not parsing addresses.
- sabas_ge 8y ago
kojeovo 8y ago
What about mapbox?
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  Mapbox consumes OSM.
- mkl 8y ago
  The article talks about them ("probably the easiest way to switch from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap") and links to them, and they use OSM data. What more were you expecting?
dmortin 8y ago
" but also made it mandatory to give your credit card number even if you do not go over the free limit !" Only if you are a new user. Google published a transition document for existing users and it says they don't have to add a card, but then of course your maps stop working for the rest of the month if you go over the $200 free quota. So current users have it easier, but new users have to add a card.
- dmortin 8y ago
  Why the downvote? Is this not correct?
- JdeBP 8y ago
  One must supply a credit card or have an account with billing enabled. Existing users will have accounts. But they must be altered to have billing enabled if they do not have it enabled already. * https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/ https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/
  - dmortin 8y ago
    There is a separate guide for existing users and it states: "If you choose not to add a billing account, there is a risk that if your usage exceeds $200 in a given month, your Maps API implementation will be degraded or other API requests will return an error." https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/user-guide/pricing-changes/ https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/user-guide/pricing-ch... So you can choose not to add a billing account if you are an existing user, but then maps won't work beyond the $200 credit/month.
    - JdeBP 8y ago
      You might want to re-read the "all Google Cloud Platform services require a credit card and billing account" in the first sentence of that. (-: Which agrees with "Is a credit card or billing account required? Yes." on the other page.
      - 8y ago
sbr464 8y ago
I'm a big supporter of open mapping data and initiatives. I hope companies continue to contribute to the datasets, vs keeping higher quality data within silos. I registered the domain thislocation.com a while back. Through some other work I'm doing, I'm hoping to release a platform and datasets that allow you to build/upload/download arbitrary metadata schemas that you can attach to a location (coordinate/POI etc). The data will be freely available to other platforms, OSM compatible as much as possible. The goal is to pull up a location and there could be hundreds of interactive datasets about it specifically or nearby. Anything from a live audio recording of a space, to drone footage, lidar/radar captures. The project started when capturing lidar & precision gps data recently, and not having an easy, agnostic platform to just upload and allow it to work easily. The goal is to understand common data patterns so the App will just consume where it can, or allow extension via custom schemas where needed. Everything now seems to be poorly design UI's, corporate desktop software, or if it is a modern online platform, it's too specific to a particular vertical. I don't really feel like the layers/photos etc experience of google earth are really the best way to explore mapping data, as well as displaying thousands of markers. We are trying for different approaches based on the types of media. A user can keep their data private, or share it publicly but it will be just like opening Google maps online, typing in an address etc, then toggling datasets in a modern, beautiful way that just works. hiding the map when needed, activating different pages when more appropriate. Everything defined in JSON Schema etc, no new standards or KML/XML, maybe compatible exports if needed. Apologies for the long pitch, just wanted to share about this side project, and love for open mapping data.
- sbr464 8y ago
  Another piece would be slowly filling out everything possible that could document a specific location, from the soil, asphalt type/quality, temperature, smell/sound, haze in the air, scientific measurements, video/drone/lidar. Until all checkboxes are completed/amassed.
microcolonel 8y ago
!
kekub 8y ago
OSM does not offer live traffic data, which makes it hard to use it for real life navigation. Does anyone know a project that takes care for this kind of data?
- mtmail 8y ago
  So far only proprietary and not shared. https://maps.me/download/ https://maps.me/download/ has it (not in the offline mode obviously), mapbox does. Collecting the data requires to have 1000s of users sending their position and speed and OpenStreetMaps usual target audience is rather tracking-averse.
- lucb1e 8y ago
  Are you from the USA? I'll assume so, because I've often seen this on HN/Reddit: a lot of people there seem to use Waze or other traffic info sources for getting around traffic. I want to know whether I'll be delayed so I'll check before a trip (and also during a trip if it's >2h), but I can recall driving around a jam maybe once in my life. It usually isn't faster, and that's assuming the byways/B-roads aren't congested as well, in which case standing in the jam is definitely faster. It sounds like spreading the load over multiple roads in the USA is a must.
  - wtallis 8y ago
    Some of this is probably due to American vs European driving habits, with respect to long trips. It's hard to gain much by routing around congestion along a half-hour trip, but if you're going to spend half a day or longer then you definitely want to know when there's a wreck that makes it worthwhile to get off the interstate to avoid.
    - ascorbic 8y ago
      I'm in the UK. I have a half hour commute by car when there's light traffic. Congestion can easily add 10-15 minutes to that. There are at least three almost entirely independent routes that I can take to work that are the same without traffic so it's absolutely worth routing around it
bepotts 8y ago
I like that the arguments for OpenStreetMap were more about the advantages over Google Maps, instead of "because Google is a 'bad' company" like so many Google debates delve into. I love using Google Maps for my applications, but I'll definitely look into OpenStreetMaps now.
- ronnier 8y ago
  Reviewing the difference, OSM actually puts the street name where I can find it. The first thing I want with maps are street names and for whatever reasons, google maps makes that very difficult in some cases.
ghaff 8y ago
I generally favor Google Maps for the things they care about--like major roads, directions, etc. But, while not perfect, I find OSM is far more likely to have things like hiking trails and other types of features that are apparently not on Goggle's list of things it actually cares about.
earthandmoon 8y ago
Can one use Google maps offline?
- sharcerer 8y ago
  Yes. There's an option to download sections . It shows how much space it will take. Expires in 1 month I think and gives a notification to update it to reflect latest changes.
hellojason 8y ago
what if they decide to draw the border between countries wherever they want This seems a bit tin foil hat to me. Has Google been caught doing something like this before with malicious intent?
- albertgoeswoof 8y ago
  It’s not about malicious intent on Google’s part- the borders between countries are literally the most contentious lines ever drawn, people die every single day over them. Google shouldn’t be an authority on border disputes in any capacity.
- qznc 8y ago
  I would not call it "malicious intent" but for example the borders of Tibet are very controversial: https://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-maps-depending-on-where-you-view-them/ https://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-maps-...
  - hellojason 8y ago
    Interesting stuff. Thanks for the link.
utopcell 8y ago
Not sure how the article makes the mental leap from "google is limiting free usage to a few thousand views per day" for a system that costs a lot to operate, to "google may hide stuff or change country borders at will". If that's the main argument for switching to openstreetmaps, it's not very compelling.
jnurmine 8y ago
OSM is supreme when it comes to paths, trails and other such details (like wind shelters). Google Maps seems to be devoid of these.
- Qwertie 8y ago
  Absolutely, I use OSM all the time for walking paths and mountain bike trails because the coverage of them is perfect. Google maps seems to fall short where there isn't a lot of money to be made.
  - photojosh 8y ago
    Yep, I use OSM to plan runs and rides for anywhere I travel to, and then add any new trails I find.
- Uberphallus 8y ago
  I can't find it now, but hiking in Kyrgyzstan I took a screenshot of OsmAnd+ and Google Maps. On Google Maps was a river and empty space; on Osmand 3 rivers, uncountable paths, among those the ones that lead to the summit I had as a goal, plus natural water sources (like waterfalls, etc), and all that with detailed countour lines to have a quick visual of the difficulty of each path.
bibstha 8y ago
> What if Google decide to "hide" or "highlight" certain kind of shops for instance Doesn't google already do this? Shops with paid advertisement come much higher than unpaid shops.
- UncleEntity 8y ago
  Or for navigation: walking, biking, public transit, driving, uber
EGreg 8y ago
Whenever I say this kind of stuff on HN lately — supporting open source over proprietary solutions — I get downvoted. Facebook and others will always be in charge unless open source software gets good enough to form decentralized networks compete with it. It has to be user friendly and developer friendly enough to gain massive adoption. Here is Qbix Platform. It took 6 years to develop, is open source and free. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1O_gmPneI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1O_gmPneI
RAMASingh 8y ago
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tristanho 8y ago
> The latest change (June 2018) has much more impact : Google decided to reduce the limit of free requests (25000 map display per day to 28000 per month - that's around 1000 map display per day, so 25 times less) IMO the biggest takeaway from this article. I've hacked up plenty of projects on using Google Maps, but would definitely think again with this much lower free limit. Though, on the bright side, it seems that Google has finally made Maps pricing transparent: https://mapsplatformtransition.withgoogle.com/calculator https://mapsplatformtransition.withgoogle.com/calculator
- Qwertie 8y ago
  Around a similar time Mapbox also made their pricing much cheaper for lower usage users.
  - mtmail 8y ago
    Current Mapbox pricing came into effect July/2017.
    - Qwertie 8y ago
      Ah yeah I say similar time because I don't check it too often but the pricing used to be: free, $500/month, and "contact us"
  - Jiri_Komarek 8y ago
    Not Mapbox, but MapTiler Cloud lowered the price recently - https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/plans/ https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/plans/
CommanderData 8y ago
I developed a Maps centric app recently I realized all the things mentioned in this article and made a comment recently on HN related to Apple maps about this. Popular times (Maps) in Google Maps is incredibly useful and a good example, requests to expose this data are ignored. Some may argue Google has a right to therefore it should. The data is gathered in numerous ways, perhaps unsuspecting mobile users is one which method is used to. I want more competition, I don't think a flood of Maps providers is a good thing either. A single source of really good data is what is needed. Perhaps OSM can be that, or perhaps smaller Map providers can provide data to an open standard for which OSM can use through some type of exchange license.
cup-of-tea 8y ago
I just finished a week long drive and "wild" camping trip in Scotland. I have Maps.me and Osmand on my phone and it was excellent. Helped me find all kinds of things that aren't on any other maps. The best thing is, as a mapper myself, I know the people who mapped it are people like me, rather than people doing their job or trying to make money. It also makes me think someone has probably appreciated my mapping at some point.
mmirate 8y ago
So roads are great and all, but the info I really care about is what's on them. I know all of my possible commute routes like the back of my hand, and couldn't care less about which data source is more accurate for them. What I don't know is which one is the fastest to use right now given current traffic conditions. As far as I know, OSM alone doesn't collect or store such ephemeral data. (Please remember: driving, like all practical and modern travel modes, is the art of getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. I don't get paid to sit in a goddamn parking lot that calls itself a "highway", nor to sit in the other parking lot that calls itself a "two-lane rural road", nor to superspeed through an overly non-straight two-lane rural road while the other roads are actually performing as advertised.)
crazygringo 8y ago
I totally support OSM 1000%... But frankly, it seems it's still a lot of work to build OSM into your own website/app, setting up your own tile server. I know there are instructions for this [1] [2] -- but to really get popular, it seems like there really ought to be up-to-date, auto-updating, officially recommended and totally secure server images on Digital Ocean, AWS, Google Cloud and Azure where anyone can spin it up for $5/mo without even ever having to SSH in once (except to update the root password), and then embed a live JavaScript map into their web page with two lines of code -- one to load the library, and one to insert a live map of a given size centered on a given location. Where the whole process shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, and most of that is waiting for the image to be copied to your server. I've Googled but I can't find anything like that -- with the links below, I assume I'd be using at least a day to set things up, especially since setting up servers from online tutorials never goes smoothly, as you have to google error messages that arise since newer versions have changed slightly since the tutorial was written... And most times where I just want to "throw in a map", I don't want to spend a day+ doing it. [1] https://switch2osm.org/manually-building-a-tile-server-18-04-lts/ https://switch2osm.org/manually-building-a-tile-server-18-04... [2] https://ircama.github.io/osm-carto-tutorials/tile-server-ubuntu/ https://ircama.github.io/osm-carto-tutorials/tile-server-ubu...
- willio58 8y ago
  If what you mentioned existed I would immediately implement it on A number of sites I’ve made for clients. I don’t want to ask for the time to setup and maintain something that will take over an hour of the allotted development time.
- ganeshkrishnan 8y ago
  Takes a couple of days to set it up but the results are amazing. We also have setup the Geo coding and reverse Geo coding with nominatim. A million requests per day costs us peanuts as opposed to Google , which anyway suspended us due to international credit card verification issues. On a related note, Firefox on Linux came with duckduckgo as default and I am so impressed with it's search results. Unfortunately their API does not return the same quality of results
sharpercoder 8y ago
What I miss is actual functionality that makes my life better as a user. I totally agree on all points made, but it is not going get me a better mapping experience in any way. For me to consider OSM, I need most features that are as good and some that are better. I don't like to say it, but OSM does not (yet?) offer this.
lalp1 8y ago
Back in the days, I rode hundreds of kilometres on my bike to map empty areas of OSM, but I never really used OSM. Google Maps is not perfect but is there an OSS alternative to : - a map - a strong search engine - POI synced on the cloud - powerful transport/traffic route calculation I can't use a map service without these features.
- HNLogInShit 8y ago
  Why is this modded down? Pathetic.
freeflight 8y ago
I'd gladly use any map except Apple maps for navigation on my smartphone, but its the only map software that navigates through the lock screen on my iPhone.
finchisko 8y ago
Also you can try https://windymaps.com/app https://windymaps.com/app I think they're using osm data for their maps. Can navigate also on bike or hike.
- mormegil 8y ago
  Yes, they do, for most of the world, at least. In fact, it was originally a Czech-only map website Mapy.cz (and later a mobile app), with their own map data (they even have their own Street View-like function) in the Czech Republic. For the rest of the world, they used map data from the common commercial providers. Then, they switched to OSM for the rest of the world (keeping their own for the Czech Republic). And finally, they launched the international version of the mapping app after the success of the Windy weather app which used the map layer.
klokantech 8y ago
MapTiler Cloud is also an alternative based on OSM data. It is free for personal use and prices for businesses are fair: https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/ https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/ We also offer many advanced services like hosting own data, easy map customization tool, support for 55 languages with an autodetection and much more!
2ion 8y ago
I've stopped using Google Maps as a map altogether and subscribe to the service of a navigation map maker directly. Their maps (they do combine proprietary materials and sources like OpenStreetMap) are of higher quality and have a satisfactory degree of completness as well as good search. Gmaps has stopped being useful to me since searches in a given perimeter do not show all results spatially at any given zoomlevel, and whole roads and labels go missing if you zoom out a little bit to much or too far in. It used to be a fairly good product around 2012 but has since then declined in utility, especially in contrast to all the catching-up the competitors did in the meantime. I suppose a huge part of Gmaps business nowdadays is the embedding of Gmaps in 3rd-party products.
anandnair 8y ago
I used OSM instead of Google Maps for a tracking project because I didn't have 11000USD to pay them upfront for the licence.
gytdev 8y ago
I am an avid traveler currently traveling South-East-Asia. One of the most favorite tools used by travelers is an Android app Maps.me, that is based on Openstreet maps. You can download any Country or region and have it for offline use, only need a GPS connection. There are some practical caveats in using it though: -If You are planning a ride by car, the estimated time for Your journey most likely be way (waaaaayyy) off. Especially in Asian countries that are less covered. It can show 3 hours in a journey that is 8 hours without traffic. -some areas are completely not covered (I mean at all) But for bigger cities it's pretty good in coverage
- ris 8y ago
  Have you been improving the less-covered areas during your travels?
  - gytdev 8y ago
    Only in available ways. When it is easy to update the situation (add place to map), I do it. But it's only easy to label areas and buildings, and much harder to add whole villages or roads that are missing
anandchowdhary 8y ago
Ironically the website is giving a 500 error.
joeblau 8y ago
One of the interesting trends I've been seeing are the amount of companies that are rebuilding there maps from the ground up. While Google currently provides the best data set, there is a resurgence of companies mapping from the ground up to solve problems that Google isn't solving for its customers. You've got Apple[1], Tesla[2], and Uber[3] all rebuilding maps and all current/previous customers of Google. [1] - https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-from-the-ground-up/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f... [2] - https://electrek.co/2017/07/03/tesla-map-navigation-open-source-platforms/ https://electrek.co/2017/07/03/tesla-map-navigation-open-sou... [3] - https://www.uber.com/newsroom/mapping-ubers-future/ https://www.uber.com/newsroom/mapping-ubers-future/
qwerty456127 8y ago
From the purely practical, pragmatic point of view both GM and OSM are very far from perfect. Similar services offered by local service providers can be much better in some cases. For example Seznam's Mapy.cz is feel much much better than Google Maps when it's about the Czech Republic. I don't work for them, that's my purely pragmatic user experience.
tripzilch 8y ago
Maps make even more sense to be free for the public to access, than the summary of human knowledge known as Wikipedia. This is a literal description of the physical space we occupy. The knowledge of "what is there" should not be owned by any entity. Now, I am aware that map data includes more than just "what is there" and one could argue that certain types of metadata can be more appropriately owned than others. But on the whole they should be the minority. In particular, the metadata required to "make sense of it all" should be free: Systems for searching between the wildly different naming conventions and other mapping oddities in various parts of the world. I am also aware that certain parts of map data may be classified to certain governments. Exceptions could be made. I'm not sure what the best solution is but it's not that important as these spots are a minority of the world's mapped area.

557 points by tdurden 8y ago

While I love OSM for the data and the free approach, one thing which annoys me with OSM is that their main map doesn’t support hdpi (retina) displays. That makes the map look ugly on iPad and MacBooks at least, I suspect on much more recent devices.

Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
There's tentative discussions underway about providing a vector-based rendering on osm.org to augment the current raster styles, which of course would be resolution-independent.
Symbiote 8y ago
These look fine on my 4K display, but too small in my phone. https://osm.rrze.fau.de/testhd.html https://osm.rrze.fau.de/testhd.html OpenMapTiles.org provide vector tiles using OSM, but they don't include all the data for efficiency. I think the problem for OSM is choosing which data to include in the vector tiles. The tile could get very large, but the outdoor view benefits from including electricity pylons.

tehabe 8y ago

What I would love to see in OpenStreetMaps are translated or transcripted place names. And since place names are extremely political, this should also be mentioned that a place has several names in different languages and cultures.

Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
Here's exactly that in action: - https://openmaptiles.org/languages/native/#0.88/0/0 https://openmaptiles.org/languages/native/#0.88/0/0 - https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/06/28/interactive-maps-now-in-your-language/ https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/06/28/interactive-maps-now-i...
timthorn 8y ago
That exists. This blog post explains how to add Welsh names: http://cardiff.theodi.org/2018/02/23/mapio-eich-milltir-sgwar/ http://cardiff.theodi.org/2018/02/23/mapio-eich-milltir-sgwa...
- maxerickson 8y ago
  There's quite some resistance to adding translations and transcriptions, as they aren't really names as such. An example would be small towns in the US. They probably don't have a Welsh name, even if there happens to be a direct translation into Welsh.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    Cymraeg users often have a strong hatred of English language use, and users, and want to deny that Welsh counties were annexed in to England and want to try and hold back the tide wrt English language use in preference to Cymraeg. We get silly things in Wales like Cymraeg mono-lingual government announcements/adverts on the radio (accessible to about 7% [1] of the population vs c.100% if they were in English), motorway signs that are only in Cwmraeg for half the people passing them (they change over, useless if you passed already), travel announcements in Cymraeg first. Heck, if you ring 999 in an emergency you have to wait for the Cymraeg speaker to finish their 20s message before you start your call. Welsh people use British-English language predominantly; the Welsh name is the name in English, the Cymraeg name sometimes differs. [1] roughly: ~15% of the adult population say they know any Cymraeg, half of those are fluent (self reported). FWIW half of those fluent say they prefer to use English. So one could argue you're catering to <4% of the population.
    - gerdesj 8y ago
      Cymraeg users often have a strong hatred of English language use, and users, Not my experience (English - Somerset based - with quite a lot of work and friends the other side of the bridges). If you show some respect towards others, I generally find it returned. They are also not users but speakers. The only time I find dual language to be a bit of a pain is in lifts: being told the doors are closing in two languages is bloody stupid. and want to deny that Welsh counties were annexed in to England and want to try and hold back the tide wrt English language use in preference to Cymraeg. You might want to reread your history books and concentrate around 1066. The Norsemen didn't really give a shit whether you were "welsh" or "english" (neither of which, as we now know them, really existed as such at the time). You were probably a vassel, whatever language you spoke. I can't remember or even be bothered to look up when the concept of county was created. I think we still had hides and hundreds back then.

alexandernst 8y ago

I always wondered who actually pays for the bills in OSM? Who pays all the servers, all the traffic, etc...?

craftyguy 8y ago
The Openstreetmap Foundation[1]. They publish financial info too [2]. 1. https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Main_Page https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Main_Page 2. https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
dharma1 8y ago
https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Finances https://hardware.openstreetmap.org/thanks/ https://hardware.openstreetmap.org/thanks/
Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
Donations and a little assistance in kind (discounted/donated hosting). But OSM is incredibly efficiently run. Turnover in 2017 was just £185,395 and that includes the State of the Map conference. The foundation has just one part-time employee for administrative support. Compare to Wikimedia which has turnover of around $80m and 280 employees.
dmortin 8y ago
With OSM you have to host the map tiles yourself if you add maps to your website, because OSM servers only provide limited traffic hosting via the API.
- imhoguy 8y ago
  Anyone providing service on top of OpenStreetMap can or ideally should host/render stuff on own mirror server. However for small uses I recommend utilising simple reverse proxy caching e.g. with nginx. Here is snippet of nginx config from my geo side-project: https://pastebin.com/brTQ68nw https://pastebin.com/brTQ68nw

yosito 8y ago

Open Street Maps is great as a data source, but the front end client apps for using it are somewhat lacking. On my iPhone, I use Maps.me when I travel to Cuba and Google Maps almost everywhere else. If I was building an app, I'd definitely use OSM and probably Mapbox.

craftyguy 8y ago
On Android, Osmand works very well.
- makomk 8y ago
  I've found it rather slow and temperamental, plus their business model of charging for access to map updates basically means that you have to pay them to use corrections you contribute to OSM.
  - craftyguy 8y ago
    > plus their business model of charging for access to map updates Not sure what you are talking about, but I am not prompted to pay for updates. In fact, I'm installing some updates and new maps right now. Even the 'live' feature works. I am using the f-droid version of the app though, so maybe that's the difference?
    - jraph 8y ago
      The version in f-droid provides anything free, which the version in google play does not. This app is excellent. I'll probably donate. I would be totallly comfortable with doing this if they made their UI free, making osmand a completely free software. I which I could use it on a regular computer, or if a web service provided something similar to what we get with osmand, the experience of its offline search included. Next step would be mapillary providing a free app to contribute to their database or osmand providing a way to do it.
  - maxerickson 8y ago
    They charge $9, which is basically just covering server resources. I haven't done it in quite some time, but if that is overly burdensome, it is also possible to avoid needing access to their servers by building a map file yourself.

1996 8y ago

And if you can't use OSM, try Here maps. They are easy to download for offline use. Following the suggestion of friends, I have repurposed an old phone as a "travel phone" with maps of the whole world (or at least the parts I can download!) Not perfect, but when I catch a plane, I don't have to worry about local networks. Fun story: recently in Europe, Google Maps stuttered. Now and then, there was a networking issue. It is almighty wiseness, Google Maps was then showing a white page instead of showing me the previously downloaded maps. This was irksome, especially in navigation mode. I was litteraly following my way on the screen, when it turned white in front of my eyes. Several times. I turned white too. After that, I decided I would take a chance with the backup plan. I turned off the phone and used the travel phone instead. No network, so no lookup of business names, but Here maps offline with street addresses did better than Google Maps online. I called that a learning experience. I later was told Google Maps lets you download some tiles, but it is not as convenient as having litteraly every continent saved. I do not want to plan what part I may need. Just "down it all"!

the_new_guy_29 8y ago
I would say that when it comes to Europe maps, TomTom ones are hands down the best. But thats not weird as majority of their business resolves around Europe.
dev_dull 8y ago
Your anecdote falls into the trap I see often when comparing OSS software vs proprietary. You’ve found a obscure, uncommon use case where OSM works better. However, the opposite needs to be true for adoption. OSM needs to work better for 80% of the use cases, not the other 20.
- wtallis 8y ago
  Are gaps in cell coverage really that obscure a use case? Sure, if you're only using the maps to route you around traffic jams in your home town, offline maps aren't going to offer you any benefit. But I think most users also want their maps to continue to be reliable when heading out of town on a road trip. Google has improved the behavior of their maps app when data connectivity is interrupted, but it's still a sub-par experience and quite frustrating.

jstanley 8y ago

I quite like https://maps.openrouteservice.org/ https://maps.openrouteservice.org/ as a UI for OSM that has sensible search and routing. The routing has many different cycling modes, and you can also click the little leaflet icon on the right and switch the view to "OpenCycleMap" to get a more cycling-oriented map view.

Doctor_Fegg 8y ago
Another OSM-based cycle map and routeplanner you might be interested in: https://cycle.travel/map https://cycle.travel/map (disclaimer - my site! Western Europe/North America only at present).
- jstanley 8y ago
  Very nice, interestingly it doesn't always come up with quite the same route as openrouteservice does.

cdg7777 8y ago

Well, Google can "correct" your spelling and take you to the correct city (let's say it's not a big deal), but mainly Google Maps rules for multiple points navigation A->B->C->... I think it allows 10(-ish) intermediary points.

jraph 8y ago
Osmand on android provides this feature. You can also ask to avoid a specific road in the map. Correcting the spelling and always guessing what your query means... Well not so much.

shiburizu 8y ago

I just recently spent a few hours working with OSM and Nominatim as part of a project for my university, an event planning page for ActivityPub social media: http://fedevent.herokuapp.com/ http://fedevent.herokuapp.com/ OSM maps are quite detailed, perfectly serviceable...but Nominatim is not very good (at least in my experience?) I used https://github.com/perliedman/leaflet-control-geocoder https://github.com/perliedman/leaflet-control-geocoder to interact with Nominatim but entering something that can sound relatively common (like a mall or an abbreviation of an institution) will come up with locations in entirely different countries than the user had in mind and at least in the case of that geocoder control (props to the dev for making it, BTW) there isn't a clear way to determine WHERE something is before selecting it. I noticed this when I searched for "Mall San Pedro" and was returned the right location but it was displayed as something completely different, under the name of the street. It's a little disconnecting. I appreciate that it might come down the libraries and tools that are querying Nominatim with certain design decisions, but the useful of a database is in the implementation of it into tools.

0XAFFE 8y ago
Did you have a look at overpass turbo[1]? With this API a lot more is possible than with nominatim. [1] http://overpass-turbo.eu/ http://overpass-turbo.eu/
- shiburizu 8y ago
  This looks useful for the purposes of describing areas in detail but setting an event usually doesn't require more than a couple pins to show where it takes place. I will keep this handy for any future geomapping projects I work on (which sounds like a possibility given that this was interesting to work with)
- rmc 8y ago
  Overpass turbo is a great tool, but it's not in the same category as a geocoder like nominatim. Overpass is for querying OSM objects, not parsing addresses.
sabas_ge 8y ago

kojeovo 8y ago

What about mapbox?

toomuchtodo 8y ago
Mapbox consumes OSM.
mkl 8y ago
The article talks about them ("probably the easiest way to switch from Google Maps to OpenStreetMap") and links to them, and they use OSM data. What more were you expecting?

dmortin 8y ago

" but also made it mandatory to give your credit card number even if you do not go over the free limit !" Only if you are a new user. Google published a transition document for existing users and it says they don't have to add a card, but then of course your maps stop working for the rest of the month if you go over the $200 free quota. So current users have it easier, but new users have to add a card.

dmortin 8y ago
Why the downvote? Is this not correct?
JdeBP 8y ago
One must supply a credit card or have an account with billing enabled. Existing users will have accounts. But they must be altered to have billing enabled if they do not have it enabled already. * https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/ https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/pricing/
- dmortin 8y ago
  There is a separate guide for existing users and it states: "If you choose not to add a billing account, there is a risk that if your usage exceeds $200 in a given month, your Maps API implementation will be degraded or other API requests will return an error." https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/user-guide/pricing-changes/ https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/user-guide/pricing-ch... So you can choose not to add a billing account if you are an existing user, but then maps won't work beyond the $200 credit/month.
  - JdeBP 8y ago
    You might want to re-read the "all Google Cloud Platform services require a credit card and billing account" in the first sentence of that. (-: Which agrees with "Is a credit card or billing account required? Yes." on the other page.
    - 8y ago

sbr464 8y ago

I'm a big supporter of open mapping data and initiatives. I hope companies continue to contribute to the datasets, vs keeping higher quality data within silos. I registered the domain thislocation.com a while back. Through some other work I'm doing, I'm hoping to release a platform and datasets that allow you to build/upload/download arbitrary metadata schemas that you can attach to a location (coordinate/POI etc). The data will be freely available to other platforms, OSM compatible as much as possible. The goal is to pull up a location and there could be hundreds of interactive datasets about it specifically or nearby. Anything from a live audio recording of a space, to drone footage, lidar/radar captures. The project started when capturing lidar & precision gps data recently, and not having an easy, agnostic platform to just upload and allow it to work easily. The goal is to understand common data patterns so the App will just consume where it can, or allow extension via custom schemas where needed. Everything now seems to be poorly design UI's, corporate desktop software, or if it is a modern online platform, it's too specific to a particular vertical. I don't really feel like the layers/photos etc experience of google earth are really the best way to explore mapping data, as well as displaying thousands of markers. We are trying for different approaches based on the types of media. A user can keep their data private, or share it publicly but it will be just like opening Google maps online, typing in an address etc, then toggling datasets in a modern, beautiful way that just works. hiding the map when needed, activating different pages when more appropriate. Everything defined in JSON Schema etc, no new standards or KML/XML, maybe compatible exports if needed. Apologies for the long pitch, just wanted to share about this side project, and love for open mapping data.

sbr464 8y ago
Another piece would be slowly filling out everything possible that could document a specific location, from the soil, asphalt type/quality, temperature, smell/sound, haze in the air, scientific measurements, video/drone/lidar. Until all checkboxes are completed/amassed.

microcolonel 8y ago

kekub 8y ago

OSM does not offer live traffic data, which makes it hard to use it for real life navigation. Does anyone know a project that takes care for this kind of data?

mtmail 8y ago
So far only proprietary and not shared. https://maps.me/download/ https://maps.me/download/ has it (not in the offline mode obviously), mapbox does. Collecting the data requires to have 1000s of users sending their position and speed and OpenStreetMaps usual target audience is rather tracking-averse.
lucb1e 8y ago
Are you from the USA? I'll assume so, because I've often seen this on HN/Reddit: a lot of people there seem to use Waze or other traffic info sources for getting around traffic. I want to know whether I'll be delayed so I'll check before a trip (and also during a trip if it's >2h), but I can recall driving around a jam maybe once in my life. It usually isn't faster, and that's assuming the byways/B-roads aren't congested as well, in which case standing in the jam is definitely faster. It sounds like spreading the load over multiple roads in the USA is a must.
- wtallis 8y ago
  Some of this is probably due to American vs European driving habits, with respect to long trips. It's hard to gain much by routing around congestion along a half-hour trip, but if you're going to spend half a day or longer then you definitely want to know when there's a wreck that makes it worthwhile to get off the interstate to avoid.
  - ascorbic 8y ago
    I'm in the UK. I have a half hour commute by car when there's light traffic. Congestion can easily add 10-15 minutes to that. There are at least three almost entirely independent routes that I can take to work that are the same without traffic so it's absolutely worth routing around it

bepotts 8y ago

I like that the arguments for OpenStreetMap were more about the advantages over Google Maps, instead of "because Google is a 'bad' company" like so many Google debates delve into. I love using Google Maps for my applications, but I'll definitely look into OpenStreetMaps now.

ronnier 8y ago
Reviewing the difference, OSM actually puts the street name where I can find it. The first thing I want with maps are street names and for whatever reasons, google maps makes that very difficult in some cases.

ghaff 8y ago

I generally favor Google Maps for the things they care about--like major roads, directions, etc. But, while not perfect, I find OSM is far more likely to have things like hiking trails and other types of features that are apparently not on Goggle's list of things it actually cares about.

earthandmoon 8y ago

Can one use Google maps offline?

sharcerer 8y ago
Yes. There's an option to download sections . It shows how much space it will take. Expires in 1 month I think and gives a notification to update it to reflect latest changes.

hellojason 8y ago

what if they decide to draw the border between countries wherever they want This seems a bit tin foil hat to me. Has Google been caught doing something like this before with malicious intent?

albertgoeswoof 8y ago
It’s not about malicious intent on Google’s part- the borders between countries are literally the most contentious lines ever drawn, people die every single day over them. Google shouldn’t be an authority on border disputes in any capacity.
qznc 8y ago
I would not call it "malicious intent" but for example the borders of Tibet are very controversial: https://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-maps-depending-on-where-you-view-them/ https://qz.com/224821/see-how-borders-change-on-google-maps-...
- hellojason 8y ago
  Interesting stuff. Thanks for the link.

utopcell 8y ago

Not sure how the article makes the mental leap from "google is limiting free usage to a few thousand views per day" for a system that costs a lot to operate, to "google may hide stuff or change country borders at will". If that's the main argument for switching to openstreetmaps, it's not very compelling.

jnurmine 8y ago

OSM is supreme when it comes to paths, trails and other such details (like wind shelters). Google Maps seems to be devoid of these.

Qwertie 8y ago
Absolutely, I use OSM all the time for walking paths and mountain bike trails because the coverage of them is perfect. Google maps seems to fall short where there isn't a lot of money to be made.
- photojosh 8y ago
  Yep, I use OSM to plan runs and rides for anywhere I travel to, and then add any new trails I find.
Uberphallus 8y ago
I can't find it now, but hiking in Kyrgyzstan I took a screenshot of OsmAnd+ and Google Maps. On Google Maps was a river and empty space; on Osmand 3 rivers, uncountable paths, among those the ones that lead to the summit I had as a goal, plus natural water sources (like waterfalls, etc), and all that with detailed countour lines to have a quick visual of the difficulty of each path.

bibstha 8y ago

> What if Google decide to "hide" or "highlight" certain kind of shops for instance Doesn't google already do this? Shops with paid advertisement come much higher than unpaid shops.

UncleEntity 8y ago
Or for navigation: walking, biking, public transit, driving, uber

EGreg 8y ago

Whenever I say this kind of stuff on HN lately — supporting open source over proprietary solutions — I get downvoted. Facebook and others will always be in charge unless open source software gets good enough to form decentralized networks compete with it. It has to be user friendly and developer friendly enough to gain massive adoption. Here is Qbix Platform. It took 6 years to develop, is open source and free. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1O_gmPneI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1O_gmPneI

RAMASingh 8y ago

https://linksredirect.com/?pub_id=31047CL27998&source=linkkit&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cashify.in%2F https://linksredirect.com/?pub_id=31047CL27998&source=linkki...

tristanho 8y ago

> The latest change (June 2018) has much more impact : Google decided to reduce the limit of free requests (25000 map display per day to 28000 per month - that's around 1000 map display per day, so 25 times less) IMO the biggest takeaway from this article. I've hacked up plenty of projects on using Google Maps, but would definitely think again with this much lower free limit. Though, on the bright side, it seems that Google has finally made Maps pricing transparent: https://mapsplatformtransition.withgoogle.com/calculator https://mapsplatformtransition.withgoogle.com/calculator

Qwertie 8y ago
Around a similar time Mapbox also made their pricing much cheaper for lower usage users.
- mtmail 8y ago
  Current Mapbox pricing came into effect July/2017.
  - Qwertie 8y ago
    Ah yeah I say similar time because I don't check it too often but the pricing used to be: free, $500/month, and "contact us"
- Jiri_Komarek 8y ago
  Not Mapbox, but MapTiler Cloud lowered the price recently - https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/plans/ https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/plans/

CommanderData 8y ago

I developed a Maps centric app recently I realized all the things mentioned in this article and made a comment recently on HN related to Apple maps about this. Popular times (Maps) in Google Maps is incredibly useful and a good example, requests to expose this data are ignored. Some may argue Google has a right to therefore it should. The data is gathered in numerous ways, perhaps unsuspecting mobile users is one which method is used to. I want more competition, I don't think a flood of Maps providers is a good thing either. A single source of really good data is what is needed. Perhaps OSM can be that, or perhaps smaller Map providers can provide data to an open standard for which OSM can use through some type of exchange license.

cup-of-tea 8y ago

I just finished a week long drive and "wild" camping trip in Scotland. I have Maps.me and Osmand on my phone and it was excellent. Helped me find all kinds of things that aren't on any other maps. The best thing is, as a mapper myself, I know the people who mapped it are people like me, rather than people doing their job or trying to make money. It also makes me think someone has probably appreciated my mapping at some point.

mmirate 8y ago

So roads are great and all, but the info I really care about is what's on them. I know all of my possible commute routes like the back of my hand, and couldn't care less about which data source is more accurate for them. What I don't know is which one is the fastest to use right now given current traffic conditions. As far as I know, OSM alone doesn't collect or store such ephemeral data. (Please remember: driving, like all practical and modern travel modes, is the art of getting from point A to point B as quickly as possible. I don't get paid to sit in a goddamn parking lot that calls itself a "highway", nor to sit in the other parking lot that calls itself a "two-lane rural road", nor to superspeed through an overly non-straight two-lane rural road while the other roads are actually performing as advertised.)

crazygringo 8y ago

I totally support OSM 1000%... But frankly, it seems it's still a lot of work to build OSM into your own website/app, setting up your own tile server. I know there are instructions for this [1] [2] -- but to really get popular, it seems like there really ought to be up-to-date, auto-updating, officially recommended and totally secure server images on Digital Ocean, AWS, Google Cloud and Azure where anyone can spin it up for $5/mo without even ever having to SSH in once (except to update the root password), and then embed a live JavaScript map into their web page with two lines of code -- one to load the library, and one to insert a live map of a given size centered on a given location. Where the whole process shouldn't take more than 10 minutes, and most of that is waiting for the image to be copied to your server. I've Googled but I can't find anything like that -- with the links below, I assume I'd be using at least a day to set things up, especially since setting up servers from online tutorials never goes smoothly, as you have to google error messages that arise since newer versions have changed slightly since the tutorial was written... And most times where I just want to "throw in a map", I don't want to spend a day+ doing it. [1] https://switch2osm.org/manually-building-a-tile-server-18-04-lts/ https://switch2osm.org/manually-building-a-tile-server-18-04... [2] https://ircama.github.io/osm-carto-tutorials/tile-server-ubuntu/ https://ircama.github.io/osm-carto-tutorials/tile-server-ubu...

willio58 8y ago
If what you mentioned existed I would immediately implement it on A number of sites I’ve made for clients. I don’t want to ask for the time to setup and maintain something that will take over an hour of the allotted development time.
ganeshkrishnan 8y ago
Takes a couple of days to set it up but the results are amazing. We also have setup the Geo coding and reverse Geo coding with nominatim. A million requests per day costs us peanuts as opposed to Google , which anyway suspended us due to international credit card verification issues. On a related note, Firefox on Linux came with duckduckgo as default and I am so impressed with it's search results. Unfortunately their API does not return the same quality of results

sharpercoder 8y ago

What I miss is actual functionality that makes my life better as a user. I totally agree on all points made, but it is not going get me a better mapping experience in any way. For me to consider OSM, I need most features that are as good and some that are better. I don't like to say it, but OSM does not (yet?) offer this.

lalp1 8y ago

Back in the days, I rode hundreds of kilometres on my bike to map empty areas of OSM, but I never really used OSM. Google Maps is not perfect but is there an OSS alternative to : - a map - a strong search engine - POI synced on the cloud - powerful transport/traffic route calculation I can't use a map service without these features.

HNLogInShit 8y ago
Why is this modded down? Pathetic.

freeflight 8y ago

I'd gladly use any map except Apple maps for navigation on my smartphone, but its the only map software that navigates through the lock screen on my iPhone.

finchisko 8y ago

Also you can try https://windymaps.com/app https://windymaps.com/app I think they're using osm data for their maps. Can navigate also on bike or hike.

mormegil 8y ago
Yes, they do, for most of the world, at least. In fact, it was originally a Czech-only map website Mapy.cz (and later a mobile app), with their own map data (they even have their own Street View-like function) in the Czech Republic. For the rest of the world, they used map data from the common commercial providers. Then, they switched to OSM for the rest of the world (keeping their own for the Czech Republic). And finally, they launched the international version of the mapping app after the success of the Windy weather app which used the map layer.

klokantech 8y ago

MapTiler Cloud is also an alternative based on OSM data. It is free for personal use and prices for businesses are fair: https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/ https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/ We also offer many advanced services like hosting own data, easy map customization tool, support for 55 languages with an autodetection and much more!

2ion 8y ago

I've stopped using Google Maps as a map altogether and subscribe to the service of a navigation map maker directly. Their maps (they do combine proprietary materials and sources like OpenStreetMap) are of higher quality and have a satisfactory degree of completness as well as good search. Gmaps has stopped being useful to me since searches in a given perimeter do not show all results spatially at any given zoomlevel, and whole roads and labels go missing if you zoom out a little bit to much or too far in. It used to be a fairly good product around 2012 but has since then declined in utility, especially in contrast to all the catching-up the competitors did in the meantime. I suppose a huge part of Gmaps business nowdadays is the embedding of Gmaps in 3rd-party products.

anandnair 8y ago

I used OSM instead of Google Maps for a tracking project because I didn't have 11000USD to pay them upfront for the licence.

gytdev 8y ago

I am an avid traveler currently traveling South-East-Asia. One of the most favorite tools used by travelers is an Android app Maps.me, that is based on Openstreet maps. You can download any Country or region and have it for offline use, only need a GPS connection. There are some practical caveats in using it though: -If You are planning a ride by car, the estimated time for Your journey most likely be way (waaaaayyy) off. Especially in Asian countries that are less covered. It can show 3 hours in a journey that is 8 hours without traffic. -some areas are completely not covered (I mean at all) But for bigger cities it's pretty good in coverage

ris 8y ago
Have you been improving the less-covered areas during your travels?
- gytdev 8y ago
  Only in available ways. When it is easy to update the situation (add place to map), I do it. But it's only easy to label areas and buildings, and much harder to add whole villages or roads that are missing

anandchowdhary 8y ago

Ironically the website is giving a 500 error.

joeblau 8y ago

One of the interesting trends I've been seeing are the amount of companies that are rebuilding there maps from the ground up. While Google currently provides the best data set, there is a resurgence of companies mapping from the ground up to solve problems that Google isn't solving for its customers. You've got Apple[1], Tesla[2], and Uber[3] all rebuilding maps and all current/previous customers of Google. [1] - https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-from-the-ground-up/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f... [2] - https://electrek.co/2017/07/03/tesla-map-navigation-open-source-platforms/ https://electrek.co/2017/07/03/tesla-map-navigation-open-sou... [3] - https://www.uber.com/newsroom/mapping-ubers-future/ https://www.uber.com/newsroom/mapping-ubers-future/

qwerty456127 8y ago

From the purely practical, pragmatic point of view both GM and OSM are very far from perfect. Similar services offered by local service providers can be much better in some cases. For example Seznam's Mapy.cz is feel much much better than Google Maps when it's about the Czech Republic. I don't work for them, that's my purely pragmatic user experience.

tripzilch 8y ago

Maps make even more sense to be free for the public to access, than the summary of human knowledge known as Wikipedia. This is a literal description of the physical space we occupy. The knowledge of "what is there" should not be owned by any entity. Now, I am aware that map data includes more than just "what is there" and one could argue that certain types of metadata can be more appropriately owned than others. But on the whole they should be the minority. In particular, the metadata required to "make sense of it all" should be free: Systems for searching between the wildly different naming conventions and other mapping oddities in various parts of the world. I am also aware that certain parts of map data may be classified to certain governments. Exceptions could be made. I'm not sure what the best solution is but it's not that important as these spots are a minority of the world's mapped area.