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The last three or four backpacking trips I've gone on, I found the OSM data wasn't completely accurate or complete. In each case I went in and fixed it based on
by markstos 6y ago
The last three or four backpacking trips I've gone on, I found the OSM data wasn't completely accurate or complete. In each case I went in and fixed it based on other data sources like Strava Heatmap, primary source maps or firsthand GPS traces.
OSM is good, but it's not magic. For critical uses, check a second data source!
- berkes 6y agoBut that goes for any map. Maps are, by definition, outdated. They will have mistakes. They will have abstractions of our messy world that go awry at some point. OSM is in some areas by far the most accurate and up-to-date source (which is als othe reason why for several areas, both Bing maps and Apple maps use OSM as source). In others it is not. I often give talks about OSM and always use this: "Google, for example, wants to make profit, their maps are just another canvas to put ads on. This is not bad. But it does mean, that in places (I pull open a map of Tjad where Google maps show large areas of Nothing; Tjad, is a lot of nothing -sand, really- but it is obvious Google has no interest in making that map anything good) where there is no money to be made, Google won't drive around with streetview cars, they won't buy datasets to merge, and they won't spend effort improving or validating the maps there."