4 ms·

Open Street Map – The Free Wiki World Map

36 points by gnosis 14y ago

zalew 14y ago
link to the homepage of openstreetmap??
- mehrzad 14y ago
  I was surprised too. Lots of karma whoring around here?
bbrian 14y ago
http://wikimapia.org/ http://wikimapia.org/ is another good one. Allows for annotating buildings etc. in the satellite view.
- yellowbkpk 14y ago
  Keep in mind that WikiMapia is breaking Google's terms of use and they don't release the data they collect. It's a neat project, but completely orthogonal to OSM.
jrockway 14y ago
Open Street Map is interesting. I decided to check out an obscure suburb where I used to live (because the data for New York City is obviously going to be fine). One issue that has been debated there for the last 30 years, it seems, is extending a freeway called Route 53. The project is called "FAP 342". Open Street Map shows this thing as built and existing: http://osm.org/go/ZVItJYIM- http://osm.org/go/ZVItJYIM- Very confusing, as it is definitely not built (and probably never will be).
- fhars 14y ago
  Openstreetmap shows it as not yet finished, and i it does not yet exist, that seems to be correct.
- miahi 14y ago
  Check the map key. The FAP 342 and FAP 420 are set as "under construction", not built and existing.
- jonemo 14y ago
  The idea is that you now go in and edit the status of this road from "under construction" to something more appropriate. The problem of course is that editing the map [1] is a lot more difficult than editing a Wikipedia page, which is why less people are participating. I think it's also worth mentioning that in places other than your suburb, OSM is better than other publicly available maps, see for example [2]. [1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_1.3 http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_1.3 [2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/28/openstreetmap-google-maps-technologies http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/28/openstre...
lnlyplnt 14y ago
foursquare switched to OSM last year after google changed its maps API pricing: http://blog.foursquare.com/2012/02/29/foursquare-is-joining-the-openstreetmap-movement-say-hi-to-pretty-new-maps/ http://blog.foursquare.com/2012/02/29/foursquare-is-joining-...
leeoniya 14y ago
i still find it very difficult to read. much harder than google's tiles. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&zoom=14&layers=M http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&... vs https://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.8432,+2.356&hl=en&ll=48.843254,2.361374&spn=0.096028,0.264187&sll=48.839413,2.354679&sspn=0.096035,0.264187&gl=us&t=m&z=13 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.8432,+2.356&hl=en&... here's a google cache of an analysis from a while back: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:k2wum-JAzLgJ:geoit.posterous.com/41latitude-google-maps-label-readability+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:k2wum-J...
- harry-wood 14y ago
  Well that's a matter of cartographic style, which is only small part of what goes into creating a map like this. The nice thing about OpenStreetMap is that it supplies the raw data to enable all manner of map style experimentation, so actually there's lots of different maps powered by OpenStreetMap, some more difficult to read than others. You might find 'MapQuest' style is more pleasing on the eye. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&zoom=14&layers=Q http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&... Same data. Different map style. More details here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Comparision_Google_services_-_OSM http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Comparision_Google_servic...
- yellowbkpk 14y ago
  Keep in mind that OpenStreetMap is a data project, not a maps.google.com replacement project. There are plenty of other ways to look at OSM data. https://tiles.mapbox.com/newmap https://tiles.mapbox.com/newmap and http://maps.cloudmade.com/editor http://maps.cloudmade.com/editor let you style the data yourself, http://open.mapquest.com/ http://open.mapquest.com/ lets you route and search across it. https://github.com/mapbox/osm-bright https://github.com/mapbox/osm-bright is a good start at building your own style. http://osmbuildings.com/ http://osmbuildings.com/ uses CSS to draw 3D buildings based on OSM data. http://bl.ocks.org/migurski/5130639 http://bl.ocks.org/migurski/5130639 renders it in your browser with WebGL. The tiles shown at openstreetmap.org are meant as a tool for mappers to help with mapping and are not our product.
alpb 14y ago
Why the heck is this on front page of HN? I am flagging it now. Apparently there are still people haven't heard of this and this is why reposts will always be popular.
- gnosis 14y ago
  From the HN Guidelines[1]: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did." [1] - http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - alpb 14y ago
    Thanks for heads up, I didn't know that.

36 points by gnosis 14y ago

zalew 14y ago

link to the homepage of openstreetmap??

mehrzad 14y ago
I was surprised too. Lots of karma whoring around here?

bbrian 14y ago

http://wikimapia.org/ http://wikimapia.org/ is another good one. Allows for annotating buildings etc. in the satellite view.

yellowbkpk 14y ago
Keep in mind that WikiMapia is breaking Google's terms of use and they don't release the data they collect. It's a neat project, but completely orthogonal to OSM.

jrockway 14y ago

Open Street Map is interesting. I decided to check out an obscure suburb where I used to live (because the data for New York City is obviously going to be fine). One issue that has been debated there for the last 30 years, it seems, is extending a freeway called Route 53. The project is called "FAP 342". Open Street Map shows this thing as built and existing: http://osm.org/go/ZVItJYIM- http://osm.org/go/ZVItJYIM- Very confusing, as it is definitely not built (and probably never will be).

fhars 14y ago
Openstreetmap shows it as not yet finished, and i it does not yet exist, that seems to be correct.
miahi 14y ago
Check the map key. The FAP 342 and FAP 420 are set as "under construction", not built and existing.
jonemo 14y ago
The idea is that you now go in and edit the status of this road from "under construction" to something more appropriate. The problem of course is that editing the map [1] is a lot more difficult than editing a Wikipedia page, which is why less people are participating. I think it's also worth mentioning that in places other than your suburb, OSM is better than other publicly available maps, see for example [2]. [1] http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_1.3 http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners_Guide_1.3 [2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/28/openstreetmap-google-maps-technologies http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/mar/28/openstre...

lnlyplnt 14y ago

foursquare switched to OSM last year after google changed its maps API pricing: http://blog.foursquare.com/2012/02/29/foursquare-is-joining-the-openstreetmap-movement-say-hi-to-pretty-new-maps/ http://blog.foursquare.com/2012/02/29/foursquare-is-joining-...

leeoniya 14y ago

i still find it very difficult to read. much harder than google's tiles. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&zoom=14&layers=M http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&... vs https://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.8432,+2.356&hl=en&ll=48.843254,2.361374&spn=0.096028,0.264187&sll=48.839413,2.354679&sspn=0.096035,0.264187&gl=us&t=m&z=13 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=48.8432,+2.356&hl=en&... here's a google cache of an analysis from a while back: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:k2wum-JAzLgJ:geoit.posterous.com/41latitude-google-maps-label-readability+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:k2wum-J...

harry-wood 14y ago
Well that's a matter of cartographic style, which is only small part of what goes into creating a map like this. The nice thing about OpenStreetMap is that it supplies the raw data to enable all manner of map style experimentation, so actually there's lots of different maps powered by OpenStreetMap, some more difficult to read than others. You might find 'MapQuest' style is more pleasing on the eye. http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&zoom=14&layers=Q http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=48.8432&lon=2.356&... Same data. Different map style. More details here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Comparision_Google_services_-_OSM http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Comparision_Google_servic...
yellowbkpk 14y ago
Keep in mind that OpenStreetMap is a data project, not a maps.google.com replacement project. There are plenty of other ways to look at OSM data. https://tiles.mapbox.com/newmap https://tiles.mapbox.com/newmap and http://maps.cloudmade.com/editor http://maps.cloudmade.com/editor let you style the data yourself, http://open.mapquest.com/ http://open.mapquest.com/ lets you route and search across it. https://github.com/mapbox/osm-bright https://github.com/mapbox/osm-bright is a good start at building your own style. http://osmbuildings.com/ http://osmbuildings.com/ uses CSS to draw 3D buildings based on OSM data. http://bl.ocks.org/migurski/5130639 http://bl.ocks.org/migurski/5130639 renders it in your browser with WebGL. The tiles shown at openstreetmap.org are meant as a tool for mappers to help with mapping and are not our product.

alpb 14y ago

Why the heck is this on front page of HN? I am flagging it now. Apparently there are still people haven't heard of this and this is why reposts will always be popular.

gnosis 14y ago
From the HN Guidelines[1]: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did." [1] - http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- alpb 14y ago
  Thanks for heads up, I didn't know that.