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OpenStreetMap creates and distributes free geographic data for the world
- lxst 13y agoTechnically speaking: Isn't Nokia HERE also a global non-US map-service, seeing as Nokia is based in Finnland?
- FredericJ 13y agoNokia's cartography is from Navteq, a Chicago-based subsidiary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navteq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navteq
- lxst 13y agoAh okay - thanks :)
- tellarin 13y agoActually, Navteq is no longer an independent entity since 2011-2012. The business unit is now called HERE [1] and mostly divided between Germany and the US. It provides maps services for MS, MapQuest, Garmin, Amazon, Yahoo! Maps, Yandex, BMW, Oracle GIS... But the Navteq brand still exists. [1] http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/about-us/our-structure/ http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/about-us/our-structu...
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- midnitewarrior 13y agoYes I was coming to post this. Clearly the person who wrote the title of this message is uninformed.
- efdee 13y agoOr maybe you are!
- FredericJ 13y agoIronically Apple Maps is based on Tom Tom's cartography (but succeeded in making things worse). Tom-Tom is a company from the Netherlands which acquired Tele Atlas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tele_Atlas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tele_Atlas)
- patrickaljord 13y agoOpenStreetMap is awesome but not really a map service, it hosts the open data and the map editor/wiki. You can use their map to a certain extend but if there was a huge spike in traffic, their site would fall. If you want a good service based on OSM with directions and more, you have to use something else such as mapquest which is US based or host it yourself.
- buro9 13y agoOr MapBox - http://www.mapbox.com/ http://www.mapbox.com/ Though, MapBox is extremely expensive if you require SSL support (because your site is on SSL) and you are a startup. You can't even solve it yourself by performing the SSL termination and proxying the requests as that is prohibited in their T&Cs. But at least they exist and offer a really beautiful map style based on the OSM data. Still US based though, but they also provide TileMill so you can host your own (though not using their very good Streets styling).
- freyfogle 13y agoAnother option for map tiles is http://www.thunderforest.com http://www.thunderforest.com On the data side there's the recently launched http://opencagedata.com http://opencagedata.com (disclosure, I'm the founder). The point is with OSM there's more than one way to do it. You can dive in, get your hands dirty and do it all yourself, or work with a rapidly growing ecosystem of service providers who do the work for you at a cost. With private geodata / map providers, be they internet giants like Goog or national mapping agencies there is their way or ... their way.
- buro9 13y agoMy biggest use-case for maps on web-sites is to simply communicate a location. Not to navigate by car, by bike, by foot. Not to show advertiser bubbles, or utilities. Just a clear communication of "The point in question is in this neighbourhood, at that point.". For me, that's the beauty in MapBox's Streets style... it does that one thing really well. Retaining enough countryside detail to make location recognition very good, and it works brilliantly in a city. Yet at the same time it's neutral enough to look great no matter how bad the design of the web-site it appears on. I definitely prefer non-US, and non-giant mapping providers, but there's a lot to be said for cartographers who design maps to be useful generically for location recognition rather than anything else. I strongly feel that this is what Google Maps got so right, and is also why MapBox will do very well. More than the tech, design matters.
- iamshs 13y agoWhy would I directly use it through browser and not third parties? What is their differentiating factor? I am not being facetious, but just being curious. I only know 4 square and maybe Apple uses their data.
- freyfogle 13y agoDepends on what your use case is. If you just want maps on a page, third party is the fastest, easiest way to go, no doubt. The key point with OSM though is that if you actually want to build something with a geo aspect that uses the underlying data you can. With Google you can't. That of course doesn't mean it's easy to do, but the possibility is there.
- tommorris 13y agoBecause in a lot of places, OSM has more accurate points-of-interest coverage. I maintain the map for a fair chunk of Soho in London. On Google Maps, I've seen places I know about filled with points of interest that aren't actually there, geo-targetted SEO spam and so on. For various bits of London, if the map says it's there, I either put it there or checked it. I just checked an area of London that I maintain for OSM but on Google Maps: it's a load of shit. Shops and businesses that closed years ago still on the map. Large corporations inside police stations. The Victoria Embankment Gardens marked as being in the River Thames.
- rmc 13y agoBecause you can access the raw map data and do with what you want (more or less). It has open data.
- k_bx 13y agohttp://maps.yandex.com http://maps.yandex.com?
- 0x006A 13y agoThey use cartography from Navteq, a Chicago-based Nokia subsidiary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navteq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navteq
- k_bx 13y agoOh, didn't know that. In russian version they did very user-friendly editor for their maps called "People's map" and they already show it in their mobile apps. Of course, from licensing perspective, OSM is much better.
- hnha 13y agocartography usually means the look and.style of a map. I think you mean the data (or geodata or however one wants to call it).
- mseebach 13y agoThe relevancy of that depends on what the motivation for declaring OSM the only non-US map. If it's with reference to NSA (one can only guess, but that seems to be in line with the times), that you won't get tracked, it's irrelevant where the map was made, as long as the map servers are operated outside the US.
- muyuu 13y agoSame as Nokia, their cartography is based on Navteq (US).
- tellarin 13y agoNavteq is part of Nokia. And Nokia Here [1], their maps service (used by MS, Yandex, etc), is actually mostly divided between offices in Germany and the US. [1] http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/about-us/our-structure/ http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/about-us/our-structu... Edit: added a reference to Nokia's company structure.
- shin_lao 13y agoWhat about http://www.mappy.fr/ http://www.mappy.fr/ ?
- fs111 13y agothat is mostly TomTom behind the scenes, but that is European as well.
- tome 13y agoWhat does "global non-US maps service" mean? Does it mean a service which provides worldwide mapping that's not based in the US?
- random42 13y agoyes
- fs111 13y agoThat is simply not true. TomTom is in the Netherlands and their map is here: http://routes.tomtom.com http://routes.tomtom.com
- legulere 13y agoBut is it really global? For example Kabul only has 2 roads on tomtom
- jeroen94704 13y agoSo the real question is: Is it complete? Not "is it global". But I'm sure OpenStreetMap is incomplete as well, although maybe less incomplete than others.
- legulere 13y agoI think there's a difference between being incomplete and effectively not having mapped a country at all.
- rmc 13y agoProbably the biggest problem with OSM (that the likes of GM doesn't have) is inconsistant coverage within a country. GM will be pretty consistant in how well mapped a country is all over the country, whereas OSM might have one city mapped very well, but another region be very blank.
- fs111 13y agoIt's a business, so they update the maps, where it makes the most sense from a business point of view. Making quality maps is a very labor intense task and looks simpler from the outside, than it actually is. google for instance has more people working on their maps than TomTom has employees in total (which is betweem 3k and 4k). That's how intense it is... (full disclosure: I worked in TomToms maps division for 7 years).
- caboteria 13y ago
- Ultron 13y agoI think BlackBerry maps has global reach (and BlackBerry is a Canadian company).
- forgottenpaswrd 13y agoI wonder if any American public agencies like NASA satellites pictures being public domain has something to do with that. In Europe we pay public satellites companies an arm and a leg, and then the information is not free for taxpayers. You have to pay or fill long forms justifying the use of the data for an European company. If you are the son or daughter of the required politician your request will be granted, if not you will wait as they simply ignore your message. I did it myself. This means that any European maps startup(Asian is even worse), serving Europe's market is really f*cked from the start.
- vetler 13y agoIf they're public domain, they're probably available for europeans as well, though?
- rmc 13y agoThere is public domain satellite imagery for USA and Europe available from the US Government (e.g. NASA). There is public domain map data available for the USA, but not Europe available from the US Government (e.g. Tiger data).
- guard-of-terra 13y agoHow come asian are worse? There is a plenty of asian maps services that leave both OSM and Google Maps in the dust. Chinese ones with hand-drawn buildings and South Korean ones with ruler, area measuring and historical street view. Aerial view-quality imaging too.
- renegadedev 13y agoFrom the OSM home page: "We started it because most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from using them in creative, productive, or unexpected ways." To me, this is the biggest issue using other mapping services. T&Cs can be a real pain - API usage restrictions, data usage restrictions, quotas, licensing. Mind you the restrictions themselves are not the big deal but the fact that most major mapping providers don't make these restrictions clear enough - you have to sift through the terms page in most cases and read vaguely worded "legalese" to figure out if what you're attempting to do violates their terms of use.
- anonymfus 13y agoWikimapia? BTW it has OSM layer support now.
- JimmaDaRustla 13y agoTIL Nokia's maps are based in the US. Odd...