6 ms·
Everyone should try OpenStreetMap based APIs, e.g. MapQuest Open.
by chatman 13y ago
Everyone should try OpenStreetMap based APIs, e.g. MapQuest Open.
- potatolicious 13y agoI tried one part of the API recently - I'm building an app that's partially intended to give local cycling directions. Now I'm between a rock and a hard place. One the one hand some parts of the MapQuest Open API are extremely bad, on the other hand Google has an all-or-nothing license for their geo data, and their native iOS maps component sucks. MapQuest's cycling directions in Manhattan is worse than having no directions at all. They have a specific cycling flag you can set, but results will blatantly ignore bike lanes and send you down extremely wide avenues with no bike lanes and heavy traffic. IMO using MapQuest's cycling directions, at least in NYC, is an extreme hazard, and I can't in good conscience integrate it into my app.
- graue 13y agoHow do the directions compare to YourNavigation? http://www.yournavigation.org/ http://www.yournavigation.org/ Despite the clunky interface, I was pleasantly surprised by its biking directions: not as good as Google, but not terrible either. (I was in NYC when I tried using it for awhile.) It's fully open-source.
- potatolicious 13y agoJust plugged in some of the test endpoints I used with MapQuest. YourNavigation seems to have two bicycling modes, "bicycle" and "bicycle (routes"). The former seems to disregard bike lanes entirely and generates some pretty hazardous recommendations (including cycling down 5th Ave, or busy sections of Park Ave in Midtown). The "bicycle (routes)" mode does better and seems to respect bike lanes, but not consistently. There are some endpoints where it still maneuvers you into dense traffic with no bike infrastructure, when a bike-laned street is nearby and takes only marginally longer. I just checked the OSM's dataset and the data is good - so it isn't a matter of someone inserting a bike lane where one doesn't actually exist. The app I'm working on is for NYC's new bikeshare system... Still not an acceptable alternative unfortunately. I may just give up and use Google Maps in the iOS app, but the performance of Google's native map component is extremely, extremely bad.
- Doctor_Fegg 13y agoCycleStreets (UK cycle-based journey planner) are on the verge of open-sourcing their code - as in, in the next day or two. It's a highly fine-tuned cycle planner based on OSM data; here in the UK, at least, the results are streets ahead of Google, which will merrily send you down busy, fast trunk roads with no cycle lane. You could either take their code and run an instance for NYC, or smile sweetly at them and ask if they might host one themselves. Github link: https://github.com/cyclestreets https://github.com/cyclestreets
- Pxtl 13y agoYeah, I was doing some tinkering with OSM and found a lot of that kind of additional data (bike trails and such) to be missing. Obviously I should just roll up my sleeves and contribute to OSM, but it still means that I wouldn't build an app or do large research that depends on those kinds of details with OSM as the back-end, knowing how much stuff is missing. And yes, more municipalities need to start releasing open data.
- cmelbye 13y agoFor what it's worth, they're currently very poor quality to Google's geocoder.
- ajtaylor 13y agoMapQuest Open is very hit or miss. In Australia, the directions & geocoding are pretty good. However, in India it's atrocious - but still good enough for what we need.