11 ms·

OpenStreetMap is now navigation-ready

364 points by dalek2point3 12y ago

GvS 12y ago
"US and on iOS only"
- gecko 12y ago
  There are links to not only Android, but even Windows Phone, on the linked page. Where did you get iOS-only?
  - GvS 12y ago
    It's quote from OP.
  - dan1234 12y ago
    From the article: >Enter Telenav, where I work. We’ve spent approximately a zillion man-years to fix these issues and today we’re announcing navigation using OSM within Scout, our consumer navigation app. We’re starting in the US and on iOS with the rest to follow.
  - mikestew 12y ago
    I believe that they might be referring to using OSM data. The Scout app for Android has been around for a while. But the copyright notice in the lower right says "year-year TomTom". So I'm thinking that, yes, there are apps for other platforms but they don't use (at least not completely) OSM data yet. EDIT: yup, on Android it's missing a bunch of edits I did to OSM in my neighborhood. Some of those edits are probably a couple of years old, so it looks like they haven't switched over on all platforms yet.
- simpleAJ 12y ago
  http://www.scout.me/app http://www.scout.me/app This page shows all 4 platform apps. What I am missing?
  - jcastro 12y ago
    I just gave it a shot during lunch on Android and the app is missing the OSM data I added to my neighborhood, so I am assuming it's still using their old data and that they'll kick over to the OSM data as part of an update.
dewey 12y ago
Not really related to the post but they are talking about making OSM cosumer-ready and every time I try to use OSM instead of Google Maps I realise it's just not on the same level yet. It doesn't have to be on par in terms of error correcting input or location based search result because they just don't have the data on me like Google does (locations close to my work place, home,...) but even just the basic task of searching for my street on OSM [0] will give me a bunch of information the end-user doesn't really need to know like: - tags - created by - version - changeset # - location ID Is there a "cleaner" more consumer friendly web interface for the maps, maybe with a prettier mapstyle like the ones used in apps like Foursquare (afaik they are using OSM)? [0] http://www.openstreetmap.org/ http://www.openstreetmap.org/
- seren 12y ago
  I am not sure the goal of the project is to provide the better user interface as-is, but rather to be a kind of "upstream" for geo data.
- dublinben 12y ago
  You're really not meant to be using OSM.org directly as a drop-in replacement for Google Maps or Bing Maps. It's primarily a back end dataset, and that site is the front door to contributing to the data set. You ought to try some deployments like https://www.komoot.de/ https://www.komoot.de/ and http://open.mapquest.com/ http://open.mapquest.com/
  - coldpie 12y ago
    Thank you. I wish this was more obvious.
- squeaky-clean 12y ago
  This is something I think OSM really needs to communicate more clearly. You're not supposed to use the main OSM site for actual navigation or mapping purposes. It lets you contribute, and see all the contributions, but the OSM website is not for the end-user. Even though it appears to be. When people say OSM is ready for the consumer, they're lying. What they really mean is OSM is ready for people to wrap into something for the consumer.
pedrocr 12y ago
>we’re pumping all the good stuff that we can back in to OSM. This takes time due to OSMs consensus on not importing the masses of fixes we generate. This seems strange. Anyone know the story?
- morganherlocker 12y ago
  OSM prefers user created data. Mass imports often contain errors all over the place (many going back unnoticed for years). OSM holds a general mindset that data should only be included if someone is fairly certain the data is correct (which they would not be on a mass import). "When in doubt, leave it out." That said, it is more of a guideline than a rule, and there have been mass imports in the past.
  - Brakenshire 12y ago
    One solution might be for them to maintain their own error-checked database, and then provide a website and map overlay ontop of OSM, pointing out where the discrepancies are between the two. Then local mappers could go around and confirm the corrections. I do think in the long-run OSM will need some error-checking processes if it aspires to be a definitive database. At the moment, I could quite happily subtly mess up a motorway junction in Japan, and most of the OSM mapping software would have no way to knowing not to package it up and send it out. Vandalism is not an issue now, but as the dataset becomes more popular, I think some mechanisms will need to go into place to protect its integrity (particularly for major infrastructure).
    - sitkack 12y ago
      You might like the "Propagator Model" of computation, think of it is a probabilistic graph with CRDT like information augmentation. http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/propagators/ http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/propagators/ https://github.com/tgk/propaganda https://github.com/tgk/propaganda
- maxerickson 12y ago
  At some point it becomes difficult to mechanically integrate the data, and having the data nicely integrated is sort of one of the selling points of OSM. There is also a repeated pattern of imports planning on 'fixing it later' and then not really following through. Another thing is that existing OSM data will tend to be more recent, so 'trampling' it for better coverage isn't all that desirable. One thing that seems to get overlooked is that data that is in a state where it could be imported into the main database is also in a state where it can be mixed with a snapshot of the main database. So whoever has that data can make use of it to increase their coverage without worrying about how other users would want the data integrated.
janus 12y ago
What's a good navigation app for Android that works outside the US? (Scout doesn't) I have a couple of apps in my phone (Navigator and Waze), but the UI is really cumbersome compared to Google Maps. I use them because OSM maps are better in small tows in my area than Google Maps, plus you can keep offline maps.
- techsupporter 12y ago
  OsmAnd? I don't really use it for navigation (why not, see below) but I know that it is a feature and I'm 100% sure of its offline maps capability. Why not: It doesn't have bus/train/streetcar transit routing, something I don't expect it to have, though I'm feverishly adding all of the bus stops around me just in case.
  - privong 12y ago
    I use it for a general idea of where to drive. But I don't follow the directions blindly. It seems to equate all "highways", meaning it gives equal weight to interstates and state highways, which results in routes which are direct, but slower than a slightly more indirect route making more use of interstates.
    - Brakenshire 12y ago
      In Settings > Navigation, you can change the routing engine, incidentally, which might solve that problem. Although the other options require an internet connection for the initial calculation.
      - privong 12y ago
        Thanks. I guess I've shied away from those because I'm often out of cell service when I need directions :) But I should do some test runs to see how they compare.
        maxerickson 12y ago
ronaldx 12y ago
Privacy policy says: "Personal information does not include anonymous or aggregate information, which after processing may not be associated with a specific person or entity." But I find this a dishonest definition of personal information. The concept of the app depends on personal journeys being recorded and stored ("indefinitely"), which would very often and very easily identify a person via their home or workplace. There should be consideration for this in the privacy policies.
schabernakk 12y ago
I tried switching to OSM in an effort to get away from google maps. People always say 'OSM is consumer ready' but forget that OSM first and foremost is the dataset. And as far as i am concerned, there is no good maps app on the iOS appstore that even comes close to google maps. and i think i tried pretty much all relevant ones. skobbler (which i just found out is part of coast) seems to be the most polished. but as long as there is no unified search and you have to enter streetname/adress/city in seperate boxes which excludes searching for the names of buildings (for example university buildings) for which the names clearly exist in the database and are shown onthe map, i have no choice other than switch back to google. i really hope this changes soon and the UI/apps catch up to the greatness that is OSM. edit: i have an iphone and although i live in canada i still use the german appstore (CC requirement). that's why i can't comment on the app the original post was about as it's only available in the US store. it was more of a general remark about my frustration with the state of apps using the osm dataset. I want to get rid of google maps and I feel the maps part of osm would be ready for that. I can tolerate if the commercial store data is not as up2date. But if the general usuability suffers, i rather opt for gmaps.
- lucaspiller 12y ago
  I tried using OSM a month ago when I was travelling around Bali, Indonesia. Google Maps is terrible there, so it wasn't like I had much choice. I looked on Google Play and found an app called "OsmAnd Maps & Navigation" that was well rated, it was also offline which was a plus as there is limited mobile coverage outside of the main parts of the island. I downloaded it then the dataset for Indonesia (200mb, it took a while), and tried finding a route. After a few minutes (!) it had calculated one, but the route definitely wasn't optimal. I tried another app "Sygic: GPS Navigation & Maps", it was premium but had a 7 day free trial (perfect for my 3 day road trip). The route it calculated seemed a lot better, so I went with that. I was actually really surprised by how well it worked, even in the north of the island which is quite undeveloped in places it was able to find the best routes. TL;DR; Even though the dataset may be ready, you still need supporting consumer ready apps to use it. (Originally posted this as a separate comment, but it is pretty relevant to this).
- DCKing 12y ago
clarry 12y ago
So for those of you who live in the US, congrats. The situation in my area is nowhere near as good. I've got a couple Garmin GPSes as well as a GPS capable phone, and I would just love to map every road and path in a 100km radius from home. Unfortunately all the mapping software I've tried is so horribly slow I'd have to buy a new computer to be able to do much at all with the data I can collect.
- unwind 12y ago
  Mapping software? I thought OSM was mainly edited on the web, right at http://www.openstreetmap.org/traces http://www.openstreetmap.org/traces is where you can upload your GPS traces for instance.
  - clarry 12y ago
    Yes, the web editor is called iD. It is software. It is slow.
    - morganherlocker 12y ago
      You could try the JOSM editor[1], but iD is about as lightweight as it gets, so I am not sure if it would be much better. For what its worth, I use iD regularly without performance issues, but YMMV on older machines. Unfortunately, vector rendering and editing will tend to push browsers to their limit. This may be alleviated somewhat by the use of WebGL in coming years. [1] https://josm.openstreetmap.de/ https://josm.openstreetmap.de/
      - lucb1e 12y ago
        iD lightweight? It has trouble rendering a good block of houses when there is a lot of data whereas josm only gets into trouble rendering a small city or so of equally dense data.
        bhousel 12y ago
        You can open an issue here with details about where this occurs and your browser/machine details: https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD Or send them to me and I will enter the issue.. I'm a collaborator on that project.
chatman 12y ago
How is this such a big news? There is no navigation option in default openstreetmap.org experience. And there have been several other navigation/routing websites based on OSM data before. I sense nothing new here.
riquito 12y ago
> Feel sorry for how proprietary maps are currently built. When there’s a new road built, they all have to scramble to add it. I'm not into the business of maps, but don't the major players pay Nations/Cities or third parties that have the latest data about roads to be promptly updated? (whoever build the roads must have the data, and they'll be happy to sell it I suppose). (ok, probably every city uses a different format or has the maps on paper...) Then we can talk about if this data should be free or not.
- davexunit 12y ago
  Map data is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free.
  - xanderstrike 12y ago
    Food is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free. Transportation is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free. Shelter is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free.
    - dllthomas 12y ago
      Those all have significant marginal cost.
      - toomuchtodo 12y ago
        The marginal cost of all of those is dropping. If you can automate mobility (Self-driving EVs), the production of housing (3D printed homes), and farming (automated planting, maintenance, harvesting), you can indeed provide it all for free.
        saraid216 12y ago
        Land is still a scarce resource.
        12y ago
thegeomaster 12y ago
I hope they start doing Europe soon, OSM datasets definitely need some love over here. And a big respect to all the people who made this possible.
- ritonlajoie 12y ago
  Well, I typed my address in OSM (I live in Paris) and I can even see the trees, on the map itself. I was very surprised. Where do you live ? Also, you should really put some license there https://github.com/geomaster/vimrc https://github.com/geomaster/vimrc :) Maybe try to promote a license you like :p
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
zmh 12y ago
Maybe I overlook? Are there turn-by-turn navigation api yet? Over the last year, every time I check it seems to be not available yet. I believe most or all streets in OSM only support up to street level rather than street NUMBER level. Well, please point me to some counter-examples if I am wrong.
- morganherlocker 12y ago
  Try out OSRM[1]. It is open source[2], so you can run it yourself, or you can use a public api for limited usage. The api has a JSON response with turn-by-turn[3], and it is remarkably fast. [1] http://map.project-osrm.org/ http://map.project-osrm.org/ [2] https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM [3] https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM/wiki/Server-api https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM/wiki/Server-api
  - zmh 12y ago
    Wow, speed is great. I'll definitely check it out. However, the second statement still seems to be valid: OSM is still at the street name level rather than street number level. I read some MapQuest's document saying that Mapquest actually took points on a street and interpolate all the numbers. Maybe OSM can do the same. Eagerly waiting...
    - morganherlocker 12y ago
      OSM does have addresses, but coverage is far from perfect. Nominatum (the geocoder used by OSRM) will interpolate addresses if it does not have the exact parcel info, which is surprisingly accurate in many cases. Work is also being done to create full address coverage as well[1], which you should check out if you are interested. [1] http://openaddresses.io/ http://openaddresses.io/
- Doctor_Fegg 12y ago
  Routing is coming to osm.org real soon now, and as morganherlocker has pointed out, the software is already widely available (and used) elsewhere. But yes, house number data in OSM is partial at best.
cnbuff410 12y ago
So the more we use this app, the more contribution I can make back into OSM AUTOMATICALLY, is that correct? Hopefully they will release Android version app soon.
Justsignedup 12y ago
I'm just gonna point out something: OSM is 10 years old, and after countless hrs and investing its finally ready for prime time. People who think a new internet is coming via some disruptive technology need to read this article and realize that real, long-term, awesome change takes time.
- Vik1ng 12y ago
  I would argue that really depends on the subject. Maps are to some extent limited. Yes, they are never 100% up-to-date, but looking at my small village if I had mapped that 10 years ago all I would have had to change up until today would be maybe 15 new homes and 2 new streets a few stores and some small adjustments, but that's pretty much it. On the other hand if I wanted to build a search engine that's a completely different story.
- awongh 12y ago
  yes, and part of the reason this took so long could be that google maps was free/ very cheap for a lot of that 10 years. Once they got more expensive people had more incentive to switch....
- pekk 12y ago
  It's still not really usable for navigation, has all kinds of accuracy problems and the worst is that they don't even want help scaling up the data pipeline, they just want armies of people to click by hand on their weak editing app. Labor is expensive, technology is cheap, why insist on such an insanely labor-intensive data pipeline?
  - MaBu 12y ago
    Things are changing in a way. There is Slide from Strava ( http://labs.strava.com/ http://labs.strava.com/ ). Where you just roughly click where a path is and it creates nice path from its database of gazillion GPX tracks. It can be used as an iD editor plugin already. There are scripts for automatic lake and building creation from satellite images but most interesting thing seems to be coming from Digital Globe. In this year state of the map USA ( http://stateofthemap.us/session/mapping-the-world-in-raster/ http://stateofthemap.us/session/mapping-the-world-in-raster/ ) they said that this year SDK is coming where they would automatically draw buildings and streets from satellite images and you would get APIs to play with this and insert into OSM. (They already provide images to OSM through Bing and MapBox). So yes drawing streets and buildings isn't fun but you need people to know what is a street/cycleway POI and etc.. There are also projects for figuring out one way streets, max speeds.
cheetahtech 12y ago
I have totally converted to OSM with my startups. We use it soley for all our mapping needs and it does quite well. See it in action: https://rdnation.com/roller-derby-leagues https://rdnation.com/roller-derby-leagues
- maxerickson 12y ago
  Some 'null's show through for one of the teams in New Jersey.
- Vik1ng 12y ago
  Attribution...
throwaway7767 12y ago
Will the routing data be fed into OSM, or will telenav be building their own closed routing database that they use in conjunction with OSM? I didn't see an answer to that on the linked page.
netcan 12y ago
"This item cannot be installed in your device's country" Huh?
thrownaway2424 12y ago
Android really needs to do something about the permissions model. This app asks for every permission in the book, but I have no way to tell if the app will use these permissions for a good reason.
- Brakenshire 12y ago
  I agree. Anyone know whether there's an Android distribution which will give you more granular control over permissions? Cyanogenmod seems to be a little better, but I haven't used it myself.
  - xiaq 12y ago
    There was a feature named "app ops", once released accidentally and disabled afterwards [1]. There are also other 3rd party solutions [2]. I remember that some ROMs go even further and prompts you each time an app uses a specific permission (there is a "remember" option of course...). MIUI seems to be one of them, though I'm not sure. 1. http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/07/25/app-ops-android-4-3s-hidden-app-permission-manager-control-permissions-for-individual-apps/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/07/25/app-ops-android-4-3s... 2. http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/35473/other-apps-to-manage-permissions http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/35473/other-apps-...
  - thrownaway2424 12y ago
    Granularity isn't really the problem. The problem is there's no connection between something I want to do in the app and the permission it requires. It might be obvious why this app wants to use my microphone at the instant I tried to invoke some feature, but at install time it's not apparent at all.
    - Brakenshire 12y ago
      Yeah, that is what I intended (as in fine-grained controls).
  - dsr_ 12y ago
    Most rooted phones can install the XPosed Framework, which can then install XPrivacy. See http://repo.xposed.info/module/biz.bokhorst.xprivacy http://repo.xposed.info/module/biz.bokhorst.xprivacy for details.
powertex 12y ago
openstretmap is by far superior to apple's map app. that shotty pos.
chromelyke 12y ago
For those of you asking about Global options, it sounds like this will happen over time per the press release - http://www.telenav.com/about/pr/pr-20140519.html http://www.telenav.com/about/pr/pr-20140519.html
leccine 12y ago
I am glad to see OSM getting more popular because Google Maps is just getting worse by every day. The new WebUI is absolutely terrible, I had to permanently disable it because I could not even use my laptop while a GMap tab was open. They removed features I used and added many I don't care. On the top of these, the routing algo in GMaps is just laughable. It does not have the updated version of no left and no right turns, if you have 2 routes one with no highway one with highway it is going to pick the highway one even though it is 2 times the distance and so on. The traffic information is pretty much useless, only got better when they merged in Waze information but still bad.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
gchokov 12y ago
The last I saw a similar post, couple of months ago, the map was not ready in my home area. Now tough, it's pretty advanced. Awesome progress!
tgb 12y ago
Play store says the app is incompatible with both my 4.4 nexus 7 and my aging gingerbread phone, but doesn't say why. Anyone know?
- dagurp 12y ago
  Same problem here. I have a Galaxy S3 (i9300)
twothamendment 12y ago
Consumer Ready? It is about 8 years behind in my neighborhood. My street doesn't exist and it there in 2006. Google has a street view of it and has been able to find my address since 2007.
- dingaling 12y ago
  > It is about 8 years behind in my neighborhood. Like I replied to the poster up-page; it's eight years behind because you haven't gone and added that data. Jump to it!
  - mikeash 12y ago
    Why don't you add it?
    - isaacremuant 12y ago
      Because he is not the one interested in that piece. If everyone in this thread adds the piece they can't find it will populate really fast... And what's more... It'll be EVERYONE's. Not Google's or Microsoft's or X's company imposing THEIR terms.
      - mikeash 12y ago
        Of the two of them, it looks to me like dingaling is far more interested in getting this added to OSM.
  - pekk 12y ago
    OSM is perfect for everything! Well, OK, it (still) isn't there yet... but it would be if everyone would only donate large amounts of manual labor to reproduce data which is probably available somewhere else, and just isn't allowed to be imported because of OSM policies against automation
    - hnha 12y ago
      Was some import from you "rejected" or why are you so aggressive? There are no rules against automation. There are just guidelines for not screwing up imports. You can import lots of data perfectly fine if the license allows it and you invest time into making it work flawlessly.
thrownaway2424 12y ago
I installed this app and it seems fairly gross. Is it really just for driving through places and not stopping? Because it seems to have close to zero points of interest. In my town it is incapable of finding any restaurant or other eatery which is not part of a huge national chain like McDonalds.
- sirdogealot 12y ago
  How many people live in your town? I suspect that points of interest would be fully up to date in places like New York City, but lacking in smaller towns and villages for obvious reasons.
- dingaling 12y ago
  > Because it seems to have close to zero points of interest. 1. Go to osm.org 2. Create an account 3. Add the PoIs 4. Save changes
  - jlarocco 12y ago
    That's all well and good for people who enjoy doing that. But I'm not interested, and I suspect a lot of other people aren't interested. And you can turn it around and say, "Well then it's your own fault OSM isn't better," but the fact of the matter is, I don't care, and I'll just use Google Maps, or Apple's maps, or some other map that has the info. I like OSM, and I think it's neat, but trying to guilt people into helping out is going to turn away more people than it's going to bring in.
    - fuck_google 12y ago
      Why should OSM even try to attract users that don't bring in any value by contributing?
      - maxerickson 12y ago
        OSM shouldn't worry too much about those users. If Telenav is attracting them, getting them to pay money and using some of that money to improve OSM, the community probably shouldn't be too hostile to honest evaluations from those people.
whatts 12y ago
Well, skobbler did all this for iOS and Android. And TeleNav bought skobbler for $24M in January [1] -- so it's obvious why TeleNav might be able to do this now. But will skobbler support stop? Why switch from skobbler to TeleNav's own products at all? With skobbler, you can get your whole continent's maps for roughly $7.50. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/30/telenav-buys-skobbler/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/30/telenav-buys-skobbler/
- whatts 12y ago
  Okay, skobbler has now published an update for its Android app where the "Scout by TeleNav" brand is introduced.
justizin 12y ago
Scout app is nice, but no cycling routes - something only Google seems to do. :/
- edraferi 12y ago
  Map My Ride has some great cycle mapping tools. They have several base maps available, I'm not sure exactly where the data comes from.
- liotier 12y ago
  Good cycling routes on OSM data ? Yes - https://www.komoot.de https://www.komoot.de !
- Doctor_Fegg 12y ago
  OSM-based cycle routes: http://cycle.travel/map http://cycle.travel/map . UK-only... for now.
mjcohen 12y ago
And then they charge you US $25 per year or $5 per month for maps!!!! I'll stick with Co-pilot and Navigon. At least when you get the maps they are yours forever.
- mkesper 12y ago
  No need to use this service. If a big chunk of the money would go into osm, I'd consider it fair, though.
pella 12y ago
List of OSM based Services - Routing : http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Services#Routing http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Service... + http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing
Semaphor 12y ago
OSM has better maps than Google in my 200k pop town in the north of Germany. Recently google even tried to have me walk through a closed company to get where I wanted to go. Sadly searching sucks (unless you know the specific address) and the reviews for the international scout app make me very wary of using it.
mauriziopd 12y ago
For those looking for a good Android app that uses OSM. I use Mapfactor Navigator and think it is great (I've used it in Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Crozia). It let's you use it with OSM data or Tom Tom, you can use Google for address search and use it offline if you need. I'm not affiliated, just a happy user https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapfactor.navigator https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapfactor....

364 points by dalek2point3 12y ago

GvS 12y ago

"US and on iOS only"

gecko 12y ago
There are links to not only Android, but even Windows Phone, on the linked page. Where did you get iOS-only?
- GvS 12y ago
  It's quote from OP.
- dan1234 12y ago
  From the article: >Enter Telenav, where I work. We’ve spent approximately a zillion man-years to fix these issues and today we’re announcing navigation using OSM within Scout, our consumer navigation app. We’re starting in the US and on iOS with the rest to follow.
- mikestew 12y ago
  I believe that they might be referring to using OSM data. The Scout app for Android has been around for a while. But the copyright notice in the lower right says "year-year TomTom". So I'm thinking that, yes, there are apps for other platforms but they don't use (at least not completely) OSM data yet. EDIT: yup, on Android it's missing a bunch of edits I did to OSM in my neighborhood. Some of those edits are probably a couple of years old, so it looks like they haven't switched over on all platforms yet.
simpleAJ 12y ago
http://www.scout.me/app http://www.scout.me/app This page shows all 4 platform apps. What I am missing?
- jcastro 12y ago
  I just gave it a shot during lunch on Android and the app is missing the OSM data I added to my neighborhood, so I am assuming it's still using their old data and that they'll kick over to the OSM data as part of an update.

dewey 12y ago

Not really related to the post but they are talking about making OSM cosumer-ready and every time I try to use OSM instead of Google Maps I realise it's just not on the same level yet. It doesn't have to be on par in terms of error correcting input or location based search result because they just don't have the data on me like Google does (locations close to my work place, home,...) but even just the basic task of searching for my street on OSM [0] will give me a bunch of information the end-user doesn't really need to know like: - tags - created by - version - changeset # - location ID Is there a "cleaner" more consumer friendly web interface for the maps, maybe with a prettier mapstyle like the ones used in apps like Foursquare (afaik they are using OSM)? [0] http://www.openstreetmap.org/ http://www.openstreetmap.org/

seren 12y ago
I am not sure the goal of the project is to provide the better user interface as-is, but rather to be a kind of "upstream" for geo data.
dublinben 12y ago
You're really not meant to be using OSM.org directly as a drop-in replacement for Google Maps or Bing Maps. It's primarily a back end dataset, and that site is the front door to contributing to the data set. You ought to try some deployments like https://www.komoot.de/ https://www.komoot.de/ and http://open.mapquest.com/ http://open.mapquest.com/
- coldpie 12y ago
  Thank you. I wish this was more obvious.
squeaky-clean 12y ago
This is something I think OSM really needs to communicate more clearly. You're not supposed to use the main OSM site for actual navigation or mapping purposes. It lets you contribute, and see all the contributions, but the OSM website is not for the end-user. Even though it appears to be. When people say OSM is ready for the consumer, they're lying. What they really mean is OSM is ready for people to wrap into something for the consumer.

pedrocr 12y ago

>we’re pumping all the good stuff that we can back in to OSM. This takes time due to OSMs consensus on not importing the masses of fixes we generate. This seems strange. Anyone know the story?

morganherlocker 12y ago
OSM prefers user created data. Mass imports often contain errors all over the place (many going back unnoticed for years). OSM holds a general mindset that data should only be included if someone is fairly certain the data is correct (which they would not be on a mass import). "When in doubt, leave it out." That said, it is more of a guideline than a rule, and there have been mass imports in the past.
- Brakenshire 12y ago
  One solution might be for them to maintain their own error-checked database, and then provide a website and map overlay ontop of OSM, pointing out where the discrepancies are between the two. Then local mappers could go around and confirm the corrections. I do think in the long-run OSM will need some error-checking processes if it aspires to be a definitive database. At the moment, I could quite happily subtly mess up a motorway junction in Japan, and most of the OSM mapping software would have no way to knowing not to package it up and send it out. Vandalism is not an issue now, but as the dataset becomes more popular, I think some mechanisms will need to go into place to protect its integrity (particularly for major infrastructure).
  - sitkack 12y ago
    You might like the "Propagator Model" of computation, think of it is a probabilistic graph with CRDT like information augmentation. http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/propagators/ http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/gjs/propagators/ https://github.com/tgk/propaganda https://github.com/tgk/propaganda
maxerickson 12y ago
At some point it becomes difficult to mechanically integrate the data, and having the data nicely integrated is sort of one of the selling points of OSM. There is also a repeated pattern of imports planning on 'fixing it later' and then not really following through. Another thing is that existing OSM data will tend to be more recent, so 'trampling' it for better coverage isn't all that desirable. One thing that seems to get overlooked is that data that is in a state where it could be imported into the main database is also in a state where it can be mixed with a snapshot of the main database. So whoever has that data can make use of it to increase their coverage without worrying about how other users would want the data integrated.

janus 12y ago

What's a good navigation app for Android that works outside the US? (Scout doesn't) I have a couple of apps in my phone (Navigator and Waze), but the UI is really cumbersome compared to Google Maps. I use them because OSM maps are better in small tows in my area than Google Maps, plus you can keep offline maps.

techsupporter 12y ago
OsmAnd? I don't really use it for navigation (why not, see below) but I know that it is a feature and I'm 100% sure of its offline maps capability. Why not: It doesn't have bus/train/streetcar transit routing, something I don't expect it to have, though I'm feverishly adding all of the bus stops around me just in case.
- privong 12y ago
  I use it for a general idea of where to drive. But I don't follow the directions blindly. It seems to equate all "highways", meaning it gives equal weight to interstates and state highways, which results in routes which are direct, but slower than a slightly more indirect route making more use of interstates.
  - Brakenshire 12y ago
    In Settings > Navigation, you can change the routing engine, incidentally, which might solve that problem. Although the other options require an internet connection for the initial calculation.
    - privong 12y ago
      Thanks. I guess I've shied away from those because I'm often out of cell service when I need directions :) But I should do some test runs to see how they compare.
      - maxerickson 12y ago

ronaldx 12y ago

Privacy policy says: "Personal information does not include anonymous or aggregate information, which after processing may not be associated with a specific person or entity." But I find this a dishonest definition of personal information. The concept of the app depends on personal journeys being recorded and stored ("indefinitely"), which would very often and very easily identify a person via their home or workplace. There should be consideration for this in the privacy policies.

schabernakk 12y ago

I tried switching to OSM in an effort to get away from google maps. People always say 'OSM is consumer ready' but forget that OSM first and foremost is the dataset. And as far as i am concerned, there is no good maps app on the iOS appstore that even comes close to google maps. and i think i tried pretty much all relevant ones. skobbler (which i just found out is part of coast) seems to be the most polished. but as long as there is no unified search and you have to enter streetname/adress/city in seperate boxes which excludes searching for the names of buildings (for example university buildings) for which the names clearly exist in the database and are shown onthe map, i have no choice other than switch back to google. i really hope this changes soon and the UI/apps catch up to the greatness that is OSM. edit: i have an iphone and although i live in canada i still use the german appstore (CC requirement). that's why i can't comment on the app the original post was about as it's only available in the US store. it was more of a general remark about my frustration with the state of apps using the osm dataset. I want to get rid of google maps and I feel the maps part of osm would be ready for that. I can tolerate if the commercial store data is not as up2date. But if the general usuability suffers, i rather opt for gmaps.

lucaspiller 12y ago
I tried using OSM a month ago when I was travelling around Bali, Indonesia. Google Maps is terrible there, so it wasn't like I had much choice. I looked on Google Play and found an app called "OsmAnd Maps & Navigation" that was well rated, it was also offline which was a plus as there is limited mobile coverage outside of the main parts of the island. I downloaded it then the dataset for Indonesia (200mb, it took a while), and tried finding a route. After a few minutes (!) it had calculated one, but the route definitely wasn't optimal. I tried another app "Sygic: GPS Navigation & Maps", it was premium but had a 7 day free trial (perfect for my 3 day road trip). The route it calculated seemed a lot better, so I went with that. I was actually really surprised by how well it worked, even in the north of the island which is quite undeveloped in places it was able to find the best routes. TL;DR; Even though the dataset may be ready, you still need supporting consumer ready apps to use it. (Originally posted this as a separate comment, but it is pretty relevant to this).
DCKing 12y ago

clarry 12y ago

So for those of you who live in the US, congrats. The situation in my area is nowhere near as good. I've got a couple Garmin GPSes as well as a GPS capable phone, and I would just love to map every road and path in a 100km radius from home. Unfortunately all the mapping software I've tried is so horribly slow I'd have to buy a new computer to be able to do much at all with the data I can collect.

unwind 12y ago
Mapping software? I thought OSM was mainly edited on the web, right at http://www.openstreetmap.org/traces http://www.openstreetmap.org/traces is where you can upload your GPS traces for instance.
- clarry 12y ago
  Yes, the web editor is called iD. It is software. It is slow.
  - morganherlocker 12y ago
    You could try the JOSM editor[1], but iD is about as lightweight as it gets, so I am not sure if it would be much better. For what its worth, I use iD regularly without performance issues, but YMMV on older machines. Unfortunately, vector rendering and editing will tend to push browsers to their limit. This may be alleviated somewhat by the use of WebGL in coming years. [1] https://josm.openstreetmap.de/ https://josm.openstreetmap.de/
    - lucb1e 12y ago
      iD lightweight? It has trouble rendering a good block of houses when there is a lot of data whereas josm only gets into trouble rendering a small city or so of equally dense data.
      - bhousel 12y ago
        You can open an issue here with details about where this occurs and your browser/machine details: https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD https://github.com/openstreetmap/iD Or send them to me and I will enter the issue.. I'm a collaborator on that project.

chatman 12y ago

How is this such a big news? There is no navigation option in default openstreetmap.org experience. And there have been several other navigation/routing websites based on OSM data before. I sense nothing new here.

riquito 12y ago

> Feel sorry for how proprietary maps are currently built. When there’s a new road built, they all have to scramble to add it. I'm not into the business of maps, but don't the major players pay Nations/Cities or third parties that have the latest data about roads to be promptly updated? (whoever build the roads must have the data, and they'll be happy to sell it I suppose). (ok, probably every city uses a different format or has the maps on paper...) Then we can talk about if this data should be free or not.

davexunit 12y ago
Map data is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free.
- xanderstrike 12y ago
  Food is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free. Transportation is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free. Shelter is of utility to everyone, of course it should be free.
  - dllthomas 12y ago
    Those all have significant marginal cost.
    - toomuchtodo 12y ago
      The marginal cost of all of those is dropping. If you can automate mobility (Self-driving EVs), the production of housing (3D printed homes), and farming (automated planting, maintenance, harvesting), you can indeed provide it all for free.
      - saraid216 12y ago
        Land is still a scarce resource.
      - 12y ago

thegeomaster 12y ago

I hope they start doing Europe soon, OSM datasets definitely need some love over here. And a big respect to all the people who made this possible.

ritonlajoie 12y ago
Well, I typed my address in OSM (I live in Paris) and I can even see the trees, on the map itself. I was very surprised. Where do you live ? Also, you should really put some license there https://github.com/geomaster/vimrc https://github.com/geomaster/vimrc :) Maybe try to promote a license you like :p

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

zmh 12y ago

Maybe I overlook? Are there turn-by-turn navigation api yet? Over the last year, every time I check it seems to be not available yet. I believe most or all streets in OSM only support up to street level rather than street NUMBER level. Well, please point me to some counter-examples if I am wrong.

morganherlocker 12y ago
Try out OSRM[1]. It is open source[2], so you can run it yourself, or you can use a public api for limited usage. The api has a JSON response with turn-by-turn[3], and it is remarkably fast. [1] http://map.project-osrm.org/ http://map.project-osrm.org/ [2] https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM [3] https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM/wiki/Server-api https://github.com/DennisOSRM/Project-OSRM/wiki/Server-api
- zmh 12y ago
  Wow, speed is great. I'll definitely check it out. However, the second statement still seems to be valid: OSM is still at the street name level rather than street number level. I read some MapQuest's document saying that Mapquest actually took points on a street and interpolate all the numbers. Maybe OSM can do the same. Eagerly waiting...
  - morganherlocker 12y ago
    OSM does have addresses, but coverage is far from perfect. Nominatum (the geocoder used by OSRM) will interpolate addresses if it does not have the exact parcel info, which is surprisingly accurate in many cases. Work is also being done to create full address coverage as well[1], which you should check out if you are interested. [1] http://openaddresses.io/ http://openaddresses.io/
Doctor_Fegg 12y ago
Routing is coming to osm.org real soon now, and as morganherlocker has pointed out, the software is already widely available (and used) elsewhere. But yes, house number data in OSM is partial at best.

cnbuff410 12y ago

So the more we use this app, the more contribution I can make back into OSM AUTOMATICALLY, is that correct? Hopefully they will release Android version app soon.

Justsignedup 12y ago

I'm just gonna point out something: OSM is 10 years old, and after countless hrs and investing its finally ready for prime time. People who think a new internet is coming via some disruptive technology need to read this article and realize that real, long-term, awesome change takes time.

Vik1ng 12y ago
I would argue that really depends on the subject. Maps are to some extent limited. Yes, they are never 100% up-to-date, but looking at my small village if I had mapped that 10 years ago all I would have had to change up until today would be maybe 15 new homes and 2 new streets a few stores and some small adjustments, but that's pretty much it. On the other hand if I wanted to build a search engine that's a completely different story.
awongh 12y ago
yes, and part of the reason this took so long could be that google maps was free/ very cheap for a lot of that 10 years. Once they got more expensive people had more incentive to switch....
pekk 12y ago
It's still not really usable for navigation, has all kinds of accuracy problems and the worst is that they don't even want help scaling up the data pipeline, they just want armies of people to click by hand on their weak editing app. Labor is expensive, technology is cheap, why insist on such an insanely labor-intensive data pipeline?
- MaBu 12y ago
  Things are changing in a way. There is Slide from Strava ( http://labs.strava.com/ http://labs.strava.com/ ). Where you just roughly click where a path is and it creates nice path from its database of gazillion GPX tracks. It can be used as an iD editor plugin already. There are scripts for automatic lake and building creation from satellite images but most interesting thing seems to be coming from Digital Globe. In this year state of the map USA ( http://stateofthemap.us/session/mapping-the-world-in-raster/ http://stateofthemap.us/session/mapping-the-world-in-raster/ ) they said that this year SDK is coming where they would automatically draw buildings and streets from satellite images and you would get APIs to play with this and insert into OSM. (They already provide images to OSM through Bing and MapBox). So yes drawing streets and buildings isn't fun but you need people to know what is a street/cycleway POI and etc.. There are also projects for figuring out one way streets, max speeds.

cheetahtech 12y ago

I have totally converted to OSM with my startups. We use it soley for all our mapping needs and it does quite well. See it in action: https://rdnation.com/roller-derby-leagues https://rdnation.com/roller-derby-leagues

maxerickson 12y ago
Some 'null's show through for one of the teams in New Jersey.
Vik1ng 12y ago
Attribution...

throwaway7767 12y ago

Will the routing data be fed into OSM, or will telenav be building their own closed routing database that they use in conjunction with OSM? I didn't see an answer to that on the linked page.

netcan 12y ago

"This item cannot be installed in your device's country" Huh?

thrownaway2424 12y ago

Android really needs to do something about the permissions model. This app asks for every permission in the book, but I have no way to tell if the app will use these permissions for a good reason.

Brakenshire 12y ago
I agree. Anyone know whether there's an Android distribution which will give you more granular control over permissions? Cyanogenmod seems to be a little better, but I haven't used it myself.
- xiaq 12y ago
  There was a feature named "app ops", once released accidentally and disabled afterwards [1]. There are also other 3rd party solutions [2]. I remember that some ROMs go even further and prompts you each time an app uses a specific permission (there is a "remember" option of course...). MIUI seems to be one of them, though I'm not sure. 1. http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/07/25/app-ops-android-4-3s-hidden-app-permission-manager-control-permissions-for-individual-apps/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/07/25/app-ops-android-4-3s... 2. http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/35473/other-apps-to-manage-permissions http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/35473/other-apps-...
- thrownaway2424 12y ago
  Granularity isn't really the problem. The problem is there's no connection between something I want to do in the app and the permission it requires. It might be obvious why this app wants to use my microphone at the instant I tried to invoke some feature, but at install time it's not apparent at all.
  - Brakenshire 12y ago
    Yeah, that is what I intended (as in fine-grained controls).
- dsr_ 12y ago
  Most rooted phones can install the XPosed Framework, which can then install XPrivacy. See http://repo.xposed.info/module/biz.bokhorst.xprivacy http://repo.xposed.info/module/biz.bokhorst.xprivacy for details.

powertex 12y ago

openstretmap is by far superior to apple's map app. that shotty pos.

chromelyke 12y ago

For those of you asking about Global options, it sounds like this will happen over time per the press release - http://www.telenav.com/about/pr/pr-20140519.html http://www.telenav.com/about/pr/pr-20140519.html

leccine 12y ago

I am glad to see OSM getting more popular because Google Maps is just getting worse by every day. The new WebUI is absolutely terrible, I had to permanently disable it because I could not even use my laptop while a GMap tab was open. They removed features I used and added many I don't care. On the top of these, the routing algo in GMaps is just laughable. It does not have the updated version of no left and no right turns, if you have 2 routes one with no highway one with highway it is going to pick the highway one even though it is 2 times the distance and so on. The traffic information is pretty much useless, only got better when they merged in Waze information but still bad.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

gchokov 12y ago

The last I saw a similar post, couple of months ago, the map was not ready in my home area. Now tough, it's pretty advanced. Awesome progress!

tgb 12y ago

Play store says the app is incompatible with both my 4.4 nexus 7 and my aging gingerbread phone, but doesn't say why. Anyone know?

dagurp 12y ago
Same problem here. I have a Galaxy S3 (i9300)

twothamendment 12y ago

Consumer Ready? It is about 8 years behind in my neighborhood. My street doesn't exist and it there in 2006. Google has a street view of it and has been able to find my address since 2007.

dingaling 12y ago
> It is about 8 years behind in my neighborhood. Like I replied to the poster up-page; it's eight years behind because you haven't gone and added that data. Jump to it!
- mikeash 12y ago
  Why don't you add it?
  - isaacremuant 12y ago
    Because he is not the one interested in that piece. If everyone in this thread adds the piece they can't find it will populate really fast... And what's more... It'll be EVERYONE's. Not Google's or Microsoft's or X's company imposing THEIR terms.
    - mikeash 12y ago
      Of the two of them, it looks to me like dingaling is far more interested in getting this added to OSM.
- pekk 12y ago
  OSM is perfect for everything! Well, OK, it (still) isn't there yet... but it would be if everyone would only donate large amounts of manual labor to reproduce data which is probably available somewhere else, and just isn't allowed to be imported because of OSM policies against automation
  - hnha 12y ago
    Was some import from you "rejected" or why are you so aggressive? There are no rules against automation. There are just guidelines for not screwing up imports. You can import lots of data perfectly fine if the license allows it and you invest time into making it work flawlessly.

thrownaway2424 12y ago

I installed this app and it seems fairly gross. Is it really just for driving through places and not stopping? Because it seems to have close to zero points of interest. In my town it is incapable of finding any restaurant or other eatery which is not part of a huge national chain like McDonalds.

sirdogealot 12y ago
How many people live in your town? I suspect that points of interest would be fully up to date in places like New York City, but lacking in smaller towns and villages for obvious reasons.
dingaling 12y ago
> Because it seems to have close to zero points of interest. 1. Go to osm.org 2. Create an account 3. Add the PoIs 4. Save changes
- jlarocco 12y ago
  That's all well and good for people who enjoy doing that. But I'm not interested, and I suspect a lot of other people aren't interested. And you can turn it around and say, "Well then it's your own fault OSM isn't better," but the fact of the matter is, I don't care, and I'll just use Google Maps, or Apple's maps, or some other map that has the info. I like OSM, and I think it's neat, but trying to guilt people into helping out is going to turn away more people than it's going to bring in.
  - fuck_google 12y ago
    Why should OSM even try to attract users that don't bring in any value by contributing?
    - maxerickson 12y ago
      OSM shouldn't worry too much about those users. If Telenav is attracting them, getting them to pay money and using some of that money to improve OSM, the community probably shouldn't be too hostile to honest evaluations from those people.

whatts 12y ago

Well, skobbler did all this for iOS and Android. And TeleNav bought skobbler for $24M in January [1] -- so it's obvious why TeleNav might be able to do this now. But will skobbler support stop? Why switch from skobbler to TeleNav's own products at all? With skobbler, you can get your whole continent's maps for roughly $7.50. [1] http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/30/telenav-buys-skobbler/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/30/telenav-buys-skobbler/

whatts 12y ago
Okay, skobbler has now published an update for its Android app where the "Scout by TeleNav" brand is introduced.

justizin 12y ago

Scout app is nice, but no cycling routes - something only Google seems to do. :/

edraferi 12y ago
Map My Ride has some great cycle mapping tools. They have several base maps available, I'm not sure exactly where the data comes from.
liotier 12y ago
Good cycling routes on OSM data ? Yes - https://www.komoot.de https://www.komoot.de !
Doctor_Fegg 12y ago
OSM-based cycle routes: http://cycle.travel/map http://cycle.travel/map . UK-only... for now.

mjcohen 12y ago

And then they charge you US $25 per year or $5 per month for maps!!!! I'll stick with Co-pilot and Navigon. At least when you get the maps they are yours forever.

mkesper 12y ago
No need to use this service. If a big chunk of the money would go into osm, I'd consider it fair, though.

pella 12y ago

List of OSM based Services - Routing : http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Services#Routing http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Service... + http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing

Semaphor 12y ago

OSM has better maps than Google in my 200k pop town in the north of Germany. Recently google even tried to have me walk through a closed company to get where I wanted to go. Sadly searching sucks (unless you know the specific address) and the reviews for the international scout app make me very wary of using it.

mauriziopd 12y ago

For those looking for a good Android app that uses OSM. I use Mapfactor Navigator and think it is great (I've used it in Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Crozia). It let's you use it with OSM data or Tom Tom, you can use Google for address search and use it offline if you need. I'm not affiliated, just a happy user https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapfactor.navigator https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapfactor....