this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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I've tried using it over the years but I never liked it because there was no information. So last night I looked at my local city and there is almost no information at all. I spent a few hours last night adding buildings and restaurants and removing incorrect items. It was actually kind of fun and therapeutic and I plan to do more of it tonight. My girlfriend thinks it's dumb and I'm wasting my time because Google maps and Apple maps and Bing maps exists but she just doesn't understand open source.

Edit: Apologies, I just realized this question is not Linux specific.

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[–] tallpaul@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

We update it a lot. We also have a product (for walkers in the British Isles) called WayMaps (used by a variety of walking web sites in the UK and also our own demo site https://waymaps.the-hug.net/) which uses the geodata from OSM and other Open Data to produce our own map tiles. We love OSM.

[–] float@waveform.social 1 points 1 year ago

Yes!

I try to navigate everywhere with organic map. If I need to look up a business' coordinates, I use a web container of gmaps I found on f-droid. If I go somewhere and it isn't in open maps, I add it.

[–] MrMusAddict@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

ABRP (ABetterRoutePlanner, the best routing software for EVs) uses OSM. FYI for any EV owners.

I update OSM all the time. Agreed it's super therapeutic!

[–] nigh7y@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I occasionally update the POIs in my city and update some paths that occasionally change.

[–] markr@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Tesla uses osm via mapbox.

[–] zeroscan@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Back before I felt comfortable taking my expensive smartphones running with me for the GPS purposes, I'd manually enter my running routes into RunKeeper. I don't know if they still use it, but back then their mapping was powered by OpenStreetMap. I'd add in stuff like sidewalks and trails that weren't on the map yet to make my manual entries easier. I liked doing this--it was kind of fun and I felt good contributing my knowledge of my local unimportant suburb to the world.

I've been surprised at how much is already on there, though. Out of curiosity I went to look at the map for my mom's hometown of ~500 people in the middle of nowhere and found it surprisingly complete.

I still like OpenStreetMap, but don't use it as much anymore. I wish there was a navigation app that used OSM data and was able to give me audio cues (e.g. "turn left at the next exit"), because that's 99% of my map use these days. (And if there is one that I don't know about, please let me know!)

[–] borlax@lemmy.borlax.com 1 points 1 year ago

I love the idea of OSM, been trying to use MagicEarth on iPhone which leverages OSM, but I run into similar issues that your describe. I’ll be honest tho, I never even thought of trying to contribute, may look into it as a little hobby in my free time.

[–] Spiracle@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

OsmAnd is my family’s go-to app for navigation. I didn’t notice it missing information compared to Google Maps. The opposite really, with several hiking trails or small side-roads not being on Google some years ago. The only issue it has is navigation for more than ~200km at a time. Often, it just times out if you try that. That’s why Google Maps is still installed on some devices.

I haven’t added anything actively. I think I might have enabled an option to send location data to improve the accuracy of the streets or something at some point, but I’m very unsure about that one.

[–] centopus@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I regularly do edits in my city. Its way better than google maps. Especially when you're travelling and want to visit the less tourist crowded parts of whereever you are.

[–] MazonnaCara89@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Currently at 319 contributions on OpenStreetMap since the 22 of December 2022 some part of south Italy are not mapped at all so I'm trying my best to make at least usable.

If someone want to contribute to osm StreetComplete let you add simple tags to already existing tags and let you add stores with a monstrous simplicity!

Anyway tell your girlfriend that apple maps and bing maps use data from openstreet map and are huge contributors to the project, in fact the default map when you edit in osm is from bing!

[–] OddFed@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I'm honestly very confused by OSM. I always wanted to use it as an alternative to Google Maps, but it's so hard to use.

Anyone got some tips or good ressources to share?

[–] teolan@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The OpenStreetMap website isn't really menant for general consumption. It's more menant as a databse that other services can build upon.

For Android I recommend the excellent OrganicMaps, but you can also use Magic Earth (proprietary). Both are built on top of OSM data.

[–] OddFed@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nice, Organic Map is awesome. Do you also know a webapp similar to Google Maps?

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[–] NaturalEnganche@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I've not contributed to the main one, but I have for the humanitarian osm team, you get recently disaster stricken areas and copy roads and buildings and the like

[–] itchy_lizard@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes. Most of my contributions are "drinking water" (public water fountains) and "restrooms"

I've been meaning to ask: what's the appropriate POI for a normal 115/220 power outlet socket?

[–] samwilson@aussie.zone 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

power=outlet and socket=, although it's not widely used (but don't let that stop you!).

[–] itchy_lizard@feddit.it 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Sorry, but can you clairidy further? Those are tags. What should the POI amenity be?

[–] samwilson@aussie.zone 1 points 1 year ago

It can just be a single node with power=outlet, such as this one. Or combined with others (e.g. it looks like there are a few benches tagged as having power, and I guess a similar thing could be done for picnic shelters etc.). It depends on how micromappy you want to be I guess!

[–] Bannanable@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Used it OSMand~ and made some contributions, adding places near me.

[–] Fisch@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Started contributing aswell when I saw that my city was really outdated and it's actually really fun to do it

[–] KindaABigDyl@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a cool project, but I've used it, and man is it not going to be a replacement for Google Maps anytime soon, as much as I'd like to get to a FOSS alternative. I can't use it to navigate to a building down the street lol

It's not dumb to contribute though because it's already okay, so it can only get better than okay, and the way that happens is contributions

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[–] Janis@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you like lemmy? it works because ppl contribute. osm...same! try https://streetcomplete.app and contribute!!!

[–] FlyingPiisami@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The paranoid Eastern European in me awakes when the app asks for material of power poles, bridge types, and surface firmness of forest tracks.. 😬

[–] Helix@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago
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