cross-posted from: https://feddit.nl/post/33407329
We’ve all already talked about switching away from google/apple maps to something like openstreetmaps, mapy, tomtom amigo, etc. But all of these services use openstreetmaps (UK non-profit) as a source and they still miss a lot of local data even for bigger cities!
If you have some spare time, think about adding a bit of data to the map with your local knowledge. There’s a lot of business data missing that is on google maps like websites, phone numbers and opening hours but also stuff like parking lots and whether they’re publicly accessible and free or not. Adding these makes the competition of ALL services using OSM as a source better.
I also use the mobile app https://streetcomplete.app/ and https://every-door.app/ to add data while on my walks, these make my walks more engaging and I actually take longer ones + see new places because of it. Streetcomplete also has a focus on important and easy to collect data with their default filters, and you can choose what you want to contribute.
If you really want to get into the thick of it and contribute more than just simple data you can always check out https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/How_to_contribute and see in which of the many ways you can contribute!
I made 7 contributions last month
I like Every Door app, it makes it trivial to contribute and it’s pretty nice
I found that one very cluttered/unintuitive and not at all beginnerfriendly. I resorted to StreetComplete, not quite the same but gives the same feeling while mapping the details from my surroundings. Its soo satisfying!
Can’t we just scrape Google maps and add things to OSM? 🤔
There is an old tradition of mappers deliberately placing very small errors to be able to verify the copying of a map. So no, scraping big chunks is a bad idea. But I sometimes check details on the Gmaps satellite image or streetview.
I think there’s limitations to that. I also think ideally we should cut Google out our work chain anyways, and depending on data from there makes that functionally impossible. Stuff on maps changes, if we’re scraping from Google maps now we’re just gonna have to continue doing that. Instead we should normalize our own community work chains to build our own dataset.
Yep, best to verify the data either in person or at least via their website instead (if they have one)
I believe this is against their ToS and being caught doing that would mean all that data just gets removed again. But I’m no legal expert
Yes, it is. You should not copy from other maps (satellite imagery is okay as long as the license of the imagery allows it, for example Bing).
A well-mapped area on OpenStreetMap has much more details than Google Maps.
OSM allows more data point that’s not accepted on Google Maps. Like people have been mapping farm and its crops type, flowerbed, road accessible for blind people, or row of trees.
Not to forget, Google Maps also have a lot of faulty data.
That would be illegal. Also Google puts in fake roads to detect things like this.
Don’t do it.
@jagged_circle @kionite231
WHAT? Fake roads?
Who would trust them after that?
Thank you for sharing these apps! Have been looking for this exact kind of thing ever since I abandoned Google maps. I contributed to Google maps for years. It’ll be nice to contribute to something I believe in instead.
Enjoy! Same here! You can also contribute on mapy by doing reviews and uploading photos there!
Another who loves Street Complete. Makes my evening walks less random. I love the idea of using open street maps, but the one thing keeping me on google is the real time traffic redirecting 🫤 I do use organic maps for hikes, it’s great for offline. I just wish there were some better option for traffic.
Tomtom Amigo also uses traffic data! Although their dataset is ofc smaller than google maps as less people use it. (Still not FOSS, but at least not google)
I have been loving https://maproulette.org/ for when I’m on my computer!
Imma check that out thanks!
Is there any way to do this on iDevices?
EveryDoor works well on iOS for simple things like updating or adding shops etc.
“Go Map!!” is another one, and while I find it’s interface a bit harder to work with, it has a “Quests” setting, which lets you configure a filter of missing tags that show up on the map.
Thanks so much! 🙂
Thanks! TIL about EveryDoor.
Tell me what to get for my stupid iPhone.
You replace your stupid iPhone with one that allows third-party apps.
Work supplied, but thanks.
I thought it’s possible to sideload apps on iOS? Or is it only possible in the eu?
Every Door works on iPhone
Edit: someone told me https://organicmaps.app/ also has editing functions and it has an iOS app
Can this be done offline on Android devices and uploaded later? We ask because we currently have no data on our phone and it would be useful to edit when out, and then upload when we get back home.
It’s possible with StreetComplete since you can choose when to submit your quests
Oh, awesome! We will do it when out and about then.
I do believe as long as you’ve opened your app to download the quests first it works, although I have not tried that.
You could also look at https://organicmaps.app/nl/ if that has offline editing for maps
I noticed one problem with the application; if you make a mistake you cant fix it yourself or cancel, even if you turn off automatic sending. There should be one more step before sending so you can review and edit your work first.
I suggest using streetcomplete for more basic things, it has an undo button!
I do use it, but I cant find undo anywhere from it.
Bottom left of “Street Complete”?
I have no buttons there, unless you mean phone’s own back button which does abort whatever one is doing.
But what i mean is there is no undo for things you have already sent. Like for example, I noticed that a restauraunt seems to have slightly wrong opening times and I fixed them. Then I noticed after sending them that I was looking at wrong restauraunt and had to just make an issue for someone else to fix. I would rather just have undone the mistake or cancelled the sending since I have automatic submits off.
Here is a sequence of steps.
- Make an edit
- See undo button on bottom left
- Click undo
Well, now I feel a bit stupid if it was on that obvious place. Has it been there always or added recently?
Has been for a long time.
Whenever we bike ride gravel roads, we always correct the surface.
Organic Maps is a good app that also lets you do some editing. I like the interface better than osmand
I’m also a fan of organic perfect for hiking and for bikes
@Kualdir
Will install StreetComplete and maybe Every Door and will try themThanks for trying!
I’m trying, but it’s hard to stay motivated when the information on a lot of local areas I visit are so damn old.
There are entire areas where it looks like it acquired the data 5-10 years ago from some other mapping software (Google, Bing, something else), and hasn’t updated since. It didn’t have all of my street information for my neighborhood area, so I started there first. I didn’t really mind it too much, because, hey, Google didn’t have it filled in several years ago, either. I started using Vespucci and drew out some of the houses and streets.
But, as soon as I expand out, there are strip malls with really outdated information. StreetComplete tries to ask me questions about these places that were replaced long ago, and it doesn’t have the tools to allow me to carve out sections of the strip mall, since it only thinks there are two shops, but there’s now 8-10 shops. So, I go back to Vespucci and try to fill it out, but I only have so much time before I’m going to some other location, and I don’t really have the time to draw out even the map details in the place where I’m parked. I feel like I’m the only one that bothers and the entire city is out-of-date. It’s overwhelming.
If bots somehow got this information back then, then why can’t it pull this data now? Certain sections and entire cities desperately need a refresh.
