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.
I’ve been editing OSM for years. (896,339 edits in 3,427 changesets, apparently!) For me, it’s all about the free data. I once got a thank you note from someone who worked for a city with a particularly large municipal park. I’d added almost all the trails to the park and other information, and they’d used it to produce a printed map for the general public. Exactly the kind of thing I’d hoped for!
Personally, I do a lot of dualsport motorcycling and most backcountry maps around here are subpar. I map tons of trails and 2track and put them on the Garmin so I know where I’m going.
OSM is also great in lots of Europe–tons of detail.
JOSM is great.
Someone just recommended Organic Maps for the phone–it’s way snappier than Google Maps, but still not great with finding addresses.
What an awesome story to hear. I’ve been playing around with Organic Maps on my phone. I’ll have to look into JOSM.
Yeah josm is a lifechanger when you get used to it.
I’ve tried putting osm maps on my Garmin with limited success, how can I go about doing that?
There’s a list of ready-made providers of
gmapsupp.imgfiles.I’ve had the best luck with BBBike and OpenMapChest for getting pre-built map files.
Basically you have to get one of these files with all the data you want in it and then stick it on your SD card on the GPS. (The GPS should mount like a thumb drive. If you already have a
gmapsupp.imgfile on there, you might want to back it up in case things go sideways.) Some GPSes support multiplegmapsupp.imgfiles, but a lot don’t. Here’s a thread on merging.imgfiles.When I needed super fresh data, I’d download raw OSM data from Overpass and use mkgmap to build the
gmapsupp.img.Thanks a lot!
That’s really cool to hear about the parks. Most of the parks around here are pretty well mapped out. Presumably the local community is pretty strong.
I really want to produce something for my city’s NET and BEECN emergency response programs. They already have a few different maps, but not one unified map. My ideal is a map that could be taken offline or printed to spec.
https://streetcomplete.app/ is a fun way to contribute to OSM and do something else instead of just “walking” if you want to get outside a bit.
This is what I use! It’s like RPG quests in real life but about really boring subjects. Eg. What surface is the pavement on a nearby street. Or is there a bin next to this bus stop
😵💫 can’t 😵💫 not 😵💫 upvote 😵💫
This is really neat and you just gave me my new hobby, thank you!
Do you know of a similar app for iOS?
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/StreetComplete recommends GoMap!! and some others. Maybe one of those is also great.
Thanks!
I’ve heard good things about this app: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1621945342
This is actually amazing. I’ve done a bit of editing as I play Pokémon Go which uses OSM for the background map. I got fed up of just looking at roads so I mapped in all the buildings, shops, parks etc near me.
This gamifies walking and exploring which I love!
☝️ How to mod games while touching grass, instead of touching code… chef’s kiss
This is seriously awesome! Thank you for suggesting this.
I have added a small amount of area around my city but this will make it much easier to fill in the gaps.
Just to piggy back on here Every Door (https://every-door.app/) is so awesome if you wanna add/update shops and other small points of interest on the go. Highly recommend it.
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Try Everydoor as well. Another StreetComplete like App that’s great for adding simple items
OSM is huge for backcountry. Hiking trails, skiing, etc. There is nothing better.
Gaia?
I’m pretty sure Gaia Maps uses the info on OSM
Are the communities for skiing and especially backcountry yet?
Not any good ones that I’ve found for backpacking
There is also OpenSkiMap
Yeah. Story time:
In the England we have ancient rights-of-way laws but a lot of private landowners try to block footpaths that cross their land. If a landowner can argue a footpath hasn’t been used in (I think) two years they can have it removed, but in 2025 all the existing footpaths will be made permanent and indelible except with explicit local government permission so between now and then a lot of landowners will be rushing to get paths removed.
I’ve made a point of walking every footpath in my area and making sure they’re all documented on OSM. If any of the landowners try to get a path removed I have my GPS tracks as proof of use.
Edit: FWIW, I find OSM to be the best map for rambling. Google and Apple don’t come close and OSM even gives Ordinance Survey a run for it’s money.
Anecdote time: I was just in Yorkshire (first time in England) heard about the idea of public footpaths so we found one, walked it and had a picnic. Loved every second, ended up going through a sheep field then a cow field. Can’t wait to go back
Great job!
That’s really nice! Thank you for your service!
Was that plan scrapped from what I can tell? https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60418555 Is there still risk of the right of way paths being fenced up/privatized fully?
Yes I use OSM almost exclusively and have contributed to it.
Where I live, in Germany, OSM is pretty much on the same level as Google Maps and way better than Apple Maps. Sometimes there is outdated info but you can quickly correct it. Sometimes I double check stuff with GM. Some information is even better than GM. But I think Germany has a pretty strong OSM community, at least in my city.
I use Organic Maps on iOS.
Same here. I downloaded it recently to have a look and just realized how easy it is to update information for places that I frequently visit. What I like about that is that I can add information isn‘t listed in any map, because shop owners other people responsible don‘t bother (yes, people like this exist).
Doesn’t Apple Maps use data from OSM? Edit: They actually do. At least in Denmark.
Kinda, the information is definitely not the same.
It might be specific data and not everything, that Apple uses from OSM.
Hey, another German here and I’ve been using OSMAnd for android for years, but I’ve never contributed. How can I get into it easily?
Make an account on OSM, find something wrong on the map, update it.
Start with your commute or places you go. Check the information, I often find wrong opening hours. Maybe some constitution altered something. You’ll find something.
Im currently using streetcomplete, which is an app that gamifies the experience of fulfilling OSM gaps. It’s like playing pokemon go but you are hunting a street with isle. I found this recommendation here in lemmy so im passing forward, I loved it
I just saw that and downloaded it. My struggle is telling the difference between asphalt and concrete.
Wait until you have to decide between gravel and compacted gravel.
But seriously, asphalt and concrete should be pretty obvious. Alphalt is darker and porous, gravel embedded into an almost gooey (when hot) substance. Concrete is flat, often in slabs next to each other, prone to cracking.
My local Public works committee has a habit of digging up asphalt roads to do water supply pipe repairs, and then filling them up with the rubble when they’re done. What category would such a road some under?
Possibly something like
surface=asphalt smoothness=intermediateBut I’m really not sure. You might find information at https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:surface and/or https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:smoothness
Wiki has descriptions for the surface types, https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:surface gravel seems to be general term that includes compacted gravel, I had to look up difference between dirt, ground and unpaved without text descriptions from the wiki that would have been impossible.
Asphalt can be on top of concrete.
But From my experience concreet normally has a visible splits between segments every few meters and is almost always way lighter in color.
https://infrastructurenews.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2015/08/Concrete-roads.jpg
I’m not a specialist but to me, it is all about road quality, asfalt when you can safely drive and it’s very smooth ride like you drive in the air, while co concrete you can drive well but there are clearly visible or audible bumps, so for me the actual material (or mix of them) doesn’t matter, if they can make classy and safe to drive road with glass or anything else should not matter.
I think I got it figured out. It’s pretty obvious when I compare them side by side.
That looks really fun, thanks for passing the recommendation on!
I use OsmAnd~. Mainly to analyze my skating routes (average speed, distance, etc) and planning sightseeing routes when on vacation.
For finding commute an app from local public transport is still the best and google maps are better than osmand, but for navigation on foot it’s very good. And you can download the region earlier, so when you use it, you don’t need that much data.
I had the same experience. OsmAnd seems to be better for planning routes on foot than Google maps. Where Google Maps is clearly better is for info about businesses and stores.
I found OsmAnd~ to not only be good on foot, but also on bike. It sometimes plans more aggressive routes than google which saves time (side streets for less distance, opposite directions on one ways…). Take this with a grain of salt though, because I ride primarily in NYC.
What Google does (I see it as remains from early days of how it became good) is it takes into consideration the route other people took. So if a lot of people do an illegal u-turn, there’s high probability you’ll be proposed such route too.
It works the other way round too. If a lot of people don’t take an optimal route for whatever reason, there’s less probability it’ll propose it to you.OsmAnd just tries to connect the dots postman-np-problem style
OSMAnd is how I use OpenStreetMap too. It’s quite good for road routes even in rural areas, but especially in those rural areas finding specific locations can be spotty or outdated. Even in my town of over 100,000, I still have trouble finding some local places like restaurants and businesses. I always try searching for what I’m looking for before I leave home, so I have access to my computer to pull up a map and address to pin onto OSMAnd if I need to. (I’m someone who de-Googles as much as humanly possible so I don’t use Google Maps.) With more up-to-date data it can be a great alternative to Google or Apple Maps, but that’s the nature of crowd built data: it’s only as up-to-date as the data contributors provide, and that’s both a strength and a weakness of OSM.
In ideal world it would be businesses putting info about them in OSM, same as they do with Google maps now.
Until then it has to be us putting them on the map, I guess
I actually find OSMAnd is great for busses because you can quickly see all the bus routes as lines and figure out which you need to take.
Ifinsd most cities just make a PDF that doesn’t have as much detail and you can’t pinch-zoom and pan around quickly. And their guides specify neighbourhoods or destinations whose names you’re not familiar with
I regularly use OSM data through Organic Maps (mostly for larger European cities). The app is really polished and is a joy to use. So far I’m not missing any features from Google Maps.
I’ve also updated some faulty business hours for some restaurants so I guess I’ve contributed back.
E: With the recent developments in the world of free online services (YouTube blocking ad-blockers, Google lying to their customers about its TrueView ads, Twitter rate limiting free access, the Reddit API fiasco), I wonder how much longer we can take free services like Google Maps for granted. Having an open alternative may become even more important in the future.
organic maps is a great app!
I like osmand because during several lanes it highlights the lane to go to. I noticed organic maps had something similar today when i tried it, though ill need to do more testing to see all the features.
I think organics maps has a a good clean ui. Improvement woukd definitley be compatibility when using the voice for navigation, a bit laggy but maybe ill need to adjust rhvoice. Also im seeing if it has the show the next turn on a small icon of some sort.
Osmand is good overall but it can get too cluttered real quick. Its been getting a bit slow but maybe some tweaks will help.
Also i have contributed to openstreetmaps especially toward small businesses to make it easier to find.
OsmAnd UI is just too much.
I use it quite often, but only recently began contributing. And as they (very) wisely say at the bottom of the wiki (https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Editing_Standards_and_Conventions ):
WARNING: OpenStreetMap is highly addictive Take frequent breaks, there is a lot to be done.
Your link is broken, unfortunately the last ‘):’ was appended to the link
Thanks! Fixed
Where I live it’s much more complete than google maps, especially in the countryside.
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!
I use it all the time with OSMand. and i have contributed to OSM for years. I just had a look - i start in Sep 2010 (13 years!) and all of my edits (except for a humanitarian tracing excersice for mozambique) i have been to. it is a niice spread:
Ooohh!! Please, post a bit in the lemmy community as well.
Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn’t work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: [email protected]
done 😀
I contribute regularly. I used to waste a lot of time watching TV series, instead now I contribute to OSM.
I’m in the UK and open street map has mapped out my local area more accurately than google. It is marginal, but I stopped using google maps after a few issues: I was hiking and it directed me into a privately owned farm (claiming it is a permissive footpath).The farmer was very racist.
Another time I was directed through the middle of a primary school.
Lol at the racist farmer
