
What OpenStreetMap can be - Doctor_Fegg
http://blog.systemed.net/post/15
======
akavel
As to humanitarian use for OSM and how anyone can contribute by small tasks
(I've tried it myself, was surprisingly exciting), enabling faster and more
accurate response and travel to people in need, see:

[https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Humanitarian_OSM_Team)

[https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Tasking_Manager](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Tasking_Manager)

As to work in progress on detection of features and automatic conversion to
maps, I've recently found the below website:

[https://blog.mapillary.com/update/2016/07/15/mapillary-
osm.h...](https://blog.mapillary.com/update/2016/07/15/mapillary-osm.html)

~~~
maxerickson
Facebook and Microsoft have both undertaken large scale ML projects
contributing data to OSM. Facebook has a pilot in Thailand:

[https://forum.osm.org/viewtopic.php?id=61826](https://forum.osm.org/viewtopic.php?id=61826)

and Microsoft released 124 million buildings for contribution to OSM:

[https://blogs.bing.com/maps/2018-06/microsoft-
releases-125-m...](https://blogs.bing.com/maps/2018-06/microsoft-
releases-125-million-building-footprints-in-the-us-as-open-data)

There's also been some work by individuals:

[https://github.com/jremillard/images-to-
osm](https://github.com/jremillard/images-to-osm)

A key to the satellite imagery projects is that the imagery be suitably
licensed.

~~~
linsomniac
We recently overlaid the Microsoft buildings over Boulder Colorado aerial maps
and in some places they were pretty good. In others, where there was just the
right amount of tree cover, it was pretty bad. Houses cut up into 2 or 3 or 4
chunks, for example.

It's a great data set, but it'll probably need some curation.

~~~
maxerickson
For sure, it will need curation. But even if it were just information about
where buildings _probably_ existed it would be hugely useful. An example use
case is improving building coverage in a rural area.

~~~
linsomniac
Sure! I wonder if the ML system could make use of information such as lot size
and shape (from the county), building sqft, number of levels, information
about outbuildings (from the MLS or property tax), and could get smarter. And
if it can tell a tree from grass.

"This small lot has 3 200sqft buildings separated by a tree on it, but is
supposed to have a 1200sqft ranch house... Maybe those 3 buildings define the
bounding box of the house?"

------
lakechfoma
I'm excited about this direction! I do minor contributions and poking around
my area I'm surprised by how much of it is done by very few people. How useful
it is yet how lacking it is. There's a neighboring town that is absurdly well
documented, it seems a group of people got together over a month and mapped
the place out meticulously, including drawing all buildings etc. This town
would work very well for these vector maps, my town probably not so much.

I wonder how to get more people involved, and excited, about OSM? How do we
make it the Wikipedia of digital maps?

And does Strava/Mapbox give back? When Strava identifies common bike routes,
or perhaps trails, and when Mapbox determines that roads have changed is that
given back to OSM in some capacity?

~~~
avar

        >  I'm surprised by how much of it is
        > done by very few people [...] How do
        > we make it the Wikipedia of digital maps?
    

The exact same contribution curve applies to Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap.
Something like 5% of the users to 90% of the work.

~~~
mistrial9
hmm care to be more specific ?

------
doombolt
What makes OpenStreetMap shine really is their desire to map every man-made
and natural object.

I'm talking about things like trees, garbage bins and industrial buildings.

Commercial maps has areas where they care deeply, and areas where there's zero
care. OpenSteetMap cares about everything. If you are a hobbyst (of
practically anything), sooner or later you'll find better representation of
your narrow interests on OSM than on Google or Apple maps.

Google has awesome maps of shopping centers. OSM has awesome maps of tracks in
woods and parks. You've got to choose your life style here.

~~~
bowlich
Google Map's lack of geographic features has been off putting for me for quite
some time. They can list every last commercial entity under the sun, but can't
be bothered to get the name of a river correct, name high points (which would
be useful for navigation), canyons/ravines are generally missing. Items like
campgrounds tend to direct to commercial enterprises rather than dispersed
sites.

OSM has all of that, it's great.

I haven't had time to really dig into OSM. One item that confuses me is the
community-based editing which lends me to not wanting to touch it out of fear
I'll cross someone (like Wikipedia). I do a lot of personal mapping on Google
Earth of routes, points of interest, etc., just dumping GPS data out after
walks. I would like to do the same on OSM, and store it as my own private
overlay but I don't see how.

~~~
maxerickson
There's no personal mapping features on osm.org.

You could try
[http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/](http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/)

As far as crossing someone, it certainly happens that people get territorial
and there are lots of relatively pointless objections, but many people welcome
improvements in the areas they pay attention to. And then a difference with
Wikipedia is that in OSM, if you go look at something and establish ground
truth, that's the gold standard.

You can look at [http://resultmaps.neis-one.org/osm-
discussions](http://resultmaps.neis-one.org/osm-discussions) to see what a lot
of interactions end up looking like. Usually polite and straightforward.

------
zrav
Of course there's also derivates of OSM that would be impossible to replace
with Gmaps. For instance the topographics maps with detailed path
characteristics for offline use for hiking and cycling provided by
[https://www.openandromaps.org/en](https://www.openandromaps.org/en)

~~~
rocqua
I recently went hiking in the pyrenees, and I had IGN maps (french topographic
service), randonnee edition maps (commercial, based on multiple sources) and
the OSM hiking map available offline on my phone though OSMand.

I found the app the most accurate source. Though the other maps were better
about displaying where guarded and unguarded mountain huts were.

------
TuringTest
_> Most OSM commentary focuses on unimportant minutiae (layers, for goodness’
sake, as if it’s still 2004)_

What's wrong with having layers on a digital map? I can see the problem of not
having them.

~~~
maxerickson
The cited context is about segmenting data for editing, where right now
everything shares one context. For display and most others uses, the data is
processed to create convenient layers.

------
jimnotgym
The bit that people seem to be turned off by is what I like to call the
'Stonehenge is not a henge' arguement.

I started trying to contribute to openstreetMAP, to be told that where _I_ was
going wrong is that I was thinking about openstreetMAP as a MAP. I am such a
fool. It has become a community mantra, and it just sounds silly.

------
eboyjr
Keep watch for the live streaming[0] of the State of the Map 2018 event
tomorrow (July 28-30). They already have interesting videos on their channel
such as using OSM for traffic simulation.

[0]:
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLqJsr_5PfdvDFbgv1qp2aQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLqJsr_5PfdvDFbgv1qp2aQ)

------
biocomputation
I think, if it were feasible, OSM could use a really sharp CEO. I think it has
incredible potential, but it needs strong leadership to determine strategy for
differentiation, product positioning, and marketing. Microsoft or Facebook
could make an investment in this direction and things could really take off.
Just a thought.

------
macintux
I often wonder what parts of the world are well-documented in OSM because my
city is sorely lacking. I'm sitting reading this in a restaurant that has been
here for decades. Not only is the restaurant not in the data, but the building
itself isn't, which is something that I thought was pretty well covered.

I've added a major post office in the past. Not a new one either.

It's really hard to get enthusiastic about contributing to it when the data is
just abysmal here. I hear about people adding hedges and just am baffled that
their area is so well-covered that a hedge is a notable omission.

I know, I know, do it myself. Be the change you want to see. But man, without
some sophisticated AR tech I don't know how Indianapolis can catch up.

~~~
jburgess777
What motivates you contribute to HN?

There is an old proverb of "A journey of a thousand miles begins with the
first step". Almost all contributions make a positive step for improving the
map for everybody. In the time it took to write the comment you probably could
have used your local knowledge and aerial imagery to add some details to the
map.

I remember when I started adding data to the map in 2006 and it was almost all
blank. I was happy to cycle around my local area with a GPS and spend time
adding data locally to me. I did it partly because I was interested in the
technology but I also had faith that when I needed to use the map someone else
would have added the data that was local to them. As it turns out, this faith
was justified and the OSM maps of the UK are great.

For OSM to continue to make progress there is an assumptions that there is a
subset of the general population that are willing to contribute for the
greater good. I know that isn't always the case, the argument of: "why bother
when we all use Google maps" is common. As it turns out, what Google displays
on the map and what they allow you to do with it is fairly limited.

As Doctor_Fegg argues, OSM is only just beginning on the journey to becoming
an essential resource for worldwide geographic information. Right now things
are still too focussed on providing a limited set of raster tiles which
typically throw away half the data when choosing what can be displayed.

Vectors tiles are an obvious next step for expanding the visualization of the
existing data and provide the client with greater access to the underlying
data which might not be shown on a raster tile.

Another important point of open data is that it allows multiple sources to be
combined together. OSM has never tried to collect everything. For example,
SRTM is a better source of altitude information. There are other websites
which provide open aerial imagery or street-view style videos. Openness of the
raw data is the fundamental differentiator of OSM versus any alternative that
I am aware of.

Just like open source software is increasingly relied upon by businesses and
the internet as a whole. I believe that open data will also be seen as being a
fundamental building block which will never decrease in value or adoption.

------
based2
A 3d usage of osm for Real property:

[https://www.bienici.com/annonce/location/orleans/appartement...](https://www.bienici.com/annonce/location/orleans/appartement/4pieces/citya-
immobilier-15238-GES50390023-80?q=%2Frecherche%2Flocation%2Ffrance%3Fcamera%3D11_1.8978779_47.8760204_0.9_0)

------
gnusci
Maybe, it is time to create an OpenGPS? Please, let me know if you know how to
build one using RPi or something similar.

~~~
jburgess777
Making an OpenSource GPS is technically challenging. For an idea of what is
involved see:
[http://www.aholme.co.uk/GPS/Main.htm](http://www.aholme.co.uk/GPS/Main.htm)

Here are some other similar projects:
[http://sdrgps.blogspot.com/](http://sdrgps.blogspot.com/)
[https://github.com/hahnpv/gr-gps](https://github.com/hahnpv/gr-gps)
[https://github.com/hahnpv/SoftGNSS](https://github.com/hahnpv/SoftGNSS)

Personally I would rather buy a $10 modules off eBay or a Chinese website
which provides the GPS data in a standard NMEA serial stream.

~~~
gnusci
OMG, now I see why we are so dependent even for old technology, and I now
understand the great success of Arduino.

