I'd like to see Uber get into mapping. Besides Uber's core business that everyone focuses on, they've got a self-driving cars program that's halfway off the ground and they do food deliver through UberEATS. In either case, they've got a vested interest in making sure high-quality mapping data is available—higher quality than what Google provides.
Given their deals with tons of local businesses through UberEATS, they've got operating hours and location data that's fresher than what anyone else can provide on the scale that they're operating on. Would be nice to see them improving the OSM dataset and partner with e.g. Maps.me.
"they've got a self-driving cars program that's halfway off the ground"
In the sense that a working model airplane gives me a space program that's halfway off the ground.
And why would they improve OSM at all? Actually collecting and cleaning mapping data is not cheap. There's no incentive in contributing to OSM, it doesn't build a moat, it doesn't further their access to markets,...
It's in their business interests to make sure their fleet and their delivery drivers have accurate mapping info. Is there something unclear about the way I worded this in the comment you responded to?
There obviously is something unclear, yes. Having accurate mapping info and improving OSM are two separate things. I asked about the latter. If that data were actually crucial to Uber's business, what possible rationale could they have to share it for free?
But while we're on mapping data - I don't think "higher quality" data is in any way crucial to their business. (Owning the data so there's no dependency on third parties is another question). Uber's routing is accurate enough to work reliably.[1] What does higher quality buy them?
From where I stand, you're proposing that a company that's already bleeding money like it's going out of style should spend a ton of money, on building technology they have little experience with, to collect data that is of dubious value to them, to then give it away freely.
I get that you'd like OSM improved, but I really don't think Uber will be the one to do it.
[1] Based on purely anecdotal reports from my friends and my own experiences, the usual case for misrouting is Uber drivers not paying attention to the map, or thinking they know better than the map.
> If that data were actually crucial to Uber's business, what possible rationale could they have to share it for free?
I'd understand if this were 1987 and you were asking this question. But it's not, and even Microsoft is on the public collaboration bandwagon.
We begin by recognizing that if you want to get into mapping and not pay out the nose for it, then OSM is your starting point. From there, it follows that we defer to the lessons of the last two decades which show that when given the choice between either maintaining a private fork or upstreaming, then upstreaming is overwhelmingly the best thing to do, even from a position of pure self-interest.
I hardly think their competitive edge hinges on high quality mapping data at the exclusion of others. Accurate mapping data is an enabler for them to go faster, do better, for the things they are doing now. If that means drivers are making 3 deliveries per hour instead of 2, then the proposition holds true. Or if someone can be picked up/dropped off at the curb in front of their building, rather than the clubhouse bearing the street number for their sprawling apartment complex, then the proposition holds true.
> data that is of dubious value to them, to then give it away freely.
No. My position is precisely that they do have a business interest in this kind of data. I've said as much. This is the third time now.
And it's not as if Uber themselves don't already have similar initiatives to release their datasets. They've had a program for the last ~two years for sharing trip data, and two weeks ago they put a public face on their "Uber Movement" initiative to make it more widely available. And that's a dataset that's even more proprietary—there are tons of people in the mapping game, but almost nobody besides arguably Google has access to trip-level data at the scale that Uber has and is chosing to give away.
No, but I know the area. What's special about it, though? There are lots of places around Austin that match what I described, and it should be the same in other cities.
Given their deals with tons of local businesses through UberEATS, they've got operating hours and location data that's fresher than what anyone else can provide on the scale that they're operating on. Would be nice to see them improving the OSM dataset and partner with e.g. Maps.me.