On: Show HN: Simple Mbtiles Server – Self-host the ent...

[andrewshadura]

It's not OpenStreetMaps, it's OpenStreetMap.

[Aachen → andrewshadura]

I've always wondered why people keep adding the s. Is it marketing because Google Map sounds like a spelling mistake (missing 's after Google) and we're noticing the effect of that other brand, or is there something about OpenStreetMap that makes it seem like a plural project? People don't say Linuxes, Signals, or Androids

[NoboruWataya → Aachen]

I think it's most likely that most of the other commonly used alternatives (most significantly Google Maps but also Apple Maps, Bing Maps, Maps.me) use the plural.

[Doctor_Fegg → NoboruWataya]

Whereas when OSM started, they didn't (StreetMap and Multimap in the UK, MapQuest in the US).

[axelthegerman → Aachen]

Maybe because "Google Map" is actually called "Google Maps" (with the s)?

[karussell → axelthegerman]

But where does the plural come from?

[e_y_ → karussell]

Maybe the old days when you needed multiple maps folded up on paper instead of one zoomable super map containing the entire world.

Also "Google Map" sounds like a map of Google.