[OSM-talk] Google expands their map data
Hi, I haven't seen this mention before and I thought it might be of some interest here. Since sometime last year Google no longer used TeleAtlas for their map data in the USA but instead created their own map data. It seems they have now extended their own data to 10 more countries including some in Europe Africa and Oceania [1,2]. However, what makes it interesting from a OSM point of view (apart from knowing what the competitors do) is the way they seemingly crowd source their updates and error reports. (The main data is, unlike their also very successful map maker maps, not crowd sourced, but supposedly collected together with the street view data). Just like they have had in the US, however, they now have a nice and simple, easy to spot and convenient Report a problem link in these countries in the bottom right hand corner. OpenStreetMap has of cause something similar with OpenStreetBugs (which Google may well have used as inspiration), but unfortunately, as too often, less convenient. Instead of simply clicking on the report a problem link, in OSM you first have to know something like this exists, then figure out that you might learn about such a feature on the wiki, search the wiki for it, go to some random external page, then find your location on the map again without a search box on the OSB page, and then finally you might actually be able to add your error report... Can we perhaps learn something from Google of how to build a nice user friendly crowd sourcing of local knowledge? Also, can we perhaps somehow harness the fact that Google is educating people about the possibilities to crowd source maps through map maker and the report a problem link? E.g. by creating a press release highlighting some of the additional benefits of OSM over Google (without being unfair to them)? Or will Google eventually beat OSM at its own game? [1] http://searchengineland.com/google-updates-maps-in-10-countries-teleatlas-going-away-55288 [2] http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/changing-world-changing-maps.html ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Google expands their map data
S Omeone wrote: OpenStreetMap has of cause something similar with OpenStreetBugs (which Google may well have used as inspiration), but unfortunately, as too often, less convenient. [...] Can we perhaps learn something from Google of how to build a nice user friendly crowd sourcing of local knowledge? Pretty much everyone _already_ knows that a) OSB is fabulous b) that sort of functionality should be integrated on the main osm.org site Unfortunately, of the 000s of people who comprise pretty much everyone, exactly 0.0 people have come up with some deployable code to do it. It's really not complicated. You need some basic OpenLayers knowledge (for a draggable marker), some basic Rails knowledge (for a Node-like object), and the ability to write code within a particular style (i.e. fitting with the current site) rather than imposing your own personal preferences. The design is very simple: I could probably rattle off a useful spec within about 10 seconds. I and others will be happy to help with suggestions, advice etc. on #osm whenever you need it. My own excuse for not having done it is that I'm already spending vast amounts of development time on Potlatch 2. What's yours? cheers Richard -- View this message in context: http://gis.638310.n2.nabble.com/Google-expands-their-map-data-tp5735850p5736000.html Sent from the General Discussion mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Google expands their map data
Building something that is user friendly is actually quite difficult and takes a lot more resources and testing than you might think. It really needs a consistent integrated well planned team approach which isn't quite what OSM is. We just have a lot of people who do their own thing. Including some who say it doesn't matter if we remove all the old data from the maps and just retain the Odbl stuff. Cheerio John On 13 November 2010 12:54, S Omeone someonew...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi, I haven't seen this mention before and I thought it might be of some interest here. Since sometime last year Google no longer used TeleAtlas for their map data in the USA but instead created their own map data. It seems they have now extended their own data to 10 more countries including some in Europe Africa and Oceania [1,2]. However, what makes it interesting from a OSM point of view (apart from knowing what the competitors do) is the way they seemingly crowd source their updates and error reports. (The main data is, unlike their also very successful map maker maps, not crowd sourced, but supposedly collected together with the street view data). Just like they have had in the US, however, they now have a nice and simple, easy to spot and convenient Report a problem link in these countries in the bottom right hand corner. OpenStreetMap has of cause something similar with OpenStreetBugs (which Google may well have used as inspiration), but unfortunately, as too often, less convenient. Instead of simply clicking on the report a problem link, in OSM you first have to know something like this exists, then figure out that you might learn about such a feature on the wiki, search the wiki for it, go to some random external page, then find your location on the map again without a search box on the OSB page, and then finally you might actually be able to add your error report... Can we perhaps learn something from Google of how to build a nice user friendly crowd sourcing of local knowledge? Also, can we perhaps somehow harness the fact that Google is educating people about the possibilities to crowd source maps through map maker and the report a problem link? E.g. by creating a press release highlighting some of the additional benefits of OSM over Google (without being unfair to them)? Or will Google eventually beat OSM at its own game? [1] http://searchengineland.com/google-updates-maps-in-10-countries-teleatlas-going-away-55288 [2] http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/changing-world-changing-maps.html ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Google expands their map data
On Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 8:47 PM, john whelan jwhelan0...@gmail.com wrote: Including some who say it doesn't matter if we remove all the old data from the maps and just retain the Odbl stuff. funny you say that, while we are fighting over silly licenses, google is just taking over. I would like to say that i am learning about the ruby code and making prototypes in transiki.org code that will be later usable in the osm engine. I think there is lots of room for improvement on the railsport and lots of things we can do to improve the user interface. The forks of osm will provide a good testing ground for changes, in fact this license dispute might be good for creativity. mike -- James Michael DuPont Member of Free Libre Open Source Software Kosova and Albania flossk.org flossal.org ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
Re: [OSM-talk] Google expands their map data
On Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 7:54 PM, S Omeone someonew...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi, I haven't seen this mention before and I thought it might be of some interest here. Since sometime last year Google no longer used TeleAtlas for their map data in the USA but instead created their own map data. It seems they have now extended their own data to 10 more countries including some in Europe Africa and In South Africa's case that doesn't mean too much. The StreetView cars didn't cover all the roads. So they had to buy data from a commercial vendor. That vendor has some quality issues (see the illegal route in the link below). They also rely on government data that is no longer being maintained. So Google is not really smarter. They are relying on man power like everyone else. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=dsource=s_dsaddr=-25.781959,28.291027daddr=326+Edna+St,+Pretoria+0081,+South+Africahl=engeocode=%3BCXVbiDH7YSbAFSendv4duLevASkdxtgEomCVHjEtejqmm6w9SAmra=miftmrsp=0sz=17sll=-25.781141,28.290718sspn=0.006975,0.009645ie=UTF8z=17 Oceania [1,2]. However, what makes it interesting from a OSM point of view (apart from knowing what the competitors do) is the way they seemingly crowd source their updates and error reports. (The main data is, unlike their also very successful map maker maps, not crowd sourced, but supposedly collected together with the street view data). Just like they have had in the US, however, they now have a nice and simple, easy to spot and convenient Report a problem link in these countries in the bottom right hand corner. OpenStreetMap has of cause something similar with OpenStreetBugs (which Google may well have used as inspiration), but unfortunately, as too often, less convenient. Instead of simply clicking on the report a problem link, in OSM you first have to know something like this exists, then figure out that you might learn about such a feature on the wiki, search the wiki for it, go to some random external page, then find your location on the map again without a search box on the OSB page, and then finally you might actually be able to add your error report... Can we perhaps learn something from Google of how to build a nice user friendly crowd sourcing of local knowledge? Also, can we perhaps somehow harness the fact that Google is educating people about the possibilities to crowd source maps through map maker and the report a problem link? E.g. by creating a press release highlighting some of the additional benefits of OSM over Google (without being unfair to them)? Or will Google eventually beat OSM at its own game? [1] http://searchengineland.com/google-updates-maps-in-10-countries-teleatlas-going-away-55288 [2] http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/11/changing-world-changing-maps.html ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk ___ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
