I was surprised and disappointed to read this today: The Linux Foundation, a global nonprofit organization enabling innovation through open source, today announced the formation of the Overture Maps Foundation <https://overturemaps.org/>, a new collaborative effort to develop interoperable open map data as a shared asset that can strengthen mapping services worldwide. The initiative was founded by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Meta, Microsoft, and TomTom and is open to all communities with a common interest in building open map data. — https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-overture-maps-foundation-to-build-interoperable-open-map-data
The thing is, we already have a mature global map database with interoperable data and services: OpenStreetMap — https://www.openstreetmap.org/ . OSM is managed by the democratic OpenStreetMap Foundation. The partners in Overture are not particularly well known for their open-source friendliness. Membership in the Overture foundation is also very costly: $3000 US/year to contribute, $3M US/year to be on the steering committee. I know that the Linux Foundation is hyper-corporate, but to try to compete with OSM is mystifying. Stewart
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