I tried switching to OSM in an effort to get away from google maps. People always say 'OSM is consumer ready' but forget that OSM first and foremost is the dataset. And as far as i am concerned, there is no good maps app on the iOS appstore that even comes close to google maps. and i think i tried pretty much all relevant ones. skobbler (which i just found out is part of coast) seems to be the most polished. but as long as there is no unified search and you have to enter streetname/adress/city in seperate boxes which excludes searching for the names of buildings (for example university buildings) for which the names clearly exist in the database and are shown onthe map, i have no choice other than switch back to google.<p>i really hope this changes soon and the UI/apps catch up to the greatness that is OSM.<p>edit: i have an iphone and although i live in canada i still use the german appstore (CC requirement).<p>that's why i can't comment on the app the original post was about as it's only available in the US store. it was more of a general remark about my frustration with the state of apps using the osm dataset. I want to get rid of google maps and I feel the maps part of osm would be ready for that. I can tolerate if the commercial store data is not as up2date. But if the general usuability suffers, i rather opt for gmaps.
Android really needs to do something about the permissions model. This app asks for every permission in the book, but I have no way to tell if the app will use these permissions for a good reason.
I'm just gonna point out something: OSM is 10 years old, and after countless hrs and investing its finally ready for prime time. People who think a new internet is coming via some disruptive technology need to read this article and realize that real, long-term, awesome change takes time.
>we’re pumping all the good stuff that we can back in to OSM. This takes time due to OSMs consensus on not importing the masses of fixes we generate.<p>This seems strange. Anyone know the story?
Not really related to the post but they are talking about making OSM cosumer-ready and every time I try to use OSM instead of Google Maps I realise it's just not on the same level yet.<p>It doesn't have to be on par in terms of error correcting input or location based search result because they just don't have the data on me like Google does (locations close to my work place, home,...) but even just the basic task of searching for my street on OSM [0] will give me a bunch of information the end-user doesn't really need to know like:<p>- tags<p>- created by<p>- version<p>- changeset #<p>- location ID<p>Is there a "cleaner" more consumer friendly web interface for the maps, maybe with a prettier mapstyle like the ones used in apps like Foursquare (afaik they are using OSM)?<p>[0] <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/" rel="nofollow">http://www.openstreetmap.org/</a>
I have totally converted to OSM with my startups.<p>We use it soley for all our mapping needs and it does quite well.<p>See it in action: <a href="https://rdnation.com/roller-derby-leagues" rel="nofollow">https://rdnation.com/roller-derby-leagues</a>
> Feel sorry for how proprietary maps are currently built. When there’s a new road built, they all have to scramble to add it.<p>I'm not into the business of maps, but don't the major players pay Nations/Cities or third parties that <i>have</i> the latest data about roads to be promptly updated? (whoever build the roads must have the data, and they'll be happy to sell it I suppose).
(ok, probably every city uses a different format or has the maps on paper...)<p>Then we can talk about if this data should be free or not.
Well, skobbler did all this for iOS and Android. And TeleNav bought skobbler for $24M in January [1] -- so it's obvious why TeleNav might be able to do this now.<p>But will skobbler support stop? Why switch from skobbler to TeleNav's own products at all? With skobbler, you can get your whole continent's maps for roughly $7.50.<p>[1] <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/30/telenav-buys-skobbler/" rel="nofollow">http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/30/telenav-buys-skobbler/</a>
Privacy policy says:<p>"Personal information does not include anonymous or aggregate information, which after processing may not be associated with a specific person or entity."<p>But I find this a dishonest definition of personal information.<p>The concept of the app depends on personal journeys being recorded and stored ("indefinitely"), which would very often and very easily identify a person via their home or workplace. There should be consideration for this in the privacy policies.
List of OSM based Services - Routing :<p><a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Services#Routing" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/List_of_OSM_based_Service...</a><p>+<p><a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing</a>
What's a good navigation app for Android that works outside the US? (Scout doesn't)<p>I have a couple of apps in my phone (Navigator and Waze), but the UI is really cumbersome compared to Google Maps. I use them because OSM maps are better in small tows in my area than Google Maps, plus you can keep offline maps.
How is this such a big news? There is no navigation option in default openstreetmap.org experience. And there have been several other navigation/routing websites based on OSM data before. I sense nothing new here.
For those looking for a good Android app that uses OSM. I use Mapfactor Navigator and think it is great (I've used it in Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Crozia). It let's you use it with OSM data or Tom Tom, you can use Google for address search and use it offline if you need.<p>I'm not affiliated, just a happy user<p><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapfactor.navigator" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapfactor....</a>
Consumer Ready? It is about 8 years behind in my neighborhood. My street doesn't exist and it there in 2006.<p>Google has a street view of it and has been able to find my address since 2007.
And then they charge you US $25 per year or $5 per month for maps!!!!<p>I'll stick with Co-pilot and Navigon. At least when you get the maps they are yours forever.
So for those of you who live in the US, congrats.<p>The situation in my area is nowhere near as good. I've got a couple Garmin GPSes as well as a GPS capable phone, and I would just love to map every road and path in a 100km radius from home. Unfortunately all the mapping software I've tried is so horribly slow I'd have to buy a new computer to be able to do much at all with the data I can collect.
So the more we use this app, the more contribution I can make back into OSM AUTOMATICALLY, is that correct?<p>Hopefully they will release Android version app soon.
Maybe I overlook? Are there turn-by-turn navigation api yet? Over the last year, every time I check it seems to be not available yet. I believe most or all streets in OSM only support up to street level rather than street NUMBER level. Well, please point me to some counter-examples if I am wrong.
I installed this app and it seems fairly gross. Is it really just for driving through places and not stopping? Because it seems to have close to zero points of interest. In my town it is incapable of finding any restaurant or other eatery which is not part of a huge national chain like McDonalds.
OSM has better maps than Google in my 200k pop town in the north of Germany. Recently google even tried to have me walk through a closed company to get where I wanted to go.<p>Sadly searching sucks (unless you know the specific address) and the reviews for the international scout app make me very wary of using it.
For those of you asking about Global options, it sounds like this will happen over time per the press release - <a href="http://www.telenav.com/about/pr/pr-20140519.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.telenav.com/about/pr/pr-20140519.html</a>
Will the routing data be fed into OSM, or will telenav be building their own closed routing database that they use in conjunction with OSM? I didn't see an answer to that on the linked page.
The last I saw a similar post, couple of months ago, the map <i>was not</i> ready in my home area. Now tough, it's pretty advanced. Awesome progress!
I am glad to see OSM getting more popular because Google Maps is just getting worse by every day. The new WebUI is absolutely terrible, I had to permanently disable it because I could not even use my laptop while a GMap tab was open. They removed features I used and added many I don't care. On the top of these, the routing algo in GMaps is just laughable. It does not have the updated version of no left and no right turns, if you have 2 routes one with no highway one with highway it is going to pick the highway one even though it is 2 times the distance and so on. The traffic information is pretty much useless, only got better when they merged in Waze information but still bad.