I’ve tried using it over the years but I never liked it because there was no information. So last night I looked at my local city and there is almost no information at all. I spent a few hours last night adding buildings and restaurants and removing incorrect items. It was actually kind of fun and therapeutic and I plan to do more of it tonight. My girlfriend thinks it’s dumb and I’m wasting my time because Google maps and Apple maps and Bing maps exists but she just doesn’t understand open source.
Edit: Apologies, I just realized this question is not Linux specific.
Yeah. Story time:
In the England we have ancient rights-of-way laws but a lot of private landowners try to block footpaths that cross their land. If a landowner can argue a footpath hasn’t been used in (I think) two years they can have it removed, but in 2025 all the existing footpaths will be made permanent and indelible except with explicit local government permission so between now and then a lot of landowners will be rushing to get paths removed.
I’ve made a point of walking every footpath in my area and making sure they’re all documented on OSM. If any of the landowners try to get a path removed I have my GPS tracks as proof of use.
Edit: FWIW, I find OSM to be the best map for rambling. Google and Apple don’t come close and OSM even gives Ordinance Survey a run for it’s money.
Anecdote time: I was just in Yorkshire (first time in England) heard about the idea of public footpaths so we found one, walked it and had a picnic. Loved every second, ended up going through a sheep field then a cow field. Can’t wait to go back
Was that plan scrapped from what I can tell? https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60418555 Is there still risk of the right of way paths being fenced up/privatized fully?
That’s really nice! Thank you for your service!
Great job!
I’ve been editing OSM for years. (896,339 edits in 3,427 changesets, apparently!) For me, it’s all about the free data. I once got a thank you note from someone who worked for a city with a particularly large municipal park. I’d added almost all the trails to the park and other information, and they’d used it to produce a printed map for the general public. Exactly the kind of thing I’d hoped for!
Personally, I do a lot of dualsport motorcycling and most backcountry maps around here are subpar. I map tons of trails and 2track and put them on the Garmin so I know where I’m going.
OSM is also great in lots of Europe–tons of detail.
JOSM is great.
Someone just recommended Organic Maps for the phone–it’s way snappier than Google Maps, but still not great with finding addresses.
That’s really cool to hear about the parks. Most of the parks around here are pretty well mapped out. Presumably the local community is pretty strong.
I really want to produce something for my city’s NET and BEECN emergency response programs. They already have a few different maps, but not one unified map. My ideal is a map that could be taken offline or printed to spec.
What an awesome story to hear. I’ve been playing around with Organic Maps on my phone. I’ll have to look into JOSM.
Yeah josm is a lifechanger when you get used to it.
I’ve tried putting osm maps on my Garmin with limited success, how can I go about doing that?
There’s a list of ready-made providers of
gmapsupp.imgfiles.I’ve had the best luck with BBBike and OpenMapChest for getting pre-built map files.
Basically you have to get one of these files with all the data you want in it and then stick it on your SD card on the GPS. (The GPS should mount like a thumb drive. If you already have a
gmapsupp.imgfile on there, you might want to back it up in case things go sideways.) Some GPSes support multiplegmapsupp.imgfiles, but a lot don’t. Here’s a thread on merging.imgfiles.When I needed super fresh data, I’d download raw OSM data from Overpass and use mkgmap to build the
gmapsupp.img.Thanks a lot!
https://streetcomplete.app/ is a fun way to contribute to OSM and do something else instead of just “walking” if you want to get outside a bit.
This is what I use! It’s like RPG quests in real life but about really boring subjects. Eg. What surface is the pavement on a nearby street. Or is there a bin next to this bus stop
😵💫 can’t 😵💫 not 😵💫 upvote 😵💫
Just to piggy back on here Every Door (https://every-door.app/) is so awesome if you wanna add/update shops and other small points of interest on the go. Highly recommend it.
This is actually amazing. I’ve done a bit of editing as I play Pokémon Go which uses OSM for the background map. I got fed up of just looking at roads so I mapped in all the buildings, shops, parks etc near me.
This gamifies walking and exploring which I love!
☝️ How to mod games while touching grass, instead of touching code… chef’s kiss
This is seriously awesome! Thank you for suggesting this.
I have added a small amount of area around my city but this will make it much easier to fill in the gaps.
Removed by mod
OSM is huge for backcountry. Hiking trails, skiing, etc. There is nothing better.
Gaia?
Are the communities for skiing and especially backcountry yet?
Not any good ones that I’ve found for backpacking
Yes, all the time. Great job helping out the project! Contributing is super valuable, even if it’s just a bit.
Check out if you haven’t, the app “Street Complete”. It allows you to really quickly add information to OSM in a fun gamified way.
It automatically finds your location and gives you little pop-up questions like, “what kind of crosswalk is here?” And, “where is this fire hydrant located?”
I go on walks in my area and will contribute that way too.
Once you want to bulk edit on the go, use “every door”. “SC” or “SCEE” (feature richer SC) aren’t designed to update a large area quickly. (Check out each app when you become a serious mapper or want to make a real difference. Knowing the osm tools (and josm ofc) is highly important for efficiency.
I’m in the UK and open street map has mapped out my local area more accurately than google. It is marginal, but I stopped using google maps after a few issues: I was hiking and it directed me into a privately owned farm (claiming it is a permissive footpath).The farmer was very racist.
Another time I was directed through the middle of a primary school.
Lol at the racist farmer
Thank you very much for your efforts, there’s a lot of inertia about mapping places with low amounts of detail. Remember to reach out to your local OSM communities for advice, and the OSM wiki.
you like lemmy? it works because ppl contribute. osm…same! try https://streetcomplete.app and contribute!!!
I downloaded it earlier today and went for a 1hr walk and submitted over 60 contributions. It’s kinda addictive.
I love that you don’t need constant internet connection to use it.
Thanks for the recommendation!
The paranoid Eastern European in me awakes when the app asks for material of power poles, bridge types, and surface firmness of forest tracks… 😬
Russia has entered the chat.
It’s useful to now that to detect the most climate vulnerable poles (wood) in the country.
According to https://github.com/streetcomplete/StreetComplete/issues/187
BTW there’s now an OSM community !openstreetmap@lemmy.ml
Subbed!
I contribute regularly. I used to waste a lot of time watching TV series, instead now I contribute to OSM.
I regularly use OSM data through Organic Maps (mostly for larger European cities). The app is really polished and is a joy to use. So far I’m not missing any features from Google Maps.
I’ve also updated some faulty business hours for some restaurants so I guess I’ve contributed back.
E: With the recent developments in the world of free online services (YouTube blocking ad-blockers, Google lying to their customers about its TrueView ads, Twitter rate limiting free access, the Reddit API fiasco), I wonder how much longer we can take free services like Google Maps for granted. Having an open alternative may become even more important in the future.
Yes, not only do I map, I show it to friends and how useful it is to me in specific situations. Bing and apple use osm data just like tomtom or many governments and many apps.
To me, spreading the word is more important than mapping. But I have to map in order to show how good it is. Moreover, it forces me to go out and hike and bike. That’s awesome!
I had to make a full overhaul of my area but now it’s awesome. I couldn’t have done it without others, thank you guys as well!
Yes I use OSM almost exclusively and have contributed to it.
Where I live, in Germany, OSM is pretty much on the same level as Google Maps and way better than Apple Maps. Sometimes there is outdated info but you can quickly correct it. Sometimes I double check stuff with GM. Some information is even better than GM. But I think Germany has a pretty strong OSM community, at least in my city.
I use Organic Maps on iOS.
Doesn’t Apple Maps use data from OSM? Edit: They actually do. At least in Denmark.
Kinda, the information is definitely not the same.
It might be specific data and not everything, that Apple uses from OSM.
I use OsmAnd~. Mainly to analyze my skating routes (average speed, distance, etc) and planning sightseeing routes when on vacation.
For finding commute an app from local public transport is still the best and google maps are better than osmand, but for navigation on foot it’s very good. And you can download the region earlier, so when you use it, you don’t need that much data.
I found OsmAnd~ to not only be good on foot, but also on bike. It sometimes plans more aggressive routes than google which saves time (side streets for less distance, opposite directions on one ways…). Take this with a grain of salt though, because I ride primarily in NYC.
What Google does (I see it as remains from early days of how it became good) is it takes into consideration the route other people took. So if a lot of people do an illegal u-turn, there’s high probability you’ll be proposed such route too.
It works the other way round too. If a lot of people don’t take an optimal route for whatever reason, there’s less probability it’ll propose it to you.OsmAnd just tries to connect the dots postman-np-problem style
I had the same experience. OsmAnd seems to be better for planning routes on foot than Google maps. Where Google Maps is clearly better is for info about businesses and stores.
