Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Strainu]

2012/5/29 David Gerard :
> On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:
>> Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of OSM.
>
>
> I'd actually flag smartphones as the culprit.

Well, the empire strikes back:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/11/apple-tomtom-ios-6-maps/ :) Another
"usable" app for Romania.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 11:08 AM, Tom Morris  wrote:
> The more you play with OpenStreetMap, the more magical ways you start
> discovering that you can use the data. Two that I've recently found...
>
> 1. Water fountains. Here in London, we used to have lots of water
> fountains. Then modern capitalism found a much better way of
> delivering water to people: put it in plastic bottles, drive it half
> way around the country (or world) and sell it to people and a massive
> profit, who then drink it and throw the plastic bottle away.  There
> are a few water fountains in London though, and they are listed on
> OpenStreetMap. Any movement to campaign for change requires actual
> data to start with.

This only works if you verify that all the water fountains in London
are in OSM (which is pretty much tantamount to mapping them yourself).

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Tom Morris]

The more you play with OpenStreetMap, the more magical ways you start
discovering that you can use the data. Two that I've recently found...

1. Water fountains. Here in London, we used to have lots of water
fountains. Then modern capitalism found a much better way of
delivering water to people: put it in plastic bottles, drive it half
way around the country (or world) and sell it to people and a massive
profit, who then drink it and throw the plastic bottle away.  There
are a few water fountains in London though, and they are listed on
OpenStreetMap. Any movement to campaign for change requires actual
data to start with.

2. Stopped clocks. There are hundreds of beautiful, historical clocks
on public buildings across the country. It's possible to mark clocks
on OSM, and I've just been discussing on the wiki how we can mark
disused clocks. Having the data lets us campaign to have these clocks
restarted.

I'm also finding that in the process of doing OpenStreetMapping, I
take a lot of photos which are also usable on Commons. Quite a lot of
them aren't (for copyright reasons or scope reasons or just because
they are pretty crappy photographs), but a lot of the time you can
find uses for them on Commons. (Just need to go through and write
descriptions, categorise and upload.)

I heartily recommend any Wikimedians grab themselves the relevant
tools for OSMing (which don't necessarily mean a standalone GPS
device: things like iPhones and Android smartphones can be used, and
you can even go low-tech and print out walking maps), go out and do
it. If there's an OSM community in your area, go hang out with them.

The systemic bias issues that Wikipedia face also exist on OSM: here
in London, the city is richly documented and the OSMers are mostly
just tweaking, fixing and maintaining (most of my edits in London are
just metadata improvement rather than actually adding any new shape
information). But if you go and look at many non-Western countries,
you'll find whole towns which just aren't covered at all.

-- 
Tom Morris


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[David Gerard]

On 7 June 2012 15:30, Dan Rosenthal  wrote:

>  Yet it fails in other aspects -- the U.S. embassy is the most recognizable
> landmark on Intoto street, and is not listed; neither are the French,
> German, or British embassies. The EU Commission is not listed on Cape Verde
> st. even though that street is commonly known as "EU Road". Yet, the
> Brazilian Ambassador's residence, not a particularly well known landmark,
> is known.


{{sofixit}}

;-)


- d.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Dan Rosenthal]

OSM is great. Here in Addis Ababa, street names are not used except in a
handful of major thoroughfares; people navigate by landmark. OSM has far
more navigable map of the city than googlemaps does.  In some areas it
labels the street name in the local fashion (e.g. "Road to Gerji Giorgis).
Yet it fails in other aspects -- the U.S. embassy is the most recognizable
landmark on Intoto street, and is not listed; neither are the French,
German, or British embassies. The EU Commission is not listed on Cape Verde
st. even though that street is commonly known as "EU Road". Yet, the
Brazilian Ambassador's residence, not a particularly well known landmark,
is known.


Dan Rosenthal


On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 3:32 PM, Cristian Consonni
wrote:

> 2012/6/7 Richard Symonds :
> > the house because it's not
> > on their navigation systems...
>
> May I thank evebody participating in this discussion for the
> throughout update on navigation system?
> I am finding it very interesting, above all the comparising among
> different countries. =)
>
> Cristian
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Cristian Consonni]

2012/6/7 Richard Symonds :
> the house because it's not
> on their navigation systems...

May I thank evebody participating in this discussion for the
throughout update on navigation system?
I am finding it very interesting, above all the comparising among
different countries. =)

Cristian

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Richard Symonds]

Oddly, I checked a family home in Missouri the other day.

On Google maps, it's set about 1 mile from where it should be... and on the
wrong side of the Missouri river. It shows roads where there are none, and
is thoroughly unusable. UPS etc don't deliver to the house because it's not
on their navigation systems...

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&safe=off&q=google+maps+336+rose+lee+lane,+MO&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x87d9437774ae90b1:0xe097361aeae6e007,336+Rose+Lee+Ln,+Union,+MO+63084,+USA&gl=uk&ei=C4rQT_bNH8TZ8APbgeHRDA&oi=geocode_result&ved=0CBUQ8gEwAA


Of course, OSM is more accurate than any others - compare the link above,
with this link, showing a more accurate - but incomplete - map:

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=38.396220356226&lon=-91.0328784584999&zoom=18


Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
Disclaimer viewable at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk



On 7 June 2012 11:57, Marcin Cieslak  wrote:

> >> Yaroslav M. Blanter  wrote:
> > On Tue, 29 May 2012 13:23:25 +0100, Tom Morris wrote:
> >> On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:
> >>> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world,
> >>> whereas
> >>> OSM, for the most part, is not.
> >>>
> >>> Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of
> >>> OSM.
> >>>
> >>
> >> I'd say OSM is beginning to be pretty usable in the real world. It's
> >> usable for a lot of things where there's not so much commercial
> >> interest in the map data...
> >>
> >
> >  From my personal experience: Twice per year I travel into middle-size
> > towns of Russia, usually visiting several of then on a single trip.
> > Google maps suck badly; Google's Russian counterpart, Yandex Maps, are
> > better, but they suck as well; TomTom is nonexistent, and OSM had for
> > all places I visited in 2010 (with one exception - for the record, this
> > was the city of Tayga, Kemerovo Region in Siberia) reasonably good maps,
> > often with reliable house numbering.
>
> I can confirm this too - even in a large city of Kiev my coworkers
> tried to explain to each other how to reach something using
> very inaccurate Google Map. We tried openstreetmap.org (they
> didn't now it even exists) and we all were amazed by the level
> of detail the city was described. Even all traffic lights and
> bus stops were in place as they should.
>
> //Saper
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Marcin Cieslak]

>> Yaroslav M. Blanter  wrote:
> On Tue, 29 May 2012 13:23:25 +0100, Tom Morris wrote:
>> On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:
>>> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, 
>>> whereas
>>> OSM, for the most part, is not.
>>>
>>> Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of 
>>> OSM.
>>>
>>
>> I'd say OSM is beginning to be pretty usable in the real world. It's
>> usable for a lot of things where there's not so much commercial
>> interest in the map data...
>>
>
>  From my personal experience: Twice per year I travel into middle-size 
> towns of Russia, usually visiting several of then on a single trip. 
> Google maps suck badly; Google's Russian counterpart, Yandex Maps, are 
> better, but they suck as well; TomTom is nonexistent, and OSM had for 
> all places I visited in 2010 (with one exception - for the record, this 
> was the city of Tayga, Kemerovo Region in Siberia) reasonably good maps, 
> often with reliable house numbering.

I can confirm this too - even in a large city of Kiev my coworkers
tried to explain to each other how to reach something using
very inaccurate Google Map. We tried openstreetmap.org (they
didn't now it even exists) and we all were amazed by the level
of detail the city was described. Even all traffic lights and
bus stops were in place as they should.

//Saper


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[David Richfield]

I've never used a professional GPS, but I've found Navit and Gosmore
to be quite useful on Android.  Interstingly, they have complementary
levels of fail.  Navit has good voice instructions, but horrible
search, while Gosmore has semi-lame voice instructions but very good
search.

Both of them seem to route just fine for my purposes in South Africa,
but I haven't tested toll roads.

-- 
David Richfield
[[:en:User:Slashme]]
+27718539985

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Kim Bruning]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 09:29:19AM -0400, Anthony wrote:
> I just tried osmand.  I can't even figure out how to put in an
> address.  

WFM (Works For Me)? Also routing is not mapping. It looks like the
android coders could still improve their routing algorithms a bit. As
long as you take that into account, it's quite usable. (I always Use
Brain(tm) in combination satnav anyway, so I've hardly noticed, myself)

Note that OSMAndroid supports multiple online routing providers as well as
its own local-CPU algorithm. YMMV (literally! ;)

sincerely,
Kim Bruning

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 10:56 AM, Tom Morris  wrote:
> On 29 May 2012 15:28, Anthony  wrote:
>> And I don't foresee OSM ever being able to catch up.  Google is very
>> much a moving target.  While OSM is working on catching up on
>> geolocation (address to lat/lon) information, Google is micromapping
>> to the level of detail needed to program a self-driving auto.
>>
>
> OpenStreetMap is working on whatever the contributors want. ;-)

Whereas Google is working on whatever the users want.  :-)

That said, even this is somewhat problematic.  There is somewhat of a
tension in OSM between micromappers and non-micromappers.  Not quite
as bad as in Wikipedia between "inclusionists" and "deletionists" -
for the most part OSM mappers aren't going to outright delete
additional information.  But there have been disputes over, for
example, whether or not it is okay to include short turning lanes in
the lane count.

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 10:48 AM, Strainu  wrote:
> 2012/5/29 Anthony :
>>> ...if you wanna go this way, I wonder if you "go to en.wikipedia.org
>>> and just use it" if you want to plant tomatoes in your garden. I know
>>> I wouldn't.
>>
>> I wouldn't use Britannica either.  The context of the article is GPS
>> navigation for automobiles.
>
> I'm sorry, I don't quite get it. When you said that Wikipedia was
> usable in the real world, I assumed you meant that you can use
> Wikipedia as an encyclopedia for reference in different aspects of
> daily life. Now you're saying that you can somehow use Wikipedia for
> GPS navigation for automobiles?

Nope.  I am challenging the following assertion (put in SAT jargon):
OSM:tomtom::Wikipedia:Britannica (that is, "OSM is to tomtom as
Wikipedia is to Britannica).

In the case of Wikipedia:Britannica, they are compared based on their
usefulness as encyclopedia articles, not on their usefulness as how-to
books.

In the case of OSM:tomtom, in the context of the tomtom article, they
are being compared based on the their usefulness for GPS navigation
for automobiles.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Tom Morris]

On 29 May 2012 15:28, Anthony  wrote:
> And I don't foresee OSM ever being able to catch up.  Google is very
> much a moving target.  While OSM is working on catching up on
> geolocation (address to lat/lon) information, Google is micromapping
> to the level of detail needed to program a self-driving auto.
>

OpenStreetMap is working on whatever the contributors want. ;-)

For some of us, that's footpaths, for some of us it's business
metadata, for some it's mapping out baseball fields, or adding post
boxes or any number of other things.

-- 
Tom Morris


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Strainu]

2012/5/29 Anthony :
>> ...if you wanna go this way, I wonder if you "go to en.wikipedia.org
>> and just use it" if you want to plant tomatoes in your garden. I know
>> I wouldn't.
>
> I wouldn't use Britannica either.  The context of the article is GPS
> navigation for automobiles.

I'm sorry, I don't quite get it. When you said that Wikipedia was
usable in the real world, I assumed you meant that you can use
Wikipedia as an encyclopedia for reference in different aspects of
daily life. Now you're saying that you can somehow use Wikipedia for
GPS navigation for automobiles?

>
> One thing I do have to admit is that my experience with OSM has mostly
> been in the United States, which I hear is a place that OSM has been
> especially poor, and a place where Google (which is what I do use) is
> especially good.

That appears to be the case. In Romania, as well as most Eastern
European countries and some Asian countries, the Google development
model is _identical_ to the one used by OSM: crowdsourcing.

Before Google Mapper, the number of roads in Romania on Google maps
was a staggering... 3. Now the number of paved roads is indeed better
than OSM (due mainly to better satellite imagery), but the level of
details doesn't even come close, and geolocation is at street level
for both.

Strainu

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 10:06 AM, Strainu  wrote:
> 2012/5/29 Anthony :
>> I'm not doubting that someone can take OSM data and make it into
>> something usable.  I'm not even doubting that someone *has* taken OSM
>> data and made it into something usable.
>
> You obviously have already made up you mind, so I doubt anything I'll
> say will change that, but...

It's not so much what you say.  Possibly you, or someone else, can
point me to a free OSM-based android app which I can use in my daily
driving.  If so, I will change my opinion.

If you're going to refer me to commercial products which were based
(in part) on OSM data, then that's not what I was talking about.

And if you're going to point to the places where OSM beats the
commercial products, that was already acknowledged in the very tomtom
article we're talking about:

"Open source mapping certainly has its benefits and can be extremely
useful, particularly for pedestrians and in city or town centres. The
way that the maps incorporate input from a wide community of
contributors can result in impressive international coverage, whilst
also driving down costs of production. However, when it comes to
automotive-grade mapping, open source has some quite serious
limitations, falling short on the levels of accuracy and reliability
required for safe navigation."

> ...if you wanna go this way, I wonder if you "go to en.wikipedia.org
> and just use it" if you want to plant tomatoes in your garden. I know
> I wouldn't.

I wouldn't use Britannica either.  The context of the article is GPS
navigation for automobiles.

One thing I do have to admit is that my experience with OSM has mostly
been in the United States, which I hear is a place that OSM has been
especially poor, and a place where Google (which is what I do use) is
especially good.

And I don't foresee OSM ever being able to catch up.  Google is very
much a moving target.  While OSM is working on catching up on
geolocation (address to lat/lon) information, Google is micromapping
to the level of detail needed to program a self-driving auto.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Strainu]

2012/5/29 Anthony :
> I'm not doubting that someone can take OSM data and make it into
> something usable.  I'm not even doubting that someone *has* taken OSM
> data and made it into something usable.

You obviously have already made up you mind, so I doubt anything I'll
say will change that, but...

>
> But I think the analogy between being able to take OSM data, probably
> add a lot of your own data (espectially for the geolocation
> information, which is fantastic in some locations, and horrible in
> others), and being able to go to en.wikipedia.org and just use it, is
> a very weak analogy.

...if you wanna go this way, I wonder if you "go to en.wikipedia.org
and just use it" if you want to plant tomatoes in your garden. I know
I wouldn't.

Strainu

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 9:43 AM, Strainu  wrote:
> 2012/5/29 Anthony :
>> I just tried osmand.  I can't even figure out how to put in an
>> address.  I then tried navfree usa.
>
> You're limiting yourself to Android, which isn't very fair. Try to get
> hold of a Garmin device with OSM maps and see if that makes a
> difference. I suspect it will. (Garmin also has some GPS apps for
> iPhone, but not for Android. I have no idea if you can load OSM maps
> on those apps)

I'm not doubting that someone can take OSM data and make it into
something usable.  I'm not even doubting that someone *has* taken OSM
data and made it into something usable.

But I think the analogy between being able to take OSM data, probably
add a lot of your own data (espectially for the geolocation
information, which is fantastic in some locations, and horrible in
others), and being able to go to en.wikipedia.org and just use it, is
a very weak analogy.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Strainu]

2012/5/29 Anthony :
> I just tried osmand.  I can't even figure out how to put in an
> address.  I then tried navfree usa.

You're limiting yourself to Android, which isn't very fair. Try to get
hold of a Garmin device with OSM maps and see if that makes a
difference. I suspect it will. (Garmin also has some GPS apps for
iPhone, but not for Android. I have no idea if you can load OSM maps
on those apps)

Strainu

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 9:29 AM, Anthony  wrote:
>  I then tried navfree usa.

Looking more closely at the directions it did give me, it is having me
get off the toll highway at basically every exit and then getting back
on it.  And the destination is off by 13 blocks (about a mile).

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 9:22 AM, Strainu  wrote:
> 2012/5/29 Anthony :
>> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, whereas
>> OSM, for the most part, is not.
>
> I see it the other way around: OSM, for the most part, IS usable in
> the real world. One can easily navigate using OSM data on the main
> roads in a country, and even on major boulevards within the cities.
> The problems appear "in the last kilometer".

I just tried osmand.  I can't even figure out how to put in an
address.  I then tried navfree usa.  I eventually put in an address
(why I can't just type in, or better yet speak, the address, i don't
know).  But the route it gave me included tolls.  When I told it to
avoid tolls, it failed to do so.  (Either the app is broken, or the
information about what roads have tolls is broken.)

There's probably some other app I just don't know about.  But so far I
find it impossible to use OSM data to get the route that I follow
every day to work (which Google's navigation app finds readily, and
even updates on the fly due to changing traffic conditions).

> 2012/5/29 Anthony :
>> And yeah, there are apps that use OSM data.  And there will probably
>> be more now that OSM has abandoned copyleft for data.
>
> Why do you say that? ODbL is still a copyleft license, although a much
> weaker copyleft.

Rather than nitpick over details, I'll go with "much weaker copyleft".

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Strainu]

2012/5/29 Anthony :
> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, whereas
> OSM, for the most part, is not.

I see it the other way around: OSM, for the most part, IS usable in
the real world. One can easily navigate using OSM data on the main
roads in a country, and even on major boulevards within the cities.
The problems appear "in the last kilometer".

And that's just the tip of the iceberg (i.e. the rendered data).
Invisible data, for instance road quality, can lead to impressive
mashups, such as http://openmap.ro/auto/ (click on one of the top
buttons to see the "comfort speeds", which is basically how messed up
a road is).  I never go for a long drive around Romania without
consulting this. While some of the data is old, more often than not
you can tell if you'll wreck your car on a road or not.

2012/5/29 Anthony :
> And yeah, there are apps that use OSM data.  And there will probably
> be more now that OSM has abandoned copyleft for data.

Why do you say that? ODbL is still a copyleft license, although a much
weaker copyleft.

Strainu

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Tom Morris]

On 29 May 2012 13:38, Richard Symonds  wrote:
> Tom: Is there a way to find out where OSM isn't very accurate/complete?
>

Well, there's OSM "bugs". Basically, there is a way you can file a bug
on the map, sort of like how you might leave a note on a talk page
(only there is some actual bug semantics) or whack a big warning
template on the top of an article. If you are editing in Potlatch,
it'll show the bugs as little red ladybugs! ;-)

Of course, the only way to really know is to compare OpenStreetMap to
reality or to another map or to a data source. Comparing to reality is
time-consuming, and is basically what OSMers do every time they go out
and trace new paths. Comparing to another map is hard because of
copyright issues and getting the data from that map in a usable form.
Comparing to a data source is a very limited way of measuring
completeness. One way that would be fairly good for the United
Kingdom, for instance, would be to get hold of some dataset from the
government of every institution of a similar type (hospitals and
doctor's surgery information is available from the NHS, for instance,
and I believe school data might be available also) and then write a
script to see if there is something with a very similar name in the
vicinity on OSM.

Personally, I find that whenever I look something up about somewhere I
know, work or live, OSM is pretty good. There are issues: occasionally
I'll find a street name that's wrong. But when using Google Maps, I
find all sorts of inaccuracies, mostly derived from SEOers spamming
Google Maps. I saw an SEO consultant who managed to get their business
listing bang in the centre of the Houses of Parliament once.

-- 
Tom Morris


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 8:38 AM, Richard Symonds
 wrote:
> Tom: Is there a way to find out where OSM isn't very accurate/complete?

Sure, but they all require comparison to something (a data source,
memory, the real world) which is accurate/complete.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 8:27 AM, David Gerard  wrote:
> On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:
>
>> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, whereas
>> OSM, for the most part, is not.
>> Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of OSM.
>
>
> I'd actually flag smartphones as the culprit. They're the good-enough
> cheap alternative that's disrupting the satnav business. TomTom's
> article is actually about an Android app that uses OSM data.

Well, yeah.  Smartphones were what allowed Google to create its free
satnav app.  And it's hard to compete with free.

And yeah, there are apps that use OSM data.  And there will probably
be more now that OSM has abandoned copyleft for data.  But most of
them won't be free, let alone libre, so it's hard to consider them
part of OSM.  If there's a usable free satnav app based on OSM data,
I'd certainly like to see it.

> Heck, my Blackberry doesn't have a GPS, but I can navigate usably with
> the Vodafone app that just triangulates off the cell towers.
> Resolution is terrible (on the order of 100-200 metres), but it turns
> out to be mostly sufficient.

I guess we have a different notion of "usable" :).

And yes, I'm talking about for driving navigation, which is TomTom's
main market.  Although, while OSM shines in some places in terms of
walking navigation, it is woefully inadequate in others.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Richard Symonds]

Tom: Is there a way to find out where OSM isn't very accurate/complete?

Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
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On 29 May 2012 13:29, Yaroslav M. Blanter  wrote:

> On Tue, 29 May 2012 13:23:25 +0100, Tom Morris wrote:
>
>> On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:
>>
>>> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, whereas
>>> OSM, for the most part, is not.
>>>
>>> Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of OSM.
>>>
>>>
>> I'd say OSM is beginning to be pretty usable in the real world. It's
>> usable for a lot of things where there's not so much commercial
>> interest in the map data...
>>
>>
> From my personal experience: Twice per year I travel into middle-size
> towns of Russia, usually visiting several of then on a single trip. Google
> maps suck badly; Google's Russian counterpart, Yandex Maps, are better, but
> they suck as well; TomTom is nonexistent, and OSM had for all places I
> visited in 2010 (with one exception - for the record, this was the city of
> Tayga, Kemerovo Region in Siberia) reasonably good maps, often with
> reliable house numbering.
>
> Cheers
> Yaroslav
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Yaroslav M. Blanter]

On Tue, 29 May 2012 13:23:25 +0100, Tom Morris wrote:

On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:
The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, 
whereas

OSM, for the most part, is not.

Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of 
OSM.




I'd say OSM is beginning to be pretty usable in the real world. It's
usable for a lot of things where there's not so much commercial
interest in the map data...



From my personal experience: Twice per year I travel into middle-size 
towns of Russia, usually visiting several of then on a single trip. 
Google maps suck badly; Google's Russian counterpart, Yandex Maps, are 
better, but they suck as well; TomTom is nonexistent, and OSM had for 
all places I visited in 2010 (with one exception - for the record, this 
was the city of Tayga, Kemerovo Region in Siberia) reasonably good maps, 
often with reliable house numbering.


Cheers
Yaroslav

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[David Gerard]

On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:

> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, whereas
> OSM, for the most part, is not.
> Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of OSM.


I'd actually flag smartphones as the culprit. They're the good-enough
cheap alternative that's disrupting the satnav business. TomTom's
article is actually about an Android app that uses OSM data.

Heck, my Blackberry doesn't have a GPS, but I can navigate usably with
the Vodafone app that just triangulates off the cell towers.
Resolution is terrible (on the order of 100-200 metres), but it turns
out to be mostly sufficient.


- d.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Tom Morris]

On 29 May 2012 13:08, Anthony  wrote:
> The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, whereas
> OSM, for the most part, is not.
>
> Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of OSM.
>

I'd say OSM is beginning to be pretty usable in the real world. It's
usable for a lot of things where there's not so much commercial
interest in the map data...

Wheelchair accessible maps: the work done by wheelmap.org that takes
OSM and lets you tag which businesses are wheelchair accessible.

Footpaths and cycle paths. There is a market for pedestrian and cycle
navigation tools, but it's a small fraction compared to the motorist
market. If you go out into rural Britain and want to know where the
footpaths, bridleways or cycle paths are, Google won't tell you. You
either have to pay Ordnance Survey for a map, or rely on OSM.

Even in cities, OSM is very, very useful for pedestrians. Here is Old
Street roundabout on Google Maps and OpenStreetMap.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.525611&lon=-0.086892&zoom=18&layers=M

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Old+Street,+London&hl=en&ll=51.525724,-0.08722&spn=0.001799,0.005284&sll=51.022157,0.280645&sspn=0.003638,0.014656&oq=Old+Street,+&hnear=Old+St,+London,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=18

Note how OSM shows the location of underpasses, traffic lights, ATMs,
petrol station and bike storage... that's what you get when you are
creating maps with a bit of love, care and attention. ;-)

-- 
Tom Morris


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Anthony]

The difference is that Wikipedia is usable in the real world, whereas
OSM, for the most part, is not.

Yes, TomTom is dying.  But it's because of Google, not because of OSM.

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 7:28 AM, David Gerard  wrote:
> TomTom press release:
> http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/licensing/newsletter/201205/didyouknow/
>
> OpenStreetMap volunteer response:
> http://www.systemed.net/blog/index.php?post=23 Flags TomTom
> quote-mining.
>
>
> - d.
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Deryck Chan]

I was skeptical with parent-like satnavs when they were first
introduced back then; I still am skeptical today. What's inadequate
about "Read map*, pay attention to the road, use brain"?

Deryck

*I'm a big fan of using the automatic route-planning features of map
systems like Google Maps or even TomTom to help me plan routes. It's
just that the assumption that a machine is correct about the real
world is simply wrong.

On 29 May 2012 12:32, Richard Symonds  wrote:
> Ha, makes for a good read. Thanks for sharing, David!
>
> Richard Symonds
> Wikimedia UK
> 0207 065 0992
> Disclaimer viewable at
> http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer
> Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
>
>
>
> On 29 May 2012 12:28, David Gerard  wrote:
>
>> TomTom press release:
>> http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/licensing/newsletter/201205/didyouknow/
>>
>> OpenStreetMap volunteer response:
>> http://www.systemed.net/blog/index.php?post=23 Flags TomTom
>> quote-mining.
>>
>>
>> - d.
>>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] TomTom does a Britannica

[Richard Symonds]

Ha, makes for a good read. Thanks for sharing, David!

Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
Disclaimer viewable at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk



On 29 May 2012 12:28, David Gerard  wrote:

> TomTom press release:
> http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/licensing/newsletter/201205/didyouknow/
>
> OpenStreetMap volunteer response:
> http://www.systemed.net/blog/index.php?post=23 Flags TomTom
> quote-mining.
>
>
> - d.
>
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