Executive summary (sorry for the long mail!) OpenStreetMap is as good as you want to make it, and it's better than Gmaps in many places. The mobile web interface sucks, but there are dedicated apps. It's free as in freedom, not just as in beer. Details below:
(copying my local OpenStreetMap group as well for info and interest: I'm trying to convince the Houston Linux Users' Group that an OSM map would be better than gmaps for directions to a LUG: http://www.houstonlinux.org/ ) > Have you found OpenStreetMap to be any good? Last time I tried it (probably > a year or so ago, in Tucson), it was really incomplete and pretty much > useless. Well, it varies in its coverage. My immediate area is actually more accurate and complete on openstreetmaps than on Google. I frequently use OpenStreetmap for routing, and it works fine. I have a map of the whole of South Africa on my Android device. Many places have best-in-class coverage on OpenStreetMap, and dodgy coverage on Google. Look for example at Stellenbosch University: Google maps: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&ll=-33.933186,18.862656&z=17 Openstreetmap: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-33.933083&lon=18.863001&zoom=18&layers=M Openstreetmap is much much better here. How about some random chunk of England: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&ll=51.398764,0.529618&spn=0.006613,0.01929&z=16 http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=51.39862&lon=0.53134&zoom=16&layers=M Openstreetmap wins again. Manzini, Swaziland? http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&ll=-26.497461,31.370945&spn=0.039867,0.109863&z=14 http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-33.93444&lon=18.86917&zoom=15&layers=M I linked that one because I know Google totally pwns us at the moment. Watch this space... Port-au-Prince, Haiti? http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&ll=18.586379,-72.296047&spn=0.084446,0.154324&z=13 http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=18.5799&lon=-72.2908&zoom=13&layers=M Clear victory for OpenStreetMap! As for Tuscon, I'm not sure that it's still as bad as last time you checked. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&ll=32.277119,-110.978737&spn=0.018831,0.054932&z=15 http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=32.28137&lon=-110.9818&zoom=15&layers=M Openstreetmap doesn't exactly look awful to me. Anyway, while there is lots of work still to be done, OpenStreetMap is clearly not useless by any stretch of the imagination! > I tired OpenStreetMap on my cell phone (Android). Yes, the maps look > prettier, but the lack of a draggable scrolling killed it for me. Pressing a > on-screen button once to scroll just a little, and then having to wait till > the screen fully loaded before scrolling again was a major loss of > functionality (in my opinion). You really shouldn't use the web-interface on a mobile device. It just sucks. There are some excellent Android apps, for example Navit and gosmore, which can do routing on your phone, and render the map on the fly for you. I know the author of gosmore, and I use it as well, but I admit that I prefer Navit's voice prompts for routing! Also, you might like to know about the WalkingPapers project: http://walking-papers.org/?lat=29.75283&lon=-95.4486&zoom=15 From their site, you can make yourself a pdf map of an area that you want to survey, print it out, draw on it, scan it in and upload it, and then it's a background for mapping activities. I use it because it's a very convenient way to make printable pdf maps. Now why to link to it instead of to Google maps? When people use and buy into OpenStreetMap, they're growing the commons. Just like Linux is built on cooperative work that can be re-used in so many ways, OpenStreetMap data is free and open. Google is by no means our enemy - they've done a lot to help and promote Linux and free software, but Google Maps just isn't free. You are not allowed to reprint it, and if you do add to it, you have no rights to the content that you have created. Put your efforts where they do more good! Best regards, David -- David Richfield e^(πi)+1=0 _______________________________________________ Talk-ZA mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-za
