Over the years the expectation has been that somebody would take OSM data and create such an end user portal, but as we know, that has never happened outside a couple of aborted or zombie projects (three that come to mind are MapQuest, bing and skobbler, but I'm sure there have been more).
I once asked around what the original vision was for OSM, but nobody seemed to be sure if originally the intention was to cater for end-users, it definitely hasn't been the case for the majority of the roughly 10 years the project has been around. In any case the main problem is that it is not possible to build a sane commercial business plan around providing such a portal and that providing maps is just one (now days small, thanks to OSM) part of what a viable map portal/app would need to offer as Frederik has already pointed out (note this is not limited to OSM, one of the reasons for the rapid dispatching of Here/Navteq by Nokia was the failed attempt to provide exactly such a end-user service). Naturally the main competitor for an audience is google which is likely sinking billions into google maps with nearly no direct income from the service (google doesn't actually disclose any specific numbers, what is however known is their advertising revenue vs. other sources). I think it is clear that competing on a commercial footing is just completely out of the question and -not- going to happen, so Frederik is being a bit misleading if he points to that as a realistic possibility. What is largely unexplored is a non-commercial operation at the level that would be necessary to provide the missing bits and pieces. Given the intolerance of the masses for a less than google like perfection (see the issues Strava is having and that with an audience that historically has been sympathetic to OSM) and the problem that you have at least one viable commercial operator in the market, obtaining sufficient funding is likely to be -very- difficult. Simon
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