We’ve all already talked about switching away from google/apple maps to something like openstreetmaps, mapy, tomtom amigo, etc. But all of these services use openstreetmaps (UK non-profit) as a source and they still miss a lot of local data even for bigger cities!
If you have some spare time, think about adding a bit of data to the map with your local knowledge. There’s a lot of business data missing that is on google maps like websites, phone numbers and opening hours but also stuff like parking lots and whether they’re publicly accessible and free or not. Adding these makes the competition of ALL services using OSM as a source better.
I also use the mobile app https://streetcomplete.app/ and https://every-door.app/ to add data while on my walks, these make my walks more engaging and I actually take longer ones + see new places because of it. Streetcomplete also has a focus on important and easy to collect data with their default filters, and you can choose what you want to contribute.
If you really want to get into the thick of it and contribute more than just simple data you can always check out https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/How_to_contribute and see in which of the many ways you can contribute!
Tip, talk to your local authorities and see if they can provide all of the data which you can then import to OSM.
Something keeps bugging me: I’m guessing nothing stops Google to integrate this data into its Maps application, right?
They need to credit OSM if they do that which would give free advertising to the project. They already have more data than OSM anyways so don’t see why they would do that
I don’t want to discourage anyone from helping OSM using StreetComplete or other apps, but you should be aware that this is an open source project and your edits are public. If you walk around in your neighborhood and contribute opening times or whatever, those edits can be seen on a map along with your username and can in many cases be used to narrow down the neighborhood you live in, depending on your behavior. So if you’re concerned about privacy, make sure you use a random generic username that you don’t use anywhere else when signing up, so people googling your username from social media for example can’t locate you just based on that name.
Fair point to give! I do exactly this but I also make a point to contribute in a lot of different places as well.
It has some weird license but Every Door is also a nice app to add data to the map, in case you want to try something different than Sreeet Complete in your mobile.
StreetComplete is really fun, and also can make a familiar surrounding area of your home worthy of re-exploring!
It also has a team mode when you walk around with your friends, it gives different tasks to different people in the group. Haven’t used it myself but I’ve been thinking of trying that with my clubs.
I came across a random kids farm I didn’t know was there while doing quests, was really fun!
Just keep contributing bit by bit. It’s a shame, I’m a busy CEO living in middle of nowhere with nothing to map, still #2 last week in my country, #12 for all times,seriously, if I had this thing as a student, I’d be doing nothing else, we were photographing cities with my friends back in the days for centralized maps and it’s way more labor. Go install streetcomplete and just have fun, it’s autistic paradize I live in now!
Any contribution is helpful! :D
Yo, Street complete is the bomb.
Wonderful apps! Had always thought about contributing but never found the energy or will to learn how. This makes it easy. Thanks
Enjoy and thanks for contributing!
Downloaded streetcomplete, looks fun and useful. Thanks for sharing!
It’s really good. One can just walk around and it prompts to complete information around. One can even do simple editing like add objects with the “things” layer like lamp posts benches and so on.
Just don’t be surprised it asks things OSM already has. It is coded to periodically prompt users for check ups, if the information is still valid.
Also incase of new/missing roads one can record a GPX track and upload it with note for editors reference or for oneself to map on computer later on.
Plus earning badges and medals is light fun.
Just don’t be surprised it asks things OSM already has. It is coded to periodically prompt users for check ups, if the information is still valid.
Where I live quite a bit of the data is outdated. It’s great to have the “is this still here?” prompt
Thanks for giving it a try!
OpenStreetMap, singular, with the words capitalised and without spaces, thank you very much. We might be a tad neurotic about that.
StreetComplete Rank #136 in my country #1589 Globally
Across 7 countries (yep, even on holiday)
I’ve also added our home & some neighbours onto the map, which is great as our address is a little awkward and gradually our deliveries have improved as the map data reaches the driver’s satnavs
That’s amazing! I’ve only been using it for a bit but from what I’ve done it seems getting in the top #5000 globally shouldn’t take all too much effort as long as I keep it up. Hoping to reach your levels slowly but surely ;P
Yeah, it’s all about regular contributions… I was down (up?) to #120’s a while back, but I’ve not been travelling recently, so it’s slipping away.
But yeah, 341 active days… probably over a ~3 years?
What I tend to do now is, if I visit a nice cafe / restaurant / shop, I’ll check if it’s there and edit the opening times, etc… or even add the business if it didn’t exist.
They’re good to me, I’m good to them
Damn that’s a lot haha, nice!
I’m also going to try adding reviews on mapy on top of that since that’s one of the main reasons I still use google maps.
I’m rank 5k globally and rank 2k in my country.
That means, my country is probably rank 1 globally. Which country am I from?
Schland
I added the apps to https://better-tech.eu/search/article/maps/ to help spread the word.
For public transports, Transportr works pretty good also (in Europe at least).
Thanks!
Yes! It’s a great Google Apps alternative. What’s missing is public transport schedules.
There’s a General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) which is an open data standard for transit passenger information. It was developed in the US, but maybe it could be used in the EU too if it doesn’t have a European alternative? We could all email or @ the public transport companies of our areas and ask them to publish these. Or even @ the @[email protected] here and on other social media.
Public money, public data, public code.
Edit: holy shit, GTFS was developed by Google! It might be how public transit systems world wide are publishing to Google! We should tell our public transit systems to make that data open to everybody, not just google!
looks like NeTEx is Europe’s version of GTFS.
data feeds
It might be how public transit systems world wide are publishing to Google!
it is how public transit systems worldwide are publishing to Google. other services get to use those too, though,
like TransportrSurely something to consider! Perhaps you could make a post about this on the openstreetmaps forums to discuss it there with the people implementing changes? Perhaps someone has ideas of what we could do there (and if you need crowd help post something here as well ;) )
There is also SCEE and Vespucci if you want more editing ability
SCEE
https://f-droid.org/packages/de.westnordost.streetcomplete.expert/
Vespucci
Couldn’t start using Vespucci, unfortunately. Too messy - when you are on the run, best you can do is make notes and record tracks to draw them later (or let others do it). I’m sure it has its uses though.
Trying DigiAgriApp now, with my sensor network and public mapping, this looks like path to some weird solarpunk grassroots future. Starting server from docker is surprisingly messy though, I still fail to patch it through https somehow.
I find Vespucci difficult to use as well. I put it out there as an option for others who might find StreetComplete lacking. SCEE hits the spot for me most of the time.
As far as I read this is more stuff I’d do on desktop than mobile. But thanks for sharing for who finds this useful!
I linked to F-droid, they both work fine on mobile. Editing is easier on desktop though. I find replying to questions easier on desktop as well.
Heads up for iOS users: sadly you can’t do streetcomplete, but you can do every door
There’s also “Go Map!!” that you can use
Bumping to include MapComplete as well! Platform agnostic.
Oh cool unfamiliar with that one
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Awh that’s too bad, but you can still add via the web editor as well do take that in mind! :D
Wow, thanks for the streetconplete tip! I’m going to make it my mission to rid my town of all unknown data points!
I’ve been working on that as well and I’m moving in a month so have the opportunity to do it again without having to travel further :p thanks for your efforts!
Already made 50 points today. I think this is becoming my new hobby. It’s like geocaching only that it’s useful.
