 Last week's #geoeducation thread seemed to really resonate, so let's do another. Many people come to our service because they need geocoding. They don't (yet) really know anything about open data. So this week let's break down why using open data matters. #opendata ๐๐งต๐ 12 comments
3/ "Closed" or proprietary data sources typically add restrictions on what you can do with "their" data. How long you can store it, where you can display it, different pricing if you use it publicly or behind a firewall. Prepare to spend hours reading the fine print. ๐ง๐๐ญ 4/ That might sound like fun for lawyers, but it's a real drag when you're trying to build (and maintain) a compelling digital service. Worse is that these restrictions often come as a surprise: want to stop being a customer, you have to delete "their" data. Welcome to vendor lock-in. Lame. ๐คฎ 5/ We aggregate many different open data sources. This means: โ display on any map โ store the data as long as you like (even if no longer a customer) โ use in print, apps, behind firewall, etc. Up to you ๐๐ 6/ A key attribute of open data, and the one that often leads to the "Aha!" moment for new customers, is the fact that you can fix it. Anyone can edit OpenStreetMap. Today. New house get built ๐ ? Add it to OSM and we'll have it within 48 hours. 7/ No more waiting for someone at megacorp HQ to add a fix. We've written a small tutorial on adding addresses to OSM: https://opencagedata.com/tutorials/adding-an-address-to-openstreetmap but there are tons of great resources. We often recommend http://learnosm.org (available in 20+ languages) 8/ ๐จ ACHTUNG! ๐จ - editing OpenStreetMap is fun and can become addictive. But this gets to a key point - open data thrives when we all contribute back. With data, code, growing the community, financial support, the Geomob events and podcast @geomob , etc 9/ Finally, open data is free as in it costs no money. ๐ซ๐ฐ This means we can be radically more affordable than traditional, closed data geocoding services. See: 10/ Wait - what? ๐ค If open data is free, why should you pay to use a service like ours? Why not just run it yourself? Because it's a lot of work to operate and maintain a massive, continually changing dataset. 11/ We do all the work to provide and maintain enterprise level reliability around open data. โ
Fully redundant data centers 13/ Thanks for reading and sharing. Have questions about open data? Or anything else related to geocoding? PLease get in touch. Like threads about geospatial topics? We have links to many more geothreads about border disputes, exclaves, #geoweirdness of individual countries, reverse geocoding, etc listed on our blog: |
Gregory's Server
2/ The "open" in "open data" has to do with the idea that you have freedom to do more with the data.
Background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_data
But what exactly does that mean in the context of geodata?
#geoeducation