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#Google is trying again to convince you, YES YOU, to contribute for free to Google Maps. Contribute to #OpenStreetMap instead, it's a project by the community, for the community. 116 comments
 @Wuzzy i didn't have any choice in the matter. too many couriers rely on Google Maps... and thus kept going to the wrong house with my parcels. which wouldn't have been so bad if the people living there hadn't just gone "yeah, i'll have that" whenever it happened... @Wuzzy and it still took me several goes over a couple of years to get google to listen and correct their addresses Add your corrections to #osm. Google slurps down their data faster than you can type, and your corrections will be incorporated into Google's maps. And Google gets a lot of its data from your levels of government, who build that open data with your tax dollars. If Google has it wrong, likely some level of your government has that error.  here in the UK there is a paradox - the public sector does work closely with OSM and its increasingly used on govt websites, whilst private companies (particularly small businesses) still use Google as they are locked into the adtech ecosystem (especially the reviews) I've contributed to both over the years, the only issue I have with Streetcomplete is I don't want to dox myself by OSM contributions too close to home or work (which is an issue for many folk)   @kitsune @Wuzzy In the case of Amazon, it was Amazon's fault. We were next to a small warehouse run by Microsoft which must have been set to receive Amazon shipments at their main office 10 or so miles down the road. It proved impossible to get Amazon to fix this I I had to have everything delivered to Amazon lockers.  @Wuzzy@cyberplace.social The only thing I would say is that sometimes it's in someone's interests pragmatically. It would be really helpful if I could convince Google Maps that I am not my local library. @Wuzzy And if using Android (either directly or containerized), check out https://streetcomplete.app/ which makes it super easy to contribute!  @Wuzzy Apps where geospatial data matters for me (taxi apps and grocery delivery apps), use only Google data, and no way to setup them to use #OpenStreetMap data. @Wuzzy very novice question here, is this in anyway suitable for mapping the names of crofts that have or are about to disappear and not named on OS maps? On a quick look there is not the detail for that to be done with much accuracy. Or am I missing the point?? @Janealogy @Wuzzy @Janealogy @Wuzzy @Janealogy The tag historic=croft might be used, but you should discuss it with the local OSM community to find the best way to do it @Janealogy @Wuzzy I'd say so I'm not fully sure what a Croft is, is it the whole farm a crofter has and their home, or just the land immediately around their house? Anyway, assuming it's 2 or more areas of land,(if it's all one connected piece of land it's even easier) @ColmDonoghue @Wuzzy it's all the land, the house would be a croft house - but that is really what I would be mapping. For boundaries problem is that most are now incorporated into bigger farms so boundaries (if they were ever recorded) would be hard to draw.  @Janealogy @Wuzzy Nope, adding locally known data to OpenStreetMap is great, as long as it can be verified on the ground. I suspect, the crofts have a sign with their name? @Janealogy @Wuzzy As an example, could I show up and ask a local, and they wouldn't know the name? That way, I'm still be able to verify it. Don't sweat it though, OSM isn't *that* strict with this rule. @Janealogy @Wuzzy Personally, I think it would be a great addition. You can always reach out to other local mappers first, and most of them would be happy to help too: https://resultmaps.neis-one.org/oooc?zoom=11&lat=59.02816&lon=-3.05407&layers=B0FTFFFFT&contributors=FFTTTT (Orkney, for examples) — each user profile will have a "Send Message" link.  @Wuzzy @Wuzzy #OpenStreetMap is great but there is no way to submit reviews as there is on #googlemaps . Reviews submitted on Google maps are siloed.  @Iragersh @Wuzzy https://mapcomplete.org has some reviews, based on mangrove.reviews (which is FLOSS) @Iragersh OpenStreetMap has NO official authority on what constitutes a "correct" map. Our attitude is that we trust ground truth the most, i.e. people who actually physically went to the place and collected data. That's our gold standard. We still have a quality control. On the OpenStreetMap website, the Notes system can be used to report errors in the map and anyone can work to fix them. Enable it in "Layers". @Wuzzy I recently used #organicMaps (which is based on #OpenStreetMap ) and it really saved my ass as it's able to route without a cellular signal. #googlemaps can't do that.  @Wuzzy@cyberplace.social it's also really possible that google maps would lie to you. most popular map softwares are known to put in fake streets so google would know that you're pirating their street data. @Wuzzy OpenStreetMap has come a long way too. It's getting quite useful and much better. @Wuzzy I wish there was an option to just feed applications garbage GPS outputs. @Wuzzy PSA: you can also contribute street-level driving, riding, walking images (mappers use the term "ground truth") to #OpenStreetMap #OSM, which map editors can use to fine-tune map objects, using crowdsourced Mapillary (owned by Meta), KartaView, Mapilio. (OSM edit mode layers can be toggled on/off.) @ShutterbugDoug @Wuzzy You can add the pretty young Panoramax project to the list. Opensource, community driven, and soon to be federated A rather new initiative to replace mappilary came up recently in France, #Panoramax, which is decentralized as well as fully open data. And one of the first instances here from the French chapter of #osm: @Wuzzy The single greatest thing I've done on OSM was adding all the field numbers at the local soccer pitch to the map. I only did it so my wife and I wouldn't get lost when the kids had games, but I was able to get a few parents to sign up and help map our city because it was so helpful. And if I can offer one piece of advice to people considering contributing it's this: if you only want to add one kind of feature, that's totally okay. Someone else can and will fill in the rest.   @Wuzzy @andirsun I used Organic Maps today to add a couple of local businesses. It was pretty good. https://organicmaps.app (I kinda gave up on OSM some years ago, but coincidentally I tried it out yesterday and decided to get back into contributing. The apps are a lot better now.)  @Wuzzy +9001% I think it's bad that #Google is even allowed to request #unpaodLabour by others for #proprietary #SingleVendor & #SingleProvider solutions. In fact I've seen their shit getting worse and sometimes deliberately routing friends the wrong way into one-way roads, almost causing an accident if they did follow it. Never had that shit - or #MapVandalism - on #OpenSteetMap! @JauneBaguette @Wuzzy So like with #GoogleMaps there are cases of political trolling i.e. false businesses being added to "disputed" places [i.e. Lagoira, SADR] ... @JauneBaguette @kkarhan Welcome to the Internet. You'll find trolls everywhere but I think OSM does a good job dealing with it. The trolls are simply outnumbered and I don't think it was ever a huge problem. The biggest destruction of data happened when OSM switched the license a few years ago and had to throw away a TON of data for legal reasons (but OSM has healed from that by now). @Wuzzy It's a great project, but the app support has always been sub-par. I keep trying and always end up back on gmaps. Someday it will get there 🙂 @ArchusByte @Wuzzy If you want to try out a new(ish) one: @organicmaps — it has saved my bacon many times.  @Wuzzy For those who want to add POI information to #OpenStreetMap without to much hassle, try https://mapcomplete.org @Wuzzy what kind of contributions can be made to OSM? Parking lot entrances / route guidance for navigation? Business reviews? Business location/hours? OSM is cool, but I've always thought of it as not for end users.  @kf6nux car park entrances, route guidance (no left turn &c), business hours and website - all yes. not ratings or reviews though. there's no client that is a seamless transition for a gmaps user, but the data is there. at least where i am, the bike and transport info can be much better than gmaps, but the business and road info can lag @kf6nux Any kind of relevant factual data can be submitted, really. Road-related things like parking lots are definitely part of it as well as tons of metadata for roads. Business hours are also possible to include. However, things that rely on opinions are intentionally left out. Same goes for things that change rapidliy (like building sites that last like 1 month only). For more information, go to https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Beginners%27_guide @kf6nux @Wuzzy anything *verifiable*, see https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Verifiability. Hence all things you mention, except business reviews, as they are subjective. @amgine @Wuzzy If you have evidence of Google Maps incorporating OSM data, please contact the Data Working Group: https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Data_Working_Group#I.27ve_seen_a_problem.3B_what_should_I_do.3F (their emails in a paragraph there). They are absolutely not allowed to do that.  @Wuzzy Is there a way to export "starred places" from Google Maps to Open Street Maps? I have thousands of "starred" places on Google Maps that I have on my bucket list to visit. @GuyDudeman @Wuzzy I think that you can export them from Google as KML and load them into https://organicmaps.app  @Wuzzy @weaselx86 That's not a native function of the "main" portal osm.org as there're multiple providers depending on places @Wuzzy It helps that Google makes it impossible to contribute anything meaningful to Google Maps. There's a river near me whose name was officially changed years ago because it was named after an indigenous slur, yet it still shows up with the slur on Google Maps. Meanwhile OpenStreetMap had it changed almost immediately. :drgn_sigh:  @Wuzzy I'm just cracking-up imagining the "Anything helps! Please support Google Maps. We just need $4.5bn more to make October rent for our servers in Equinix. # MutualHelping #ClosedSourceRocks #DefinitelyNotEvil @Wuzzy@cyberplace.social stock miui + family link + a concerned father who tracks your location all the time= pain @faoluin Feel you. But from places I've mapped it's still a niche hobby and you'll more often than not be alone on task. Just keep having fun mapping, same as maintaining a personal garden until the day comes  @Wuzzy Yes! @Wuzzy speaking of scams, roblox is fucking bullshit too. Except they want minors to work for free or for pennies. @Wuzzy Something useful: Apple Maps publishes a webpage that enumerates every source of third-party data used for the Maps app, including things like Open Street Map https://gspe21-ssl.ls.apple.com/html/attribution-264.html @Wuzzy I have actually contributed quite a bit to google maps as our city was missing important information. But i have done the same for openstreetmaps and submitted over 600 changes. @Wuzzy The moment I deactivated Google Maps App and installed Osmand was when I was 100% sure I had killed Google Maps App to not keep it running while I was going places, also I had deactivated "features" for tracking where I was going, and then, when I arrived in a restaurant, a Google Maps notification popped up asking me to rate this place. That's when I realized they really spy on you at all times and there is no way to opt out of that except not allowing that app on your phone.  @Wuzzy @camille @Wuzzy @nonlinear @len if there was something similar to Streetcomplete on full size computers (a mobile screen is small and sometimes hard to see at my age) and it allowed you to easily add info to places a few km from my work or home (to preserve my privacy) I would contribute to OSM a lot more... We had to correct our address in Google maps because EVERY SINGLE DELIVERY SERVICE other than the post office used it. And most online sales sites don't give you a choice of delivery service. THAT is what gives Google so much power, not the actions of users. Being high-minded is great,; dealing with angry misdirected delivery people is not. All the same, now that the problem is fixed, I'll do as you suggest. streetcomplete is fun and easy to use. And you can easily get into weekly top 10 contributor in Australia if you spend say 15min per day @Wuzzy agreed on most points but on an ever so slightly different tangent, the Google maps app has(for my purposes) the best traffic telemetry on anything I've seen of recent times. For most, maps are a utility, and folk will want a map that just works, for them. I appreciate that it's slightly different than don't give your data to Google but similar in that the traffic telemetry is I think for a large part based on maps usage in the field. > people can only access Google Maps over proprietary channels where Google dictates the rules WDYM? I use Firefox and I've never had a problem accessing Google Maps through it. Google controls the backend, sure, but I don't think they own any part of the "channel" I'm using to reach it. Don't get me wrong, I like Osmand~ too; it's the only map app I have on my (gApps-free) phone. It's just not usable as a standalone navigation tool, so I typically have to rely on Google for at least part of the workflow. @Wuzzy My change on #OpenStreetMap yesterday after go in mountain, and i add some benchs on map for people which need it regularly during walking. We can do an open cartography with the community, together. 🌏 |
Gregory's Server
@Wuzzy OMG. This latest update forced ad tracking, which I disabled. Then, in the photos app, useful tools like crop and resize were removed and offered as an in app purchase
Fuck Google.