from Hacker News

OpenStreepMap 2012 vs. 2022

by curiousfab on 9/30/22, 1:34 PM with 191 comments

  • by benbristow on 9/30/22, 3:07 PM

    OSM needs some form of gamification adding to it.

    Google Maps app is great, lets you gain points by adding information & photos & reviews etc. They even send you a free bespoke pair of socks or a badge if you're active enough. So fun to add photos and then see how many views they get (I posted one of a chippy in Scotland (for Americans that's Fish & Chip 'Thick French Fries' shop) which got over 1.4 million views - mental). The location history feature suggests things to contribute which helps too.

    Would be good to have something similar to make contributing fun.

  • by eliaspro on 9/30/22, 4:11 PM

    When looking at these then/now renderings, one needs to take into account, that only very little of the actual data is rendered on those maps.

    The database contains an incredible level of detail which can be used in completely different contexts and I'd say what's rendered is roughly only 1/10th of the data

  • by mvexel on 9/30/22, 3:08 PM

    Some background from the guy who maintains this site at https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/Zverik/diary/399925.

    There is a script (disclaimer, that I wrote) to set up a couple of docker images so you can create / host something like this yourself: https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/mvexel/diary/399939. It requires downloading of a "full history" OSM data file for the region of interest.

  • by lallysingh on 9/30/22, 4:39 PM

    I prefer OSM to Google Maps when looking at maps. You get better maps with more detail. But, I have to back to GM to find anything with an address. The business database on OSM is poor, and I don't think the system for estimating the location of an address on a street has been particularly good either.

    They were terrible years ago on GM, so this is part of the evolution. But I can see how OSM will end up better than GM, like Wikipedia over Encyclopedia Brittanica, but it needs a bit more to get there.

    Btw: the online process to make changes on OSM is wonderful and encouraging.

  • by HanClinto on 9/30/22, 3:34 PM

    For everyone else who is waiting for the page to load, here is a screenshot of the data comparison:

    https://imgur.com/gallery/iQpmXO9

  • by smcn on 9/30/22, 3:04 PM

    This is blowing my mind, I had no idea it was as good as it was. I always remembering it being slow, empty, and just not really usable.

    This is incredible work and I'm sorry that I held such a negative opinion of it for so long!

  • by cjensen on 9/30/22, 11:34 PM

    OpenStreetMap is very very good. In many ways, I prefer it to Apple and Google.

    But the 2022 version suffers from a number of issues that Google and Apple are both suffering from recently: a lack of focus on who this map is for. Is this map ornamental? Or is it for driving? Walking? Finding tourist locations? What is it for?

    One of the obvious changes in OSM between 2012 and 2022 is the addition of building footprints at the cost of removing a lot of street names. At this scale, do footprints really help? Am I planning a walk and need to know the street name where I will turn? When you are close to a destination, yes the footprints help one identify the correct building. But not here.

    Here's a Google Maps example: if you put Canada's Yukon Territory into frame, does it show you the major roads? No. Does it show you any roads? No. Even if you select "traffic" it doesn't get the hint that you care about driving. It just wants to show you a map of geography.

    And now an Apple Maps example: put California into frame. Freeways and two-lane roads are shown as thin lines that are nearly invisible. Good luck planning a route with this map! Want to go from Point A to B? It can do it! But want to consider side trips or general routing yourself? Nope.

    There's still no adequate substitute for a AAA map for driving. I suspect hikers, bikers, and walkers are also poorly served by these non-specialized maps too.

  • by GeorgeHoneywood on 9/30/22, 5:58 PM

    A while ago I made something a bit like this, but it is an animation of all the years between 2007 and now.

    https://maps.honeyfox.uk/

    It only works in my town in the UK, so don't try scrolling the map too much.

  • by crimsoneer on 9/30/22, 3:05 PM

    Honestly, OSM is a damn triumph.

  • by LeoPanthera on 9/30/22, 11:14 PM

    OpenStreetMap's maps of Disney parks has always immensely impressed me and looking at the comparison I can see why: https://2012.osmz.ru/#16/28.3724/-81.5487

    The detail was really good even back in 2012.

  • by laurent123456 on 9/30/22, 2:06 PM

    It's down. What is it supposed to show?

  • by escapecharacter on 9/30/22, 4:25 PM

    With the title in the typo (OpenStreepMap), I was expecting a map of where Meryl Streep was sighted

  • by playingalong on 9/30/22, 7:17 PM

    A comparison of current Google Maps with current OSM would be interesting too. I bet people would be shocked with how much details there are mapped.

  • by ZeroGravitas on 10/1/22, 6:57 AM

    There should be a master list of "open" alternatives that were derided as never going to be comparable that then took over.

    Linux, OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia, Audio and Video codecs etc.

    The world needs more examples of how building a digital commons is a good long term strategy because it's far too easy to take the short term view each time this comes up.

  • by cavisne on 9/30/22, 3:28 PM

    It’s interesting to look at the local edits on osm. In my area it’s mostly from Amazon and Lyft, based on proprietary imagery.

  • by geenew on 9/30/22, 11:59 PM

    Does anyone have a quick summary they could offer on how forestry tiles are added?

    It's clear that they are added in blocks - edges to forest-cover data are at edges of very large (100km?) tiles.

    I wonder, though, where that information comes from. Public sources GIS, and analysis of public satellite imagery, are two possibilities that come to mind.

  • by breck on 9/30/22, 1:54 PM

    Don't believe what you read in the newspapers, this gives me hope for our world.

  • by hashtag-til on 9/30/22, 1:55 PM

    I wonder how to go about to collaborate to the OSM ecosystem with code. Does anyone know what are the cool projects within OSM in C/C++? (i.e. not web stuff)

  • by esprehn on 10/1/22, 12:34 AM

    There appears to be a bug in the 2022 map where it doesn't load tiles during a pan gesture so you can get stuck in an all white zone until you lift your finger off the screen:

    https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/415779/193375980-7...

  • by dmd on 10/1/22, 2:53 PM

    Does something like this exist for OSM vs Google (both current-day)?

    Edit: I found Geofabrik but their Google api key is invalid I guess.

  • by chiubaca on 9/30/22, 8:08 PM

    plugging a lil data viz i did while a go that plots the latest OSM edits on a map in real time-ish along with a nice chime...

    https://musical-osm.netlify.app

    I'm always surprised by how active it is whenever I visit it. OSM is such an amazing project.

  • by dsq on 10/1/22, 6:43 AM

    I liked how zooming and panning in one pane was automatically refkected in the other, nice.

  • by tezza on 9/30/22, 6:54 PM

    Scrolling around Broadway I see

      Avery Fisher Hall
    is now

      David Geffen Hall

  • by Maxburn on 9/30/22, 2:14 PM

    Left blank white square. Right OSM map.

    Is this a prank or broken? What year did OSM come out?

  • by agumonkey on 9/30/22, 7:45 PM

    Wonderful improvements.

  • by cinntaile on 9/30/22, 2:10 PM

    OSM doesn't have a layer with just satelite images like Google maps has, does there exist any alternative here?

  • by uwagar on 9/30/22, 3:14 PM

    how do i turn on english names for places that are labeled in local language?