Talk:OpenStreetMap

Humanitarian Open Street Map Team (HOT)
article of Humanitarian Open Street Map Team was deleted and redirected to Open Street Map. But Humanitarian Open Street Map Team (HOT) is different from OSM. Currently it seems that HOT does not have the relevance in Wikipedia for an own article or due to missing peer-reviewed journals. Which is ok! May be there was something else wrong with the added article about HOT (replaced again with the Redirect). A bit worries me, that alterations were even cleared from history of the HOT redirect page. Good to know that "view history" is not like a history in a Version Control System, roll-back of inappropriate edits are ok anyway and common good practice in Wikipedia and Wikiversity, but who decides if good-faith edits are removed even from the history of the page? previous decisions of curators might also help or support new users to understand about decision about a not letting a separate HOT article evolve by the community - see HOT relevance in Wikipedia! --Bert Niehaus (talk) 15:26, 9 September 2018 (UTC)
 * OSM maps the worlds with open geodata,
 * HOT uses Open Street Map to support disasters, ... and community needs or other humanitarian needs.
 * "but who decides if good-faith edits are removed even from the history of the page" - can you link specific page where it happened? Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 10:47, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Suggested sources for updating the section on Humanitarian Mapping/Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team I am the Communications Associate for the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. Due to my association with the organization, I will not edit the section directly, but I do want to provide the following independent sources for unaffiliated editors to make updates and additions to that section at their discretion:

General Updates on the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team:
 * https://www.geospatialworld.net/news/hot-receives-core-funding-to-bring-1-billion-people-to-the-map/
 * http://k1z.blog.uni-heidelberg.de/2020/06/25/humanitarian-openstreetmap-team-has-been-selected-by-the-audacious-project/
 * https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-26/how-the-world-s-slums-can-get-back-on-the-map

Mapping using of tools produced by the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team in responding to specific crises or needs (the mapping itself general done by partner organizations and/or volunteers): Covid-19: Humanitarian responses: Development and Community Support:
 * https://www.devex.com/news/harnessing-satellite-data-for-pandemic-response-lessons-from-covid-19-98382
 * https://www.wired.com/story/satellite-data-reveals-the-pandemics-effects-from-above/
 * https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-mapping-idUSKBN2651L9
 * https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/01/health/coronavirus-vaccination-maps-geospatial.html
 * https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82404-z
 * https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-expatriates-volunteer-to-map-war-calamity-stricken-areas-around-the-world-1.73223664
 * https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2016/11/opp1162260
 * https://reliefweb.int/report/uganda/humanitarian-openstreetmap-team-and-unhcr-work-together-empower-refugees-and-hosting
 * https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/nyregion/maps-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria.html
 * https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/10/03/765783296/after-hurricane-dorian-the-wikipedia-of-maps-came-to-the-rescue?t=1611848069602
 * https://www.unfpa.org/news/girls-escaping-fgm-rural-tanzania-crowdsourced-maps-show-way-safety
 * https://www.devex.com/news/mapping-makoko-how-data-could-help-legitimize-nigeria-s-informal-settlements-96793
 * https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/neglected-and-unmapped
 * https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/tech/mapbeks-lgbtq-a00225-20210720
 * https://opengovasia.com/exclusive-the-humanitarian-openstreetmap-team-empowering-indonesians-to-map-their-communities/

Use of AI for mapping on OSM:
 * https://news.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/02/13/ai-missing-maps-hot-bing/

Updates on OpenStreetMap & Humanitarian Mapping (not Humanitarian OpenStreetMap specifically):
 * https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/865446
 * https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82404-z
 * https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-19/openstreetmap-charts-a-controversial-new-direction
 * https://www.directionsmag.com/article/10603
 * https://www.devex.com/news/the-rise-of-collaborative-mapping-for-the-masses-97786
 * https://www.ft.com/content/12937096-1b6f-11ea-81f0-0c253907d3e0

--Climate Ben (talk) 20:04, 26 September 2021 (UTC)

Commercial data
What if OpenStreetMap is used by a commercial company what makes profit from using OSM? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hopelessless (talk • contribs) 21:24, 1 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Commercial companies are allowed to use OpenStreetMap and create derived works from it, but all uses must come with attribution (links back to OpenStreetMap) and all derivations must be released with the same license. This does not prohibit charging for distribution of derived works, but it means downstream consumers can further distribute the work for free (Wikipedia is the same in fact)
 * Contributors to OpenStreetMap are not only creating a free map. They are helping to democratise access to geodata. While other maps are owned and licensed by big corporations (Ordnance Survey, Navtech, Google) OpenStreetMap is spawning an ecosystem of commercial and non-commercial users (see techcrunch article) including freelance consultants, and open source developers, all of whom have access to the data under the terms of the OpenStreetMap license.
 * There are competing projects which permit non-commercial use, but to create a truly free map you have to allow it, indeed allowing commercial use is one of the most exciting things you can do with a free map!
 * -- Harry Wood (talk) 14:23, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

How can comercial satellite data and yahoo maps be used if this is meant to be an open content project? 71.5.113.131 2007-05-11T02:19:58


 * There is a Yahoo-OSM agreement allowing just this. In other words, Yahoo consciously allows creation of open content based on their imaginery. See . Ask SteveC or the project mailing lists if you need more info. Ivansanchez 08:04, 11 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The maps also say they are copyright Navteq and TeleAtlas. Have these companies also given their permission to make the data available under the Creative Commons licence? --Astrokey 44 03:02, 12 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The maps are not copyright Navteq or TeleAtlas. The copyright notice is wrong (and has now been fixed). --ChaRleyTroniC 15:18, 24 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The agreement is for the aerial imagery from Yahoo!, not for the maps. 81.153.233.246 00:34, 30 May 2007 (UTC)


 * There is nothing wrong to use data which is also in other ways commercially used. Every data used in OSM has to be copyrighted because all data must be licensed under CC-by-sa. -- mms 12:36, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Yahoo Imagery
The use of Yahoo! imagery is not the result of a "special agreement", from what I read a Yahoo representative confirmed that using the imagery as a backdrop/overlay for hand editing was within the standard terms of use for the image data. I would be pleased if someone could adjust the article accordingly, I don't have time right now! (Here's a source for my comment from the OSM wiki) &mdash;tedp (talk) 13:46, 15 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Even though it took me three edits (one regular and two corrections... I really consider myself a precise worker, always rereading what I write, but somehow...) I think it's a bit more accurate now, at least the section is sourced. — Ewald (talk 18:36, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Infobox
The 'website' infobox seems all wrong to me. The infobox should refer to the project and to the idea itself, not to the website or the foundation (important as they are). Is there a better infobox for a project? Can we have a line for the number of contributors? PeterIto (talk) 07:46, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

Other render engines
Maybe openstreetmap scout could be added to the rendering engines/ OSM visualising tool? (although it uses mapnik engine?) -> well it is not a complete renderer, it only adds detail on top of a existing map

Description of Automotive Navigation Data's contribution is repeated
I think the "Commercial data sources" section is (partly) redundant. It is more like a history section. There is already a section called "History". (Or conversely: some of the History section is redundant.)

What do you think?

--Mortense (talk) 13:31, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

Should section "Map data" be changed?
In section "Map data": what is the meaning of these 3 lines?:

OpenStreetMap osm

CloudMade osm, garmin

Geofabrik osm, esri

It does not make sense to me.

And should osm be OSM? And garmin be Garmin? And esri be ESRI? (the company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESRI ?)

Isn't "OpenStreetMap osm" redundant? (OpenStreetMap 2 times.)

What do you think?

--Mortense (talk) 17:44, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I believe osm, garmin, and esri refer to file formats Pnorman (talk) 00:02, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

WikiProject
WikiProject OpenStreetMap was recently marked as inactive. Andy Mabbett (User: Pigsonthewing ); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 14:41, 17 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Is it something that requires changes on OpenStreetMap page? Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 10:50, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Huh?
Boy, is this article complicated! I can understand only a fraction of it. Yours in puzzlement, GeorgeLouis (talk) 21:05, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

usage map
The scale on the usage map goes from 10 million to 2 million. Someone who knows if it's supposed to be 20 million or if the colors are wrong should fix it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.124.115.34 (talk) 15:13, 28 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The hits for Germany (highest country) in Feb 2011 were 19305525. I'm part of the OpenStreetMap sysadmin team -- Firefishy (talk) 17:36, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Sources to enhance article
The OpenStreeMap wiki contains a page set devoted to news about OSM (OpenStreetMap in the media), another for books (Books) and a third for scientific research (Research). Content of these three pages could be used to enhance the OSM article and/or articles about cartography and open source information movements. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 15:50, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Relationship of OSM to MapQuest?
It may improve the article to clarify the relationship between online map service Mapquest (wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL) and OSM. It's difficult to comprehend the 'OpenStreetMap' MQ is supporting and the nature of the relationship. In particular, what does this mean: 'MapQuest earmarked $1 million in resources to help improve the OSM data in the United States with the stated intention of possibly using OSM data for their maps of the U.S. in the future'?? (The article makes no mention of MapQuest.) Twang (talk) 08:55, 19 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Not sure what you're finding difficult to comprehend, but let me explain a little.
 * Any commercial company is permitted and welcome to use OpenStreetMap data. MapQuest are using the data to create various services as a separate area of their website: http://open.mapquestion.com . These services all adhere to the share-alike license, and support the growth of OpenStreetMap by bringing it to new end users and new mobile/web developers, but additionally they're running some services such as the 'TIGER edited map' specifically to spur growth of OpenStreetMap mapping in the U.S. The "$1 million in resources" mostly means they are paying the salaries of a team of people to work on this stuff.
 * Perhaps the article should mention this. Maybe there should be a separate section about commercial data users. The current sentence about CloudMade seems like a misleading throw-away remark which does nothing to explain the relationship (and in fact increasingly there is no relationship. CloudMade seem to be scaling back their involvement in OSM lately) Meanwhile people like Geofabrik continue to provide great examples of (smaller) companies working with OpenStreetMap.
 * I know this because I used to work at CloudMade, and know a few people who work at MapQuest, but mainly because I'm very active and involved in OpenStreetMap as a volunteer/enthusiast.
 * -- Harry Wood (talk) 01:15, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

I do think it would be worth expanding on what mapquest does because if you go on openstreetmap, one of the options in the corner (along with standard, cyclemap, and transport map) is 'mapquest open'. It's not clear to me what this does, or how it is different from the standard data/view?Iamsorandom (talk) 17:53, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Money
In the nice-to-have category: I think financials should be listed. Specifically, links to IRS.gov, not osm.org. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.18.173.102 (talk) 16:15, 16 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Why would irs.gov have financial details for the OpenStreetMap Foundation, which is not a US organisation? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.198.152.54 (talk) 22:46, 13 April 2016 (UTC)
 * They were probably referring to the fact that non-profit organizations in the U.S. have to submit financial information to the IRS, which can be requested. For an example of such a section, see Wikimedia Foundation. Indeed it seems UK accounting standards require the same and the OSM Foundation has made their finances available as well. Opencooper (talk) 23:07, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

What is Nokia's Ovi Maps for Maemo doing in this article?
Found it in "Map rendering and presentation"/Desktop - do they really use OSM? Richiez (talk) 20:13, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
 * AFAIK, the Maemo (N900) version indeed uses OSM – at least as an alternative option. I could swear I've read that on a Nokia blog many months ago. I can try to find it but no promises. --KAMiKAZOW (talk) 00:05, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Just checked on my N900, the maps are all copyright OVI, Navteq, Nav2/NavInfo, no mention of OSM.--Efa (talk) 11:33, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Map data editing
hi, as this is a collaborative project like Wikipedia, we should add a section "Map data editing" with some elements and software to edit the map data. At least list Potlatch2, Merkaartor and JOSM. This is much important as Merkaartor and JOSM article are link to this page, where now no informations are given on map editing. In noone has something against, I will add--Efa (talk) 11:33, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Grammar
I realise that 'data' is plural, but saying "these data are" sounds as silly as saying "these furniture are". While it may be technically correct (as some dictionaries claim), it's extremely rare to see it written like this and it just seems awkward. Anyone care to change it?

Applications
I added these at the see also section:
 * MapDroyd
 * OsmAnd
 * MapFactor
 * NavFree
 * CoPilot Live
 * Skobbler GPS

apprearantly, Google maps is very bad for downloading the maps for offline use, OSM apps seem to be better but are mostly only for use on Android. See http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/591/how-to-use-gps-maps-without-an-internet-connection http://pocketnow.com/2013/07/22/google-maps-offline

I was wondering: perhaps its useful to make an article called Comparison of off-line GPS software. All programs (using different maps -google maps, OSM, ...-) can be mentioned herein, aswell as the OS on which these apps run. KVDP (talk) 07:55, 31 August 2013 (UTC)

also mention these: KVDP (talk) 08:25, 31 August 2013 (UTC)
 * OpenCPN
 * Maverick and Mobile Atlas Creator (use google maps data)
 * gvSIG Mini
 * Mappero
 * gpsVP
 * NaviPOWM
 * OpenSatNav
 * Gypsy
 * Minimap
 * Osmarender
 * Mapnik
 * NaVisu

Singular Data
As requested by an unregistered user last year, I've gone through and changed "data" from plural to singular throughout. IMHO "Data was" sounds much better than "Data were". Rojomoke (talk) 17:02, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Restructuring of the article
I think the article is in great need of a proper structure. I propose the following structure:


 * History: this part is good
 * OSM as a dataset: OSM in its narrowest definition is just the dataset
 * Data format
 * Data storage
 * Data license
 * OSM as a community: the community around OSM that is adding data to the database, this is a broader definition of OSM
 * Contributors: Who are the contributors, stats and stuff
 * Data gathering: How is data gathered: surveys, imagery, governmental data, commercial data, ...
 * State of the map: as a way to bind the community
 * OSM as an ecosystem: The broadest definition of OSM is the entire ecosystem, describing programs made to work with OSM data
 * Editor software: software that's meant to edit existing OSM data and upload newly gathered data to the dataset
 * Rendering software
 * Humanitarian
 * Commercial services

I hope this would bring some sanity to the randomness. --80.200.190.158 (talk) 13:41, 28 December 2015 (UTC) (sorry, this was me) --Sanderd17 (talk) 13:42, 28 December 2015 (UTC)


 * The German version of the article is worth looking at from a structural pov. Note it suffers from a number of the same issues as the English version, particularly too much detail that is completely out of date and IMHO not really interesting, and at best belongs in the history section. In general I would recommend keeping the amount of detail mangeable and not adding tons of references to stuff that is going to outdated tomorrow. I actually quite like the Wikipedia article on Wikipedia, that is more like what this should be. Sorry that I can't help though. SimonPoole (talk) 13:53, 4 January 2016 (UTC)


 * A new structure would be a vast improvement, but beyond my ability to do.--DThomsen8 (talk) 00:00, 13 January 2016 (UTC)
 * I have revamped the article. I have found suggestions from @Sanderd17 useful. Arjunaraoc (talk) 13:01, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

OSM Editors/Tools
A recent edit added a reference to GNOME Maps as an editing solution, while not wrong, it clearly was a non-NPOV addition, stats on actually used and popular editors can be found here https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Editor_usage_stats (there are no full year 2015 stats, but there is no reason to believe that the popular tools have changed). I would make the edit myself but I'm involved in the developement of one of the more popular OSM editors. SimonPoole (talk) 14:18, 12 March 2016 (UTC)

Stete of the Map section title rename
Would the section "State of the Map" be better titled "State of the Map conference"? I visited the page and from the TOC I though the section would be about the current coverage and quality of the global map. I was going to be bold, but thought I'd mention it here first, as I don't know if it will mess up any links to sections. Mcstove (talk) 09:46, 15 February 2019 (UTC)

Criticism of OpenStreetMap
A long term contributor Serge Wroclawski criticised that progress of OpenStreetMap  is being hindered by poor technical and political decisions. Some of them include providing just a database when map is needed, unclear usage policies, lack of moderation/review.
 * Added the above section which was removed from the main page, as it could be useful resource. Arjunaraoc (talk) 07:08, 7 May 2019 (UTC)


 * A database can be reused in other software environments, a rendered map is a final product in the browser. The key of OpenStreetMap is OpenData policy without Commercial Data Harvesting. Asking those questions "Why OpenStreetMap is in trouble?" lets the user assume that there is a trouble using OpenStreetMap. Neutral Point of View (NPOV) means, mentioning PROs and CONs of OSM decisions and features with an appropriate references (e.g. scientific article that analyzes commercial and open geodata resources). If there are mapping feature that constributers would like to have, they can extend LeafletJS, OpenLayersJS or create a plugin for OpenSource GIS like SAGE, GRASS, QGIS, .... convert the existing data in the desired format --Bert Niehaus (talk) 15:57, 12 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I've read Wroclawski's post back then and I appreciated it as it summarised several points discussed over a number of years. It's a good introduction to matters of perennial discussion within the OSM community, but it's a bit hard to consume for outsiders. The list of topics could be used as a hint to find other secondary sources which discuss them, though. Nemo 16:19, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 22:52, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
 * MapBox Streets example of a map of Soho, London.png

OpenHistoricalMap draft article
OpenHistoricalMap currently redirects to this article, which contains only a brief mention of that sister project. I've started a draft of a more complete article about OpenHistoricalMap. I invite those familiar with the project to help to make it more well-rounded and rigorously sourced. Minh Nguyễn &#x1f4ac; 22:04, 11 April 2022 (UTC)

"Emerillon (software)" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emerillon_(software)&redirect=no Emerillon (software)] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 06:45, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

"FoxtrotGPS" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=FoxtrotGPS&redirect=no FoxtrotGPS] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 07:03, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

Overture Maps Foundation marketing copy
It is very difficult to understand why this article contains essentially C&P marketing material from a competing organisation (see https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OpenStreetMap&diff=1127733186&oldid=1127621353). While linking to an appropriate source in a section on similar and competing organisations could be appropriate, surely using this article to promote the OMF isn't. SimonPoole (talk) 08:29, 29 October 2023 (UTC)