I've been editing OSM for years. (896,339 edits in 3,427 changesets, apparently!) For me, it's all about the free data. I once got a thank you note from someone who worked for a city with a particularly large municipal park. I'd added almost all the trails to the park and other information, and they'd used it to produce a printed map for the general public. Exactly the kind of thing I'd hoped for!

Personally, I do a lot of dualsport motorcycling and most backcountry maps around here are subpar. I map tons of trails and 2track and put them on the Garmin so I know where I'm going.

OSM is also great in lots of Europe--tons of detail.

JOSM is great.

Someone just recommended Organic Maps for the phone--it's way snappier than Google Maps, but still not great with finding addresses.

https://streetcomplete.app/ is a fun way to contribute to OSM and do something else instead of just "walking" if you want to get outside a bit.

OSM is an awesome project I agree it is fun contributing to it but it is not as useful yet due to what you describe, details.

Finding addresses and other specific information is very hit or miss in some areas. Especially in the US where no one really cares about it other than tech corporations using it for quick info like street layouts.

My entire city has address numbers missing and for a long time I used an app on my phone (StreetComplete) to fix address numbers and other various details. But it can be overwhelming very quickly depending on how outdated or not updated your place is. Time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time by the way.

OSM is huge for backcountry. Hiking trails, skiing, etc. There is nothing better.

Yeah. Story time:

In the England we have ancient rights-of-way laws but a lot of private landowners try to block footpaths that cross their land. If a landowner can argue a footpath hasn't been used in (I think) two years they can have it removed, but in 2025 all the existing footpaths will be made permanent and indelible except with explicit local government permission so between now and then a lot of landowners will be rushing to get paths removed.

I've made a point of walking every footpath in my area and making sure they're all documented on OSM. If any of the landowners try to get a path removed I have my GPS tracks as proof of use.

Edit: FWIW, I find OSM to be the best map for rambling. Google and Apple don't come close and OSM even gives Ordinance Survey a run for it's money.

Yes I use OSM almost exclusively and have contributed to it.

Where I live, in Germany, OSM is pretty much on the same level as Google Maps and way better than Apple Maps. Sometimes there is outdated info but you can quickly correct it. Sometimes I double check stuff with GM. Some information is even better than GM. But I think Germany has a pretty strong OSM community, at least in my city.

I use Organic Maps on iOS.

Im currently using streetcomplete, which is an app that gamifies the experience of fulfilling OSM gaps. It's like playing pokemon go but you are hunting a street with isle. I found this recommendation here in lemmy so im passing forward, I loved it

I use OsmAnd~. Mainly to analyze my skating routes (average speed, distance, etc) and planning sightseeing routes when on vacation.

For finding commute an app from local public transport is still the best and google maps are better than osmand, but for navigation on foot it's very good. And you can download the region earlier, so when you use it, you don't need that much data.

I regularly use OSM data through Organic Maps (mostly for larger European cities). The app is really polished and is a joy to use. So far I'm not missing any features from Google Maps.

I've also updated some faulty business hours for some restaurants so I guess I've contributed back.

E: With the recent developments in the world of free online services (YouTube blocking ad-blockers, Google lying to their customers about its TrueView ads, Twitter rate limiting free access, the Reddit API fiasco), I wonder how much longer we can take free services like Google Maps for granted. Having an open alternative may become even more important in the future.

Currently at 319 contributions on OpenStreetMap since the 22 of December 2022 some part of south Italy are not mapped at all so I'm trying my best to make at least usable.

If someone want to contribute to osm StreetComplete let you add simple tags to already existing tags and let you add stores with a monstrous simplicity!

Anyway tell your girlfriend that apple maps and bing maps use data from openstreet map and are huge contributors to the project, in fact the default map when you edit in osm is from bing!

I'm in the UK and open street map has mapped out my local area more accurately than google. It is marginal, but I stopped using google maps after a few issues: I was hiking and it directed me into a privately owned farm (claiming it is a permissive footpath).The farmer was very racist.

Another time I was directed through the middle of a primary school.

Where I live it's much more complete than google maps, especially in the countryside.

I use it all the time with OSMand. and i have contributed to OSM for years. I just had a look - i start in Sep 2010 (13 years!) and all of my edits (except for a humanitarian tracing excersice for mozambique) i have been to. it is a niice spread:

I use it quite often, but only recently began contributing. And as they (very) wisely say at the bottom of the wiki (https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/...):

WARNING: OpenStreetMap is highly addictive Take frequent breaks, there is a lot to be done.

I contribute regularly. I used to waste a lot of time watching TV series, instead now I contribute to OSM.

I spent a few hours last night adding buildings and restaurants and removing incorrect items. It was actually kind of fun and therapeutic and I plan to do more of it tonight.

Same here. I actually use OSM editing as others would use drawing. I even edit on OSM while engaging with people, just as others would sketch in their drawing book.

My girlfriend thinks it’s dumb and I’m wasting my time because Google maps and Apple maps and Bing maps exists

In case you or she is into hiking: Komoot is literally using OSM data. Paths for hiking and cycling outside the city are almost nonexistent on the big commercial services. When I'm going for a walk and I find a trashcan, I add it to OSM while I'm walking. My thinking is that people might be less likely to throw trash in the woods when they know that a trashcan is just around the corner.

Apologies, I just realized this question is not Linux specific.

"Has anyone used or contributed to OpenStreetMap, the data source of popular Linux apps Gnome Maps and KDE Marble?"

FTFY

BTW there's now an OSM community !openstreetmap@lemmy.ml

you like lemmy? it works because ppl contribute. osm...same! try https://streetcomplete.app and contribute!!!

Every time I move to a new area this is one of things I do. Outside of Google, a lot of the other maps start with open street maps as their data set as it's an excellent jumping off point. So you're not just helping open street maps You're helping most map applications.

I've been contributing to it via Street complete (can get it on fdroid) and it has become quite a hobby of mine.

I have done 14k edits over six years. I too like it for being therapeutic. I'd rather do micro-edita on osm than play another level of candy crush. Same kind of reward but you are also helping out creating something larger!

Honestly though, I don't think osm will ever catch up to the commercial alternatives. Mostly because their harsh stance against automatic edits (and lack of version control). Also the lack of standardization is a problem. It's very hard to create client applications because the data is structured way different in different regions.

Yes, all the time. Great job helping out the project! Contributing is super valuable, even if it's just a bit.

Check out if you haven't, the app "Street Complete". It allows you to really quickly add information to OSM in a fun gamified way.

It automatically finds your location and gives you little pop-up questions like, "what kind of crosswalk is here?" And, "where is this fire hydrant located?"

I go on walks in my area and will contribute that way too.

I got very into it in the early days. Probably around 2007-2008, I was mapping parts of my large town in Australia. The data it had was pretty bad, with a lot of the roundabouts modelled as intersections and it didn't have any new streets. Every week I rode my bike around parts of town capturing GPS trails to mark the streets. I would manually import the points and model the roads and carefully model the roundabouts (the tooling was very basic back then, roundabouts were hard to make).

Then one day I logged in and noticed ALL my edits were gone. The whole state had been mass updated in one go, with new street data that was donated by some agency. But it was so bad. It had roads marked that didn't exist. Some new roads were marked but in the wrong place. And all the roundabouts were modelled as intersections again! I got so frustrated, I immediately logged off and I haven't contributed to OSM since then.

I have updated a dirt road to asphalt.

We use OSM quite a bit for various things at my job (transport logistics software). We're generally concerned with UK cities, where the coverage is quite good, however we often find little things which aren't quiiiite right and make a fix or two.

It's a really cool project, overall

I am actually going to a mapathon event in my city this weekend, so yea, there's an active community of people making their surroundings more accurate on OSM.

I use, and contribute to it, quite often.

In fact, just a few months ago I added the 90% missing houses and buildings from my city (of 200,000), which took about 60 hours 😂 Totally worth it.

Keep in mind that not only do OpenStreetMap users benefit from the maps, but so do users of countless other map providers and services that rely on OSM data. 👌

I did a few small corrections in the area I live. I removed a public road that wasn't a road but a private paved path. I got heavily criticized in a PM by another member for doing so. Haven't bothered doing anything since

Editing since people are correction me. Perhaps path is the wrong word to have used. Driveway would probably be more suitable.

I travel quite a bit, both for work and for pleasure, so when I have an hour or two to burn I take a walk around and make some contribution with StreetComplete.
It seems like I've found a new way of being a tourist.

Yes. Most of my contributions are "drinking water" (public water fountains) and "restrooms"

I've been meaning to ask: what's the appropriate POI for a normal 115/220 power outlet socket?

A couple of years ago, I had took the time to map in and around a small town close to me. I had mostly drawn building outlines that weren't there and updated POI stuff with some road corrections here and there. It was nice seeing the gradual changes I did after each time updating the map information on Map.me knowing that I’m helping anyone that plans to go through the area to have accurate information on what’s around.

I'm curious where you live that there isn't much mapping data. I've used StreetComplete for a few years, everywhere I've been wherever I've travelled all over the world. Wherever I go, there's already so much data and it's already so detailed, that the only stuff StreetComplete can give me is "what kind of paving stones are used on this sidewalk?" and "how many floors are in this apartment building 3 blocks away?"

My girlfriend thinks it’s dumb and I’m wasting my time because Google maps and Apple maps and Bing maps exists but she just doesn’t understand open source.

Time to move on, she ain't the one. /s

Started contributing 2 weeks ago and just did a walk for StreetComplete yesterday, it's hella fun and I've added a lot of POIs on my city since i started, just over 400 changesets atm :)

Yup!

I have switched from Google Maps to Here we go for years now and been loving it

I use it a lot, mostly through OsmAnd on Android. Occasionally I also contribute missing trails and remove obsolete places.

I think many people use their data without even knowing it which is a shame. Maps.me is a very common app but everyone I talk to that's using this app never heard of OSM.

Used it every day when delivering, because there was much more detail than google maps, so I could actually see where fences and gates are. Used Waze to drive and OSM to walk.

I use organic maps, they are very good

Here in kerala ( a small state in india ), we have a project called Mapathon Keralam. They work with engineering colleges to map out nearby places as well as any place in general. Had contributed few places myself. So pretty much all places in kerala are now mapped in it :)

It's very popular outside of US. In Iran, every single domestic map, navigation, e-taxi, and online delivery system uses OSM maps. Iran has a pretty good coverage on OSM however many businesses upload their data to Google Maps first.

Hi! Wrong sub? No worries, our subredditcommunity (!openstreetmap@lemmy.ml) is right here as well!

Did you also know that Apple Maps and Bing Maps use OSM data too in some areas, for some types of categories? Bing even has cloned an OSM-editing program.

Furthermore, you can use https://mapcomplete.osm.be to add shops or other POI. (Obligatory shill as I'm the main dev of that one ;) )

pietervdvn

I started with street complete, an app that lets you contribute/ fill out stuff in a playfull way, makes it a lot easier! Also OpenStreetMap is better in some things than g-maps e.g. for cycling roads, people with special needs or if you want to know where e.g. benches or waterplaces are

Yes and yes! Couldn't contribute that much but I try to

I think having a highly important FOSS project that is not controlled by a company known for shutting down many of its beloved products (I'm talking about you Google) is pretty nice...

Also I think map quality is location-dependent. I live in a large metropolitan area in Southern US; OSM is usable, but there are no house/building numbers, and a good number of businesses are missing. In contrast I think the map is a lot better in Chicago which is a lot more pedestrian-friendly? Also, when I looked at Germany it seems OSM is on-par or better than Google Maps... in fact one of the larger rental websites use OSM instead of Google Maps (imagine Zillow doing it in US lol)

Long time ago, I did several villages where I grew up. This was before satellite images covered that area, so I did it the old fashioned way with a GPS, cycling up and down every single street, writing down name and surface in a notebook. Walked around every field, every patch of forest, creek, etc. It took years, but I've literally been everywhere in those villages. It was fun :) When aerial images came I could do private buildings too.

Yes, I moved in St Lucia, a small Caribbean island (~620km) few years ago.

Openstreetmap already had a lot of information but nothing on the land use (forest, field ...). So over almost a year I've worked on it to add all the forest using satellite imagery. Most of the community names were missing so I've also added around 100 names and plenty of roads and buildings.

I've also started to add all the rivers and stream using public data but this is still underway.

There is also wheelmap.org , based on Openstreet maps. Project asks for volunteers to mark wheelchair accessible places that you know of.

Even a few markdowns would help if you know an accessible space, store, restaurant, bathroom etc. !

Surprisingly in my area OSM is mapped down to individual trees. Definitely keep up the work, because it shines in areas where it's well mapped.

I contribute where I can, nothing significant.

However, nothing beats Apple maps IMO. I have an iPhone which I hotspot data to and basically only use it as a GPS when driving. I can't use my Android device as I prefer using Apple CarPlay and GrapheneOS does not support Android Auto.

I use Magic Earth or OSMand when I don't have my iPhone with me.

I have done more work on OpenSeaMap. It started with me being annoyed with plotters costing too much and ended in me using many hours to mark down rocks from satellite images.

It's still pretty basic and there is no good way of collecting water depth info, but fun to improve it.

Back in the old days I used an external GPS mouse connected to my phone via Bluetooth to track streets, writing down notes on every way point to later publish everything. Today still have of this area is there to look it up and I enjoy it everytime I

I've used it, but mostly to contribute as the data for my area is sparse as well. I find it fun to map the areas I visit. I haven't added recently because I am using a mobile Linux device and I haven't found an application to easily contribute.

It's not even so much about F(L)OSS for me, it's mainly about privacy. Haven't contributed so far, but been using it through Organic Maps. OSM lacks no address in my town, and that's enough for me. I only need a map to get frow A to B, and I'd already know what's at B if I'm going there in the first place.

Organic Maps works really good.

As others have mentioned, I really recommend StreetComplete. I used it for my city and it's a nice and helpful way as well to walk around what would otherwise be a boring scenery I've seen too many times.

I do get looks when I walk up and down stairs trying to count the steps though.

I did a little bit in my area, haven't had the motivation to start up again.

At one stage, all street names were removed from my city because of changes to the license osm was using. And my suburb was blank. I got on my bike with the app on my phone, and mapped it all over about 3 leisurely rides. And I can say I've been past every house in my suburb at least once 😁

I also have found it better for offroad riding and walking. Also did some track mapping offroad too.

My company actually partially sponsors an OpenStreetMap mapathon through our volunteering initiative. I’ve probably put in around 3 or 4 hours this year contributing to maps, though specifically developing countries with incomplete mapping and recent natural disasters.

Edit: I am US based.

I've thought about trying it before, but this thread is both inspiring me and giving me some info to get started (apps, etc). Is there a handy guide somewhere for a beginner that would explain some of the terminology, some of the most needed info, etc?

I've submitted a few corrections before. Garmin or Strava used it for mapping runs and I quite liked it because in my area their maps of trails were actually much more complete and up to date than Google maps. For example in one nature park the current trails were shown on osm but Google showed a completely different set. I later came across a really old and faded sign in the park that showed trails that lined up with what Google showed despite them not existing any more. The new trails WERE shown on a pdf the city provided on their website but I guess they must have never been submitted to Google or something. Fortunately there must have been some dedicated OSM users in my area who were inputting updates.

I use organic maps, based on openstreetmap, it has more information than i expected but still much less than google. It’s almost on par with apple maps where I live, both significantly worse than google.

Yes, not only do I map, I show it to friends and how useful it is to me in specific situations. Bing and apple use osm data just like tomtom or many governments and many apps.

To me, spreading the word is more important than mapping. But I have to map in order to show how good it is. Moreover, it forces me to go out and hike and bike. That's awesome!

I had to make a full overhaul of my area but now it's awesome. I couldn't have done it without others, thank you guys as well!

I used to contribute GPS-traces. But then good enough aerial photos became available for my country.

Now I contribute POIs. Last ones this week.

I rarely use any maps, but OpenStreetMap is used by Rate Your Music to show where artists you've rated at least once came from.

I've been contributing a lot via StreetComplete, what is also great is that you can use OSM offline!

Used: yes

Contributed: no

I know I know, I am sorry. Just started using it a few months ago (through Organic Maps on iOS), and honestly have started using it more than Google/Apple Maps. This is a good reminder for me so get off my ass and start contributing.

Yeah I have made many changes in my area. I also find it kinda therapeutic as well.

Use it and love it. I live in the countryside and google just doesn't bother capturing footpaths. Using OSM (I use OpenMultiMaps for Android) I can see contour maps, much clearer transport maps, footpaths, and pretty much anything else I need. Occasionally the notes people write have been handy too, for example for marking footpaths that are poorly maintained or turb into a swap in rain

I use it a lot. I'm finding things like hiking trails are more up to date than Google maps

It brings me a lot of joy to contribute to OSM. I haven't written anything other than the occasional script for years, so it feels good to help the community in ways like this instead.

I've sunk so many hours into it. Either "armchair mapping" with OSM and the imagery overlays, or (more fun) wandering with the android Street Complete app to fill in gaps when I'm out and about.

I am a mod (and main poster) at c/castles and include an OSM link with all my posts.

OsmAnd actually works pretty well in my experience, at least in the UK. It's not always up to date or fully-detailed but it's far from useless and I appreciate that. It's my primary map program on my phone.

I contribute as much as I can, mostly through StreetComplete. I see it as a hobby when it isn't too hot/cold outside, to take a walk around my area and map houses and addresses. I find it super important

Yes, I've populated most of my local area, and every time I go for a walk or bike ride, I add as much detail that I can. I also find it very enjoyable and it's pretty cool to see features I added show up in all kinds of mapping services that use its data

Osm now has the clearest and most detailed maps for walking that I know, and I use them in preference to the UK's ordnance survey maps, which don't scale so well on electronic devices.

I think I used to wardrive around and add open wifi hotspots to that system when I was like 18/19. I had Linux on a laptop and had gotten a crazy wifi antenna and a USB GPS module (along with some less than legal software to crack WEP encryption) and would drive around in my van looking for routers I could hop onto and map which ones worked and had internet.

I used OSM tiles when creating webmaps sometimes and they can be great.

That said it's coverage is inconsistent. This area around a highschool has really high detail footprints for the houses so I think it might have been part of their IT class at some point.

https://imgur.com/a/8PA8xBS

Me and it was so cool. My (approx 25k inhabitant) town had like 5 roads and one of them was completely wrong. I rode ~20km every few days on a bicycle trough all streets, uploaded gpx and drew roads. I think it was around 200+km to draw all streets, but the end result was so satisfying.

I have updated plenty of poi data since then, i love the idea that data is open and can be used by anyone. Yes, there are better and more feature complete solutions, but this one is about community. Btw osm had more frequent updates and when there were major road construction in our capital city, all navigatiom systems but osm were useless, it updated on a daily basis and was always accurate.

The power of community, we can only make it better.

There used to be a mobile game that would have you go around and complete tasks to fill out the map (still might be idk). That's pretty much what google did with ingress

Thank you very much for your efforts, there’s a lot of inertia about mapping places with low amounts of detail. Remember to reach out to your local OSM communities for advice, and the OSM wiki.

Contribute! The info will bubble up into there other products as they all supplement and enrich their data from OSM if applicable.

I enjoy editing my hometown and have been doing it for about twelve years. But my town is already pretty complete, so I check in every six months or so to change minor details like shops or adding a new bench in the park. In total I'm not even at 200 edits, but I always enjoy seeing those edits back in major tools that use OSM.

I'll sometimes contribute when I'm travelling to more rural areas which are less likely to be well mapped. The experience in my country has been that cities are very well mapped on OpenStreetMaps with a lot of detail, often having more up to date information than Google Maps. Less populated areas usually don't have as much detail, but the basics, like roads and buildings are usually well mapped.

I've also noticed OpenStreetMaps is awesome for trails and smaller roads used by hikers, usually being much more useful than Google Maps.

I live in an area that was next to perfect when I first learned about OSM, so I had no real reason to contribute. I have seen their maps used by our public transport to show the way to/from stops (or even inside them on the particularly large ones).

This just reminded me that I can in fact contribute and I will check out the iOS options for doing so.

I have, using OSMAnd on iOS. Here in Puerto Rico there are quite a good amount of map details already.

Contributed a very little. Been using it ina Top metro city for .ore than a year. Heavily reliable.

Awesome, thanks for the post! I've been aware of OSM for a long time, but haven't thought about it in a while. After a couple of good app recommendations from the comments, I am surprised how far it's come. Definitely going to start using/contributing as much as I can.

It's a cool project, but I've used it, and man is it not going to be a replacement for Google Maps anytime soon, as much as I'd like to get to a FOSS alternative. I can't use it to navigate to a building down the street lol

It's not dumb to contribute though because it's already okay, so it can only get better than okay, and the way that happens is contributions

I've used their map layers for a public data website. Worked great.

I do a lot, we also use the OpenStreetMap data for my work. I enjoy it but it's definitely lacking in some areas, and there's no app that really comes close to being a Google Maps replacement sadly.

Yes. It is the most up to date map in my area, in point of fact, other maps copy their data from osm for my area.

I’ve contributed a lot of places around the country–though mostly missing cafés & restaurants because that’s what I’m interested in.

Omg great idea! Probably a stupid question but how did you contribute - through an app or from desktop, through the website?

I love the idea of OSM, been trying to use MagicEarth on iPhone which leverages OSM, but I run into similar issues that your describe. I’ll be honest tho, I never even thought of trying to contribute, may look into it as a little hobby in my free time.

I've not contributed to the main one, but I have for the humanitarian osm team, you get recently disaster stricken areas and copy roads and buildings and the like

We update it a lot. We also have a product (for walkers in the British Isles) called WayMaps (used by a variety of walking web sites in the UK and also our own demo site https://waymaps.the-hug.net/) which uses the geodata from OSM and other Open Data to produce our own map tiles. We love OSM.

why doesn't openstreetmaps just scrape google maps for names?

I used OSMAnd for a while before I got a data plan but found it next to useless as it would routinely take nearly an hour (not even joking) to figure out where I was.

Started contributing aswell when I saw that my city was really outdated and it's actually really fun to do it

Yes!

I try to navigate everywhere with organic map. If I need to look up a business' coordinates, I use a web container of gmaps I found on f-droid. If I go somewhere and it isn't in open maps, I add it.

Back before I felt comfortable taking my expensive smartphones running with me for the GPS purposes, I'd manually enter my running routes into RunKeeper. I don't know if they still use it, but back then their mapping was powered by OpenStreetMap. I'd add in stuff like sidewalks and trails that weren't on the map yet to make my manual entries easier. I liked doing this--it was kind of fun and I felt good contributing my knowledge of my local unimportant suburb to the world.

I've been surprised at how much is already on there, though. Out of curiosity I went to look at the map for my mom's hometown of ~500 people in the middle of nowhere and found it surprisingly complete.

I still like OpenStreetMap, but don't use it as much anymore. I wish there was a navigation app that used OSM data and was able to give me audio cues (e.g. "turn left at the next exit"), because that's 99% of my map use these days. (And if there is one that I don't know about, please let me know!)

Tesla uses osm via mapbox.

I have added some nearby forest paths to OSM and added some bicycle paths alongside roads which were already mapped, using OSM mostly for outside of road network since other maps do not show forest paths and the like at all while OSM has decent coverage

I frequently use it and correct any errors I find. In a lot of places OSM can frequently be wrong, but fixing this requires very little effort, just use it and correct any errors you notice.

Used it OSMand~ and made some contributions, adding places near me.

ABRP (ABetterRoutePlanner, the best routing software for EVs) uses OSM. FYI for any EV owners.

I update OSM all the time. Agreed it's super therapeutic!

I regularly do edits in my city. Its way better than google maps. Especially when you're travelling and want to visit the less tourist crowded parts of whereever you are.

I decided to give it a try over the weekend on a road trip, through the apps Organic Maps and Go Map!! I really liked Go Map!! except that it crashes occasionally, and won't restart until your reinstall it :( loosing all the GPS tracks and unsubmitted data :(( If it was more stable, I'd recommend it to everyone.

OsmAnd is my family’s go-to app for navigation. I didn’t notice it missing information compared to Google Maps. The opposite really, with several hiking trails or small side-roads not being on Google some years ago. The only issue it has is navigation for more than ~200km at a time. Often, it just times out if you try that. That’s why Google Maps is still installed on some devices.

I haven’t added anything actively. I think I might have enabled an option to send location data to improve the accuracy of the streets or something at some point, but I’m very unsure about that one.

Pokemon Go uses OSM for the map data in the game. I've submitted park trails by tracing them in the satellite view and now the game has all the trails.

I occasionally update the POIs in my city and update some paths that occasionally change.

Yes

I gave up on it after finding the only useful front end on android is 100$ per year

I've pulled data from the OSMs for building outlines & such For CAD landbase, so thanks for that.