[OSM-dev] Cloudmade routing for OSM rails_port site.

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

Nick Black wrote:
> The pragmatic
> argument would be to use routing generated from non-open source server
> software along side other open source alternatives and let the user base
> choose which best meets their needs.

*If* our user base thinks that routing is a need they want met by the 
OpenStreetMap site, which is something that should be discussed.

Personally I think that routing has good value for OSM debugging, but we 
would not put routing on our front page for that; instead we would have 
a special routing application for mappers that can use several routing 
services and allows users to record problems they found. Definitely a 
worthy tool to develop but nothing for the main page. The main page is 
not a tool for mappers, it is more of a showcase, and the question 
remains whether we want to showcase third-party services through it.

> I don't totally follow the argument about this specific example being more
> risky because its provided by CloudMade because a lot of people who work for
> CloudMade are deeply involved with OSM. Again, we need to take a pragmatic
> standpoint and figure out what's more important for OSM.

I think there is no problem as long as the CloudMade services we use are 
balanced by other free and non-free solutions offered at the same time, 
with no special selection or preference expressed for the CloudMade 
services (as in "select one from the following 5 routing services").

Bye
Frederik