[Talk-ca] Using OpenStreetMap on a daily basis

Tue Jul 9 16:39:20 UTC 2013

Completely agreed...
Daniel

-----Original Message-----
From: Matthew Buchanan [mailto:matthew.ian.buchanan at gmail.com] 
Sent: July-09-13 12:04
To: OSM Talk-ca
Subject: Re: [Talk-ca] Using OpenStreetMap on a daily basis

I have been using OSM for a couple years now (coming up on 1000
changesets!) and this is the first I've heard of the OSMR website.
Most new users will probably go to http://www.openstreetmap.org/ and not go
any farther. I think the default page  needs to be revamped and the default
renderer improved.

I agree with all of Guillaume's 4 points.

My biggest pet peeve is that trunk roads are green when they should be red,
primary roads should be dark orange.

-- Matthew Buchanan
-- Kamloops, BC

On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 8:55 AM, Harald Kliems <kliems at gmail.com> wrote:
> OpenStreetBrowser offers routing and clickable POIs. Higher zoom 
> levels were experimentally implemented on a server by the French OSM 
> community but I think it is no longer online. I can't remember the 
> URL, but you should be able to find the related discussion in the 
> archives of the general talk list (search for z19). Mapquest might also do
some of the things requested.
>
> With regards to what OSM and the OSM homepage are or aren't : Bernie 
> certainly has expressed one view that is widely held in the community. 
> But there are other positions as well, evidenced by the fact that 
> discussions like the one in this thread keep popping up.
>
> Harald (who is also sad that for his everyday geodata needs he often 
> ends up using Google)
>
>
> On Tuesday, July 9, 2013, Connors, Bernie (SNB) 
> <Bernie.Connors at snb.ca>
> wrote:
>> Guillaume,
>>
>>         IMHO all of your issues could be solved with applications of 
>> the OSM data.  The goal of OSM is to create an open data set that can 
>> be used by anybody to solve all of the issues in your list.  The goal 
>> of OSM is not to create a replacement for the Google Maps website but 
>> to create an alternative to the Google Maps data.  All of your issues 
>> could be addressed with OSM data and some programming.  I expect some 
>> or all of your issues have already been addressed.  For example the 
>> OSMR website is great for routing and driving directions - 
>> http://map.project-osrm.org/
>>
>>         Let's hear from the rest of the OSM talk-ca community.  Who 
>> has suggestions for Guillaume's other issues?
>>
>> Bernie.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Guillaume Pratte [mailto:guillaume at guillaumepratte.net]
>> Sent: Tuesday, 2013-07-09 1:42 AM
>> To: talk-ca at openstreetmap.org OpenStreetMap
>> Subject: [Talk-ca] Using OpenStreetMap on a daily basis
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have been a serious user of OpenStreetMap for less than six months, 
>> and I am proud to recently have achieved my one hundredth 
>> contribution to the project. I really love the OpenStreetMap project, 
>> and I would like to replace my daily usage of Google Maps with
OpenStreetMap.
>>
>> But it just seems I cannot. Anybody else feel the same issues?
>>
>> I'll give a few concrete examples why, humbly hoping that my words 
>> can encourage changes to the main website.
>>
>> First point: searching. I have OpenStreetMap zoomed in to some region 
>> of Montreal, Canada. I input "café", looking for a coffee shop. I get 
>> results from Nominatim, inviting me to visit a village in Brazil 
>> named "Café" or even the "Café point" in Antarctica. While these 
>> search results awaken my globetrotter's desire to explore the world, 
>> they frustrate me at the same time. Why couldn't Nominatim priorize 
>> results from the bounding box or surrounding? Why can't OpenStreetMap 
>> show me results on the map like the OverPass API does, performing a 
>> search on the tag amenity=cafe and showing the results on the map?
>>
>> Second point: accessing POI information. I cannot click on point of 
>> interests (POI) to get more info about them. Why do we input address, 
>> business hours and phone numbers on shops and restaurants if the map 
>> cannot easily display this information to the user? Why do I have to 
>> show the map's data in order to have information on a point of interest?
>>
>> Third point: maximum zoom level. Some area are densely populated, and 
>> OpenStreetMap's current zoom level is not enough to see all details 
>> of the map. This is really unfortunate. Example: 
>> http://osm.org/go/cIrNs6Qzp-- What are the restaurant surrounding the 
>> Hard Rock Café on this map? I have to use the editor to be able to zoom
and see all data.
>>
>> Fourth point: sharing a point of interest. There should be an easy 
>> way to do that. I have found a (complicated) way to do it, which is 
>> all but obvious to newcomers. Here is how:
>>
>>         . Using the layer icon at the top right of the map, I select 
>> "Browse Map Data";
>>         . I select the object I want to share (which is not always 
>> possible; sometimes it is "hidden" behind a residential area or similar);
>>         . I click on "Details"
>>         . On the resulting page, I click on "View way on larger map"
>>         . I get an URL similar to this that I can share:
>> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?way=225637513
>>
>> Fifth point: routing. Why is there absolutely no routing implemented 
>> on the main OpenStreetMap website? This is I concede a naïve 
>> question, as it might be simply because of limited server resources. 
>> Once we have our new servers, is this something we want to implement, as
a community?
>>
>> I really like the OpenStreetMap project, and I dream to be able to 
>> use it as a primary map instead of Google Maps. I feel resolving 
>> these issues would bring me many steps closer to making that dream come
true.
>>
>> What do you all think? Do you also have showstoppers that prevent you 
>> to use OpenStreetMap as your primary and daily map?
>>
>> Guillaume
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