[OSM-talk] OSM - TeleAtlas comparison for Ipswich

[Peter Miller]

> I recently finished mapping the town I live in, and thought it

> would be interesting to do a detailed comparison with Google

> Maps (or really, the TeleAtlas data it is based on).

> 

> Once the OSM version was finished, I reviewed each street to

> check it against the equivalent in GM. You can see the results at:

> 

>      <http://www.refnum.com/osm/gmaps.html>

> 

> Although the missing road figures are inflated by a "new" (2004)

> housing estate, the overall error rate is surprisingly high.

> 

> 

> This should also be confirmation (if anyone was in any doubt)

> that entering data into OSM by tracing a commercial source is a

> really really bad idea.

> 

> Many of these errors will probably go uncorrected for years, and

> it would be extremely easy to insert deliberate errors without

> affecting the usability of the map.

> 

> It would also be trivial to re-survey an area to detect these

> kind of errors, then use that list of corrections to check for

> identical mistakes in a suspect map.

> 

 

I have done a pretty careful comparison of OSM mapping for Ipswich and
Google maps (TeleAtlas).

 

I have ignored recently built roads that don't appear in TeleAtlas's mapping
and found a total of 14 errors (either roads with the wrong name - often
where it had changed -, roads that had disappeared and one road with a
typo). I checked them physically and then as part of my 'insurance' policy
against been accused of plagiarism I have reported all of these to TeleAtlas
here:

 

http://mapfeedback.teleatlas.com/index.htm

 

 

Possibly it would be sensible for me to put a 'note' into the OSM features
saying that OSM is correct and TeleAtlas is wrong.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

 

 

PeterIto

 

 

 

 

 

 

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