[OSM-talk] Google Maps comparison

[OJW]

On Thursday 11 October 2007 12:17:52 Andy Robinson wrote:
> I'm sure many OSM'ers are the same, our daily travels are more
> random, less systematic and certainly not dedicated surveying trips.
> Nevertheless they are still valuable in seeding an area and showing
> something on the map. This project is a wiki like project, data can be
> committed by the many and we do actively encourage that. While it doesn't
> necessarily produce a "complete" map (especially without secondary
> verification) it does produce something more than was there before and
> that, I believe, is  important for those areas where there are as yet no
> local active OSM users.

And showing the best routes.

We recently discovered a shortcut on a route that people from my company use 
every week.  Looking at the OSM map, it turns out that the shortcut had 
already been mapped, whereas the less-efficient route was blank.

We should have taken the hint earlier, that nobody from OSM had bothered to go 
the longer route when there was a shortcut available   ;)