[OSM-talk] Will Google ever use OSM data?

[MP]

> There are obviously many areas where OSM data is absent, but.... in the
>  areas which have been surveyed by OSM, what way does OSM have less quality
>  than Google? I'd say Google's data quality is poorer, in the sense that
>  many features are simply not there (you try finding an urban footpath or a
>  rural path on Google), or footpaths are sometimes shown as roads, etc.

Well, the point is, that quality of google data is quite uniform
across entire countries (while google have better data for USA then
for India for example, the quality/completeness of data in entire
India is approximately the same, Quality across USA is also
approximately the same)

But in OSM, you can have one suburb mapped to level of individual
houses and sidewalks and suburb next to it have only streets - some of
them even missing or unlabeled. While many areas are mapped better
than google, you can't rely on the area you'll need that will be
mapped well too. So while in average the quality may be better that
google maps, in worst case (when you stumble upon some poorly mapped
place) it is not. Once even the poorly-mapped places will be better
than google, then we can say we have always better data :)

Martin