[OSM-talk] Google Map Maker gets a UI overhaul

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 12/15/2011 03:45 AM, Martijn van Exel wrote:
> innovating
> leveraged
> gamification (GMM has 'superstar mappers' I believe)
> leverage

I think you're reading too much off the blurby stuff ;)

Thing is: Google has a gazillion more $$$ than we do, and they can buy 
all of Peru to do UI work for them if they please. They can, if they so 
desire, buy millions of hardware devices and ship them across the world 
for mapping, or they can set up a helpdesk in India where every single 
GMM contributor gets personalised support around the clock. They can do 
all this and more, and trying to compete with them on such a level won't 
work. (Someone said we should aim to be #1 online map provider but if 
people were to request from us even a fraction of the tiles that Google 
serves we'd blow several fuses.)

I think it is inevitable that there *will* be more GMM contributors than 
there are OSM contributors and it would be foolish to fight that (and 
foolish to even set oneself the goal).

In the long run, at least if Google doesn't lose interest or produces 
major cock-ups, OSM *will not* be the "easier to use" collaborative map. 
It will have a very hard time to be "as easy to use" as Google, and even 
that would mean to continuously bind our resources by chasing them 
rather than doing something of our own design.

I know it sounds old-school, and not at all hip and trendy, but the 
distinguishing factor between us and them is our free license and what 
you can do with our data as a result. The quirky; the "unexpected uses"; 
the interesting things that people try out if they get their hands on 
our data.

It's no use running after Google. We need to get the message across that 
we're the free alternative, and people will have to accept that we're 
not as polished as Google are. We are the project for those that 
understand "free and open". Those for whom ease of use is more important 
than the licensing of the result are not our clientele and we'll never 
be able to win them over, except by making them understand the 
importance of "free and open".

Bye
Frederik