[OSM-talk] TomTom is thumping us

[John Sturdy]

On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 8:44 AM, Maarten Deen <mdeen at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> Ok, they don't name us, but I think "a leading open source map" does refer
> to us.
>
> <http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/licensing/newsletter/201205/didyouknow/>
>
> Oh wauw. We're not perfect. Let's close up the shop. Thanks to SteveC for
> all the effort, but it wasn't enough.
>
> Well, probably one of the very positive effects from OSM is the fact that
> when we start mapping something, the closed-source mappers follow suit. The
> fact that Google needs to add gimmicks like kajak routing across the pacific
> to beat us says enough.
> It's a win-win situation.

It looks like we're getting to the point where the closed-source
mappers are starting to see us as serious competition.

If the best they can do is that "In one particular instance"
(presumably chosen to make their point as well as possible) we've got
"a third less residential road coverage and 16% less basic map
attributes" we're well on the way (especially the second part of
that).

Also, having said that the community is a drawback for Open Source,
they then claim their community as an advantage!  I doubt that their
specialists really go out and check each correction that's sent in; I
expect we do more (implicit) checking, as vandalism is reported and
undone.

I wonder whether their comment on "pedestrians and in city or town
centres" can be taken as conceding that we're doing better than them
in those areas?

The nearest they make to an accurate point is "classification of
footpaths as roads" --- I don't think I've seen any of those, but I
have found quite a few "unclassified roads" that look more like
"tracks" on Bing (and have adjusted them accordingly where confident
of it).

__John