[OSM-talk] Using OpenStreetMap on a daily basis

[osm at k3v.eu]

Frederik,

On Tue, 09 Jul 2013 09:53:54 +0200, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org>
wrote:
>
>...
>
>The great thing about OSM is not that we might one day have a site
>where you can do everything that you can do on Google too; the great
>thing is that everyone can set up their *own* site where you can do
>something. And shouldn't we actively encourage that (by, perhaps,
>better integrating osm.org with third party sites) rather than
>building our very own corporate behemoth?
>

That is okay for people who have been in the OSM world for a long time
so know about third party sites and also enjoy the freedom to run their
own services.

I think where an integrated, gmaps style, site would be most useful is 
in attracting new contributors. Someone coming cold to openstreetmap.org 
today might mistakenly think that what is the point in contributing to
a "map" where there is no routing or where the map itself is about as
interactive as something printed on paper.

My ideal solution would be to have a gmaps style integrated site mainly
as a shop window to attract new people (+ also nice to show off to the
media) and then also have a proper contributors portal (maybe at
osm.org) which would focus very much on community, showing people
active in your area, local mapping events, tagging standards for your
country, data sources you can use, tips from experienced mappers, 
that kind of thing.

Kevin