[OSM-talk] Using OpenStreetMap on a daily basis

[Ian Sergeant]

On 11 July 2013 18:43, Simon Poole <simon at poole.ch> wrote:

>
> Skobbler has an end-user orientated site and there are a number of
> smaller others. OSM providing such a site is simply a major policy
> change and it needs to be thought about and discussed in such a context
> and not in  "I want a feature on the main site" squabbles. The "future"
> working group is working on exactly such issues.
>


In my opinion, it was an unfortunate decision taken when
openstreetmap.orgmoved from being the wiki site, to the being our own
map rendering.

Sure, we need to have a rendered map as part of OSM, but I have a feeling
that if we'd stayed with the wiki front end, we could be linking to off to
the main map, bicycle and car routing maps, free garmin maps, public
transport maps, apps, and showcasing a greater diversity of all the
different OSM uses.

The problem being when people from outside the project hit the main map
first, is it isn't as capable as other sites, and that can be discouraging,
they bounce off back to google to get their routing engine.

To users inside the project, it seems to be equally discouraging when their
feature isn't rendered or supported by *the* main map.

I think the reasoning might have been to showcase our the completeness and
competitiveness of what we have built, in terms of a real map rendering.
But that isn't really playing to our strength.  Our strength is our open
data, and the capability of putting it to use in different ways.

Ian.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/attachments/20130711/81ff215e/attachment.html>