[OSM-talk] Portal for end users

[joost schouppe]

I don't think a portal in the style of the Mapquest example is the best
answer. I don't really think there is going to be any specific OSM-based
Google Maps killer ever going to be built. Instead the strength of OSM is
rather being able to cater to niches. No single Google Maps inspired
project could ever reflect the diversity of what you can do with OSM.
We cater to anyone, from people who are obsessed with safety cameras (
http://osmcamera.tk/) to French fries (
http://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/friture_24674). Or people who like to
find a hiking route, anywhere on earth (http://waymarkedtrails.org/).

And there is definitely an interest to show POIs in a more dynamic way,
such as the mentioned openpoimap, likehttp://www.openlinkmap.org/ ;
http://thenextis.com/ ; http://osm24.eu/ . And of course there's many more
beautiful maps likehttp://opentopomap.org/ or http://beta.map1.eu/

Even though we have a diversity of news channels, I notice how many
involved OSM afficionados don't know about some of these projects. And if
they don't know, how is our average data user ever going to know. As
OSM.org gets more features and users,  a larger proportion of those users
will not know about projects like this.

I understand that if we want to build a data-use portal, it should be
managed separately from the current OSM.org infrastructure. But couldn't we
make a subdomain like use.openstreetmap.org to showcase projects? And maybe
try and let that evolve into an ecosystem of applications, to make it as
easy as possible to integrate features of one project to the next?
Considering the relative ease of the latest funding drive, would it be that
hard to get some collective funding for projects running on a common
infrastructure?
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