While this is not bad, didn’t these companies considered just contributing to OpenStreetMap? Why is starting a new thing better?
Can’t collect data on users without starting their own thing.
How would data collection work in this case though?
With their own map apps for phones and such, possibly
Either by launching their own apps or by having access to Overture’s usage stats and meta data.
That must be it, all these companies are known to give not a single fuck about privacy.
This does use OpenStreetMap. It adds other public data from other sources.
Out of the four layers Overture Maps provides, th ey use OpenStreetMap for the Transportation and Building layers.
Using it is not contributing to it. Or am I a contributor to the Linux kernel, and even to Windows itself?
For Windows, considering how much data is sent back to Microsoft, using Windows contributes in it’s own way.
Overture says they are providing data. What ever is contributed to OSM is up to the OSMF, not Overture.
No, you misunderstand.
Overture maps does not contribute in any way to OSM by using it. It just takes its data, and provides it at an alternate place. Just as I do not contribute to the development of Windows and Linux by using them.
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Good question. Contributing to OSM seems like the better route. Pun intended.
That wouldn’t be evil. And they probably can’t just take over OSM or one would have already.
How this can be used to improve OSM/Organic Maps?
If the license is compatible with the one used by OSM contributors can use the data to make their life easier, contributors of the dataset are encouraged to contribute directly to osm if possible.
Licence is compatible, but data they have is of…questionable quality…to say at least. For example, I think building dataset is Odbl and I think it contains ML-detected buildings. These got released years ago (becase they had to release it as OdbL to mix them in their maps). Rarely who imported these buildings in OSM as there are lot pf false positives and what not. So, just because they released something under odbl/cdla doesn’t mean it is good for OSM and that it could be imported (for example speed profiles, if we ever get real gold data). Overture is more of a playground for big tech to play without OSM telling them what is good and what is not
Even if of questionable quality it can be used by mappers to speed up their work, that’s the same principle as rapid or mapillary, they help us speed up the work, or at least I used them this way (but I don’t think everyone else would like to map every building in a city by hand), and if it’s not the best quality we can modify the data and tweak the quality by hand, I don’t import dataset on rapid as they are if they don’t conform.
Anything we can do to have competition in the market is a good thing.
Yes please! Google Maps (the app, not so much the data) gets worse with every update.
Yeah. I love Google Maps and don’t have any plans to stop using it, but it’s always good for consumers to have competition. Monopolies lead to stagnation.
Can anyone recommend some good Android map apps that use this? I would love to switch!
If I recall correctly, that joint effort was coordinated with the help of the linux foundation… Correct me if I am wrong
