I discovered that recently, it's a very fun way to contribute to OpenStreetMap, and the UI is really well-done, it's totally beginner friendly!
I wish there was a way to do more than labeling though, like add simple roads and footpaths
I think adding things, instead of updating existing things with missing data is where you get into needing a more serious app. I keep Vespucci for when I want to initiate an edit, and StreetComplete for fun filling in missing information tasks.
I love the app idea but I don't think it's beginner friendly - for example it starts zoomed out of the globe and there is no button to zoom to the location; also it's unclear what the hatched lines until one zooms in.
Great app. There is also https://every-door.app/ that gives you slightly different set of tasks and allows you to place POI easily. I recently mapped a lot of trash cans and benches around my neighborhood while walking with my dog.
One thing missing on osm is pictures. Would defeats Google maps if it had some, where users would feedback and bad shots would get wiped to save space. We would get the best shots the world has to offer.
In the app I'm developing, cartes.app, we acknowledged this lack of pictures.
We show local Wikimedia common pictures, osm tag pictures, og:image pictures of the website if any, Wikipedia article infobox pictures, Panoramax for street-view, and last but not least, any picture dropped by an ATproto place review.
Lots remain to be done, especially building the latter community of reviews.
SCEE adds a bunch of features on top of StreetComplete. One of them is that you can always open up the tags for a feature on the map and add or update, e.g., the website information. To do this, open up the appropriate overlay (such as "things" or "places"), tap the POI, and choose "Show/edit tags" in the options menu
Some editors like OsmAnd also let you do that. In OsmAnd you can enable the OSM development plugin (it's pre-installed, more like a setting to unlock expert options than a plugin) and use "Edit POI" to add or update website information
Just downloaded and made 15+ small contributions in the vicinity of my area. Very well built app. Super simple to use. And gamification is top-notch. Recommended.
https://MapComplete.org is made by someone from Belgium with the aim of making a website that's at least as good as a native app could be. It's both a data viewer and editor but generally that sounds like it's what you're looking for!
I have yet to get into it myself (I already have established workflows in StreetComplete and other editors) but from the demo that the author gave on CCC ~1.5 years ago it seemed perfectly usable back then already
This is very cool, I wish there was some way to use it on a bicycle though. For example, when moving into a street it could ask (using voice) if this street is paved, and I could answer it using voice too.
Been using this for my dog walks too. There's something oddly satisfying about turning a boring loop around the block into "wait, does that bin have a lid?" Never thought trash cans would be the thing that got me into mapping.
I enjoyed the simulated phone screenshots, particularly the choice of House of the Trembling Madness, a great beer stockist and drinking establishment on Lendal in York. I would like to think that the name in the input field is deliberately slightly wrong, ready to be fixed by someone. (It's "House of the Trembling Madness" rather than "The House of Trembling Madness".) Gamification at another level :-)
Wherever you are and need to wait for a minute, there are quests to be solved there.
I recommend SCEE for those who are already familiar with OSM mapping or are in an area where the most common tasks are already covered: https://github.com/Helium314/SCEE
It sucks that Google is probably using OSM data to check what they are missing and adding it to their maps, but we can't do vice versa. OSM should change their license to something like if you use our data, you have to make yours open as well.
> It sucks that Google is probably using OSM data to check what they are missing and adding it to their maps
No way they are doing this deliberately globally. My city has a lot of pedestrian stairs interconnecting roads, and not a single one is on GMaps. If you navigate on foot, it will send you on walks 2x-3x longer than necessary.
OSMand and CoMaps reliably find the shortest way. And can tell you the pavement type, number of steps, stroller ramp and hand rail situation of every single one of those stairs.
Google has a really hard time adding roads without frequent car traffic, I think.
StreetComplete is cool, fun and useful, yes. And there is its companion app StreetMeasure which makes it easy to add measurements like the width of a narrow street, for example.
Thank you for the reminder! I got out of the habit of checking StreetComplete since my previous neighborhood was well populated in OSM, but having just moved, I should check it out again.
Reminds me of when Microsoft released a new Flight Sim, and people immediately started spotting buildings and things that were out of the norm in the game, which in turn started getting reported to OSM for corrections.
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[ 0.21 ms ] story [ 79.2 ms ] thread[1] CoMaps – FOSS Offline Maps | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48808928
We show local Wikimedia common pictures, osm tag pictures, og:image pictures of the website if any, Wikipedia article infobox pictures, Panoramax for street-view, and last but not least, any picture dropped by an ATproto place review.
Lots remain to be done, especially building the latter community of reviews.
https://api.panoramax.xyz/en/index?focus=map&map=1.24/0/-0.6...
and: https://www.mapillary.com/
Some editors like OsmAnd also let you do that. In OsmAnd you can enable the OSM development plugin (it's pre-installed, more like a setting to unlock expert options than a plugin) and use "Edit POI" to add or update website information
Or simply use the website at https://osm.org/edit
StreetComplete doesn't ask for websites specifically. It's pretty restrictive in what they'll allow as 'quests' to avoid overloading new users
I have yet to get into it myself (I already have established workflows in StreetComplete and other editors) but from the demo that the author gave on CCC ~1.5 years ago it seemed perfectly usable back then already
It brought me back to mapping on OSM.
Wherever you are and need to wait for a minute, there are quests to be solved there.
I recommend SCEE for those who are already familiar with OSM mapping or are in an area where the most common tasks are already covered: https://github.com/Helium314/SCEE
https://gurumaps.app/
No way they are doing this deliberately globally. My city has a lot of pedestrian stairs interconnecting roads, and not a single one is on GMaps. If you navigate on foot, it will send you on walks 2x-3x longer than necessary.
OSMand and CoMaps reliably find the shortest way. And can tell you the pavement type, number of steps, stroller ramp and hand rail situation of every single one of those stairs.
Google has a really hard time adding roads without frequent car traffic, I think.
https://hackaday.com/2020/08/21/microsoft-flight-simultors-d...