← Back to context

Comment by mcpherrinm

11 hours ago

I think "very straightforward" is vastly overselling how easy editing OSM is.

It feels like editing a database, without any affordances for easily making common updates.

If the hours of a store are wrong on Google Maps, I just upload a photo of their store, and it'll be corrected quickly.

On OSM, well, most things are out of date. There's no simple 'update this business' flow, just a database editor. And a map that feels like I could break anything by clicking in the wrong spot.

OSM is a cool project, but it isn't straightforward. And unlike Google and Apple maps, most of the businesses in my area are years out of date, so I can't effectively use it to find information either, so I just don't have any reason to interact with it. Plus no aerial/satellite/streetview imagery, which I understand is probably infeasible, but ultimately it just means OSM is a niche product that won't replace Google.

So yeah, I'm propping up Google, but I get way more benefit out of it than having an open data set used to power Amazon's delivery driver routes or whatever.

7 comments

mcpherrinm

Reply
franga2000  8 hours ago

I'm not sure what you mean...

In OrganicMaps/CoMaps I click "edit place" > "Business hours" and get a nice vidual editor with checkboxes for each day it's open and boxes to put in times.

Same in OsmAnd, but editor looks a bit different.

Cartes.app has the "imrpove this place" screen where opening hours is one of the options, but it takes a few more clicks.

Openstreemap.org's web editor also does open hours quite well, but it does have a much complex submission process (it also asks for an edit message and edit tags).

Cartes.app has sattelite imagery as a "premium" option if you donate because they probably have to pay for it. OsmAnd also does, but I don't know if it's free because I paid for it years ago.

Vinnl  3 hours ago

I feel like I addressed this in my comment. On a laptop, someone who went through what OP went through would surely be able to click "Edit" at the top of https://www.openstreetmap.org, and add a SuperCharger. If they make a mistake, it is likely to get corrected, rather than rejected.

When it comes to fixing opening hours, https://streetcomplete.app does really make that about as straightforward as can be.

Edit: ah, I just noticed I forgot to prepend the * to my remark in parentheses. I did mean to emphasise that generic edits are only straightforward on a laptop, and only guided edits are straightforward using StreetComplete.

laserbeam  8 hours ago

The real issue is local business know about google maps and are often happy to update schedules themselves. The effort for them to know/care about OSM is too high and the payoff low (most clients are on google maps).

matkoniecz  2 hours ago

> It feels like editing a database, without any affordances for easily making common updates.

have you tried StreetComplete or EveryDoor?

Or at least GoMap!! or MaComplete ?