Apple Switches (Mostly) To OpenStreetMap 218
beelsebob writes "In the recent release of iPhoto for iOS it appears that Apple has started using OpenStreetMap's data. Unfortunately, there are still some problems. Apple is currently not applying the necessary attribution to OSM; they are using an old (from April 2010) dump of the data; and they are not using the data in the U.S. Fingers crossed that Apple works through these issues quickly! Apple is now one of a growing list (including geocaching, and foursquare) to Switch2OSM."
Cool, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
OpenStreetMaps has generally good map data at this point, but their reverse geocoding (i.e. place data) is still very sparse compared to Google or Factual, etc. Would love to see a free, open database of comparable quality to the paid ones.
Re:hahaha (Score:5, Interesting)
Wait really? Germany? Poor maps on OSM? The german mappers go into insane level of detail –take a look at Berlin [openstreetmap.org] for example.
Re:hahaha (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm unsure what that URL is meant to show because all it shows to me is that they include open-source software as part of OS X. We know that. It's what this article is about.
Your comment was related to whether Apple contribute code back. That page has no information about Apple returning code at all. Stop spreading misinformation.
Now, the facts.
Apple contribute code back. A fair bit of code has been accepted into FreeBSD from Apple. Do they contribute back as much as they should, ethically? That's debatable, personally I'd say no. Recently they're reducing their open-source efforts too (CUPS).
Why can't people just discuss things normally rather than having all this pro-Apple / anti-Apple garbage?
Re:hahaha (Score:4, Interesting)
The same is true of google maps though. Compare Vladivostok on Google Maps [google.com] to on OpenStreetMap [openstreetmap.org] for example.
Visual appearance of Google Maps is supreme (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:hahaha (Score:5, Interesting)
WebKit, LLVM/clang, and yes, they even did a lot for CUPS, and zillions of bugfixes across many products. And if you're an OS wonk, you can even look at the entire MacOS X kernel source code and borrow if you'd like, as well as many of the low-level processes that make MacOS interesting. It's true that many of these were not taken up by other products, but that's hardly Apple's fault.
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN!!111!!!!! (Score:1, Interesting)
Yeah, web "standards" such as iMessage and Facetime.
Re:MOD PARENT DOWN!!111!!!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
The past story with khtml webkit
You mean the one where the KHTML devs complained that Apple was doing big changeset dumps making them hard to merge, so Apple switched to using a public svn repository? Or the one where committed sandboxing to WebKit in a way that (unlike Chrome's) is browser-agnostic and so can be used by other WebKit users?
Re:Maps? (Score:4, Interesting)
I won't speak of the "audible" part, since that's just a small matter of programming.
Turn by turn is... complicated. Of course, you can upload OSM maps on your Garmin right now and get turn by turn instructions. However, accuracy is a factor.
The amount of information needed to drive through a city is absolutely astounding, as is the frequency with which it changes. For example, a street near my house is closed mornings and evenings to vehicle traffic, except weekends and holidays and June through August. That data has to be in there to accurately route. "No left turn, 4-6 PM Monday through Friday." "No northbound traffic except bicycles." "Carpools only 7 AM to 10 AM"--God help us.
Not to mention just plain errors in the data. Near my house, an overpass was accidentally connected to the freeway. My Garmin with OSM data wanted to route me off the freeway directly onto the overpass. (I fixed the error.)
Realignments don't happen that often in cities any more in the US, but they happen on country roads and interstates *all the time*. I didn't realize until I started contributing to OSM exactly how much construction was always happening.
Highway 36 west of Red Bluff, CA, was recently realigned. Google even has it wrong for now: http://g.co/maps/mhdkm [g.co] . And check this out: Google wants me to drive on a hiking trail: http://g.co/maps/jpxr8 [g.co] I'm not saying they suck--Google's map quality is *exceptional*, and yet it errs. But I'd say that for turn-by-turn, it has OSM currently beat.
I guess what I'm saying is... uh, contribute to OSM. :-)