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Comment by jimmaswell | Hacker News Reader

Why don't you suggest changes to fix these some of these mistakes yourself? You can add a new location, report wrong business hours, etc.

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Not the OP, but I'd much rather contribute that information to OpenStreetMap so that it's freely available to anyone who wants to use it (including Google!).

Google's data is copyrighted and open street maps is not per their policy "If you alter or build upon our data, you may distribute the result only under the same licence" [0]. They even mention google maps in their privacy policy: "OSM contributors are reminded never to add data from any copyrighted sources (e.g. Google Maps or printed maps) without explicit permission from the copyright holders."

So no they cannot use it and a quick search looks like apple still relies on Tomtom which is also copyrighted [1] and thus they cannot use it either.

[0]: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

[1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/ahx4il/where_does_ap...

Google and Apple are both free to use OSM data (which is of course copyrighted). But the don't want to because they can't abide by the license terms.

Apple does use OSM in some countries like Ukraine IIRC. They are free to do so. https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Community_Guidel...

Although their attribution is leaning on the minimalist side.

Turn by turn navigation in Apple Maps in Denmark is OSM based. (If I remember the talk from the Apple engineer at State of the Map 2018)

Why should they work for Google for free? Google Maps is a business and should pay for the accuracy of its data. Or OP can contribute to OpenstreetMap to the point it will contain enough and accurate data to be a preferred source for this kind of information. It won't automatically solve the problem with scammers, but with several users policing the accuracy of the data, instead of only Google being the gatekeeper, several solutions become possible. For instance, the Wikipedia model.

I understand your point, but Google maps is also a useful and free. I think contributions to both OSM and Google is worthy and helps everyone. I personally use Google maps in most cases and contribute back to it, I see no issues with this.

This is just an anecdote, but I've alerted Google to a particular mistake in Maps multiple times and it's never been fixed.

A light rail station in Portland is accessed from the bridge above it, but Google Maps is unaware that they're connected. Because of that Maps leaves it out of directions; commuting options are completely incorrect. If you manually select it as a destination it will give you ludicrous directions like this: https://goo.gl/maps/XYTZwNiRkipzNHse9

Stranger still, the northbound side of the same station connects just fine.

That's worse than weird, that's downright dangerous. There are no sidewalks on that street, and cars travel at 55-75 mph on it. There's also no way to get from the street to the station; the overhead bridge is the only way.

That's pretty shocking, that station has been there for three years.

It gives a disclaimer that walking directions might not reflect real conditions.

Lol. And google ignores those edits and requests. As I said in a prior comment, I live seconds away from Google on Moffett Field and my address is still wrong on Google maps, but correct in Apple Maps. The building I live in was built decades ago with a street that was there when Moffett was a blimp base in the 1930s.

The suggestion process is very unfulfilling. Between the super long delays and then never seeing the results, it's not worthwhile.

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