For example, OSM has data but doesn't really want to be serving map tiles to the entire world. There are companies that are quite happy to serve map tiles, but I assume that's not all they're looking for either.
The Global Entity Reference System looks quite interesting: if it's going to work well, it's going to have to bear at least a passing resemblance to Unicode in that it will need to capture all the different ways that existing systems refer to distinct entities. I can understand why OSM wouldn't want to build such a system, but I hope it would also be quite valuable to the OSM community.
> is the only valueadd redefining the format to be more enterprisey andor gatekeep some data
I'd like to interpret that in the "strongest possible" way as HN's guidelines request, but I can't find one. This is the opposite of what the article says.
> Therefore, Overture is intended to be complementary to OSM. We combine OSM with other sources to produce new open map data sets. Overture data will be available for use by the OpenStreetMap community under compatible open data licenses. Overture members are encouraged to contribute to OSM directly.
I know very little about the space, but couldn't Overture members focus primarily on just filling in those gaps?
> doesn't always spatially match with Google's data or other sources
The map isn't the territory. Consistency with reality is what matters, not what Google says.
I've never run into glaring issues with either. In the past year, the only mistake I've come across was a missing stoplight in Google's.
That's not enough. OSM doesn't offer every kind of data you'd want about an area, it's sometimes not even remotely aligned to other databases or images, it needs to be compared to what other APIs provide to get a result with high quality. This project sounds like it's trying to make these things way easier.
> The map isn't the territory. Consistency with reality is what matters, not what Google says.
Absolutely not if you look at other applications than navigation services. This is _not_ only about Google Maps, it's about their API. See for example the elevation API [1], which gives you an altitude above sea level for any point on earth. This is meant to be combined with other data to build various services. Having alternatives to Google that use a standard format and are generally interoperable is great for developers.
[1] https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/elevation/o...
For various reasons, a neighbor and I were looking at some property data in both our town's and the MassGIS databases. Our town had info not in the public MassGIS database and both had more information than either OSM or Google Maps.
This was all public information and you can argue about how much should be readily available but it already is for anyone sophisticated enough to know where to look.
If this project could let all these services interoperate better, that would be a great advance.
Difference is TomTom has its own source it can prove is better that OSM in many places.
But I'll use it (and maybe contribute) if it improves my life without affecting my privacy or control of own devices.
via GSOC ( Google Summer of Code )
- https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/archive/2022/organizatio...
- https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/archive/2022/organizatio...
This doesn't look bad even though I don't trust Amazon, MS and Meta.