OpenStreetMap Adds Easier Reporting of Map Problems 45
An anonymous reader writes "OpenStreetMap recently topped one million registered users. Now they are trying to make the barrier to entry for contributing to the project even lower. A new 'notes' feature, announced on the project's blog, allows anonymous users to submit bug reports which will alert mappers in the area to incorrect or incomplete map information. The feature also allows for commenting on notes, potentially enabling two-way communication between a mapper and a bug reporter if more information is needed."
Trap Streets (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder how many "errors" in maps, map software and apps are "trap streets [wikipedia.org]"?
Re:iOS Maps?! (Score:2, Interesting)
Note that Apple does *not* use OSM in the US or even most of the world. They seem to be using OSM to fill the gaps in their primary data provider in countries like Pakistan and Africa.
OpenStreetBugs (Score:2, Interesting)
As the fine article notes, this feature has been in openstreetbugs for a long time, and has been actively used to fix issues in my area.
As for 1 million registered users, yeah right. Only if you include "users" who have never contributed anything, users who used to contribute but don't any more, and users who were blocked from contributing by the licence change. Their own stats [openstreetmap.org] suggest there's around 8000 contributors in any given month, so saying they've got 1 million "registered users" means nothing.
Of course, there are lots of "users" of the map who don't need to register, but those numbers are more difficult to get at.