It’s a damn shame all this data is siloed away within corporate data centers. Imagine the value it would provide if Google and Apple worked together and released the data to Open Street Map (OSM)?...
It’s a damn shame all this data is siloed away within corporate data centers. Imagine the value it would provide if Google and Apple worked together and released the data to Open Street Map (OSM)? Imagine if the OSM communities had access to the proprietary tools that Apple and Google are developing to improve their mapping?
I think this kind of data is a public good and the government should regulate how much of this kind of data corporations should be able to collect without giving it back to the public. (And, no, offering free mapping services is not the same as providing the underlying data sets.)
The data I would most like to see is real time traffic data which I'm pretty sure google generates via how quickly they see android phones moving about. Something like this is such an obvious...
The data I would most like to see is real time traffic data which I'm pretty sure google generates via how quickly they see android phones moving about.
Something like this is such an obvious public good and similarly such an obvious monopoly enabled moat that in my view government should force the vendor to share it into some public real time database (properly anonymized of course).
The problem is the people who care deeply about open data and free software are also the ones who object to having their position tracked 24/7 even if it is anon. Thankfully I don't drive so...
The problem is the people who care deeply about open data and free software are also the ones who object to having their position tracked 24/7 even if it is anon.
Thankfully I don't drive so traffic data is useless to me and OSM is fairly usable.
The non-realtime stuff is relatively easy to infill either via manually recording gps or tracing satellite imagery. The real time updates is impossible without owning a popular mobile phone OS or...
The non-realtime stuff is relatively easy to infill either via manually recording gps or tracing satellite imagery. The real time updates is impossible without owning a popular mobile phone OS or navigation package on data + gps enabled devices.
Of course for profit companies wouldn't share this willingly we should elect people who'll force them to.
Who I can only describe as my favourite digital cartographer, Justin O'Beirne, published this well written & thoughtful essay last year on just how incredibly far ahead Google Maps is of its...
Who I can only describe as my favourite digital cartographer, Justin O'Beirne, published this well written & thoughtful essay last year on just how incredibly far ahead Google Maps is of its competitors, namely Apple Maps. Spoiler alert: it's a huge canyon.
Some Apple execs were even caught off guard by this; and spurred partially by this essay, began initiating a plan to rebuild Apple Maps from the ground up to encapsulate more data, in a privacy-oriented way. I highly recommend reading this longform from TechCrunch, where they got a sneak peek at the process and the final result.
The new Apple Maps, which currently covers California only, was released a few months ago, and contains an order of magnitude more information. This new essay from Justin discusses how Apple Maps has improved—and the ways it hasn't.
It’s a damn shame all this data is siloed away within corporate data centers. Imagine the value it would provide if Google and Apple worked together and released the data to Open Street Map (OSM)? Imagine if the OSM communities had access to the proprietary tools that Apple and Google are developing to improve their mapping?
I think this kind of data is a public good and the government should regulate how much of this kind of data corporations should be able to collect without giving it back to the public. (And, no, offering free mapping services is not the same as providing the underlying data sets.)
The data I would most like to see is real time traffic data which I'm pretty sure google generates via how quickly they see android phones moving about.
Something like this is such an obvious public good and similarly such an obvious monopoly enabled moat that in my view government should force the vendor to share it into some public real time database (properly anonymized of course).
The problem is the people who care deeply about open data and free software are also the ones who object to having their position tracked 24/7 even if it is anon.
Thankfully I don't drive so traffic data is useless to me and OSM is fairly usable.
The non-realtime stuff is relatively easy to infill either via manually recording gps or tracing satellite imagery. The real time updates is impossible without owning a popular mobile phone OS or navigation package on data + gps enabled devices.
Of course for profit companies wouldn't share this willingly we should elect people who'll force them to.
Who I can only describe as my favourite digital cartographer, Justin O'Beirne, published this well written & thoughtful essay last year on just how incredibly far ahead Google Maps is of its competitors, namely Apple Maps. Spoiler alert: it's a huge canyon.
Some Apple execs were even caught off guard by this; and spurred partially by this essay, began initiating a plan to rebuild Apple Maps from the ground up to encapsulate more data, in a privacy-oriented way. I highly recommend reading this longform from TechCrunch, where they got a sneak peek at the process and the final result.
The new Apple Maps, which currently covers California only, was released a few months ago, and contains an order of magnitude more information. This new essay from Justin discusses how Apple Maps has improved—and the ways it hasn't.