cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26246923
Currently there’s only 3 big players when it comes to maps. You’ve got Google, Apple and Microsoft.
Let’s try to make OpenStreetMap the best map there is. Go grab StreetComplete and start mapping your surroundings when you’re out and about.
All the data is under a public license and managed by a non-profit foundation in the UK.
It’s very easy to get started, and quite addictive.
While I have seen anecdotal evidence for GMaps monitoring chabges in OSM to keep their data up to date, the only “filling in of Gmaps with OSM” I’m aware of is where they used a government dataset that itself was using the OSM license.
That could very well be. I don’t have any sources at the moment to prove anything and base it on memory of reading about it somewhere that Both Google and Apple used to more heavily depend on OSM data but over time introduced contractors and more advanced remote-sensing/satellite imagery analysis.