I’m a OSM contributor since nearly two years now, I’ve found it rather easy to get some mapping Software onto my Java-Phone, doing some mapping by bike, uploading the GPX, edit the map via Potlach and JOSM, and done some other stuff. The wiki is a great help on all these topics.
Now that the maps here in Germany are pretty much complete and accurate, definitely more so than Google Maps (I know there are other map services, too, but to make it short I will always refer to google in the rest of the post), I’m actually starting to use OSM as an end user - and try to spread the word so that others use it, too. But I often find myself overstrained, because there is very few documentation for the end user - or I just don’t know where to find it. So I’ve collected some issues that IMHO need fixing before I can truely recomend OSM to everyone.
First, something about what is already there:
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The map at www.openstreetmap.org has four base maps: Mapnik, Osmarender, Cyclemap and No Name, only one of which (do I need to say that I meand the Cycle Map?) has a self-descriptive name to anyone new to OSM.
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There are two overlays available, Maplint and data. Both names are not very descriptive, and Maplint is not very useful for the end user.
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The same goes for the 6 tabs at the Top: Map and Export may be interesting to everyone, the rest is just for geeks and nerds like me and you.
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The search on the left side is slow and rather picky about which kind of input it accepts. I know, this is a whole new issue in itself and porbably isn’t easy to improve, but for most users the search will be the main entry point to navigate somewhere in the map
And now about those things missing on openstreetmap.org
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There are many other renderings, like openpistemap, openseamap, openarealmap (well, not actually a rendering, i guess) and de-public-transport. (The last one I once saw in AndNav2, a routing software for Android Phones, and it is really cool, showing all the Trains, busses, Trams, Metros, etc. but I was not able to find it anywhere on the net, so i need to use my phone to look at that map) And u guess there are many more renderings that even I am not aware if. I think many of those layers should be included in the layer dropdown on osm.org, along with some desription (like: “Mapnik - the deault map view on OSM, suited for almost any use” and “Cycle Map” - Highlights cycle ways and other bike-relevant amenities")
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The wiki is not very descriptive about viewing the map. There’s a big “show me the map” that links to osm.org, and plenty of stuff for mappers, developers and press. I know there once was a page listing the possibilities to just look at the maps, but i can’t find it any more.
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Osm.org does not work very well on mobile phone browsers. For all those phones, installable applications exist to show those maps. When a phone browser loads the osm.org homepage, they should be given the choice: “Click here for a list of mobile phone software that displays OSM maps, or click here to continue to the desktop version of OSM.” Even if the page is loaded by a desktop browser, there might be a hint for the user like “OSM on your mobile phone - click here to learn more”. In these days, this is a major “selling” point!
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There are cool services like openrouteservice.org. It works very well for me, so I think this should be linked from the OSM.org homepage or even directly embedded. While I have only minor problems with its usability, other users told me that they did not understnad the interface. People LOVE routing, so this is a must-have feature for OSM and openrouteservice.org proves that it is possible - so why do not offer it on osm.org?
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Web developers tend to embed google maps into their pages. Openstreetmap already makes it really easy via the export tab, and I hope this will be used a lot. I also noticed the nixe opportunity to position a marker by mouseclick, this one is really cool. But those developers want a JS Api to embed other, site-specific stuff into their maps. I’m retty sure those APIs exist, but couldn’t find those. There should be a link right where outputs the html-igrame-code.
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If you really want end users to become contributors in the end, then give them a smooth way to climb up the ladder. Yeah, there is openstreetbugs.org, and it is easy to use, but why isn’t it integrated with osm.org? If a user sees bug, how does he know that he should navigate to openstreetbugs? (Btw., if he is not into software, does he really know that “bug” is not an animal in this context?) And yes, there is an edit tab that the user can click, and Potlatch is easy to use compared to some off-the-shelf geo software on the market, but clicking on the edit tab still will scare my grandmother to death. It’s not THAT easy.
I think the usual developement of from a google user to an osm contributor (if you believe in that kind of event) should be like that:
use Google Maps a lot and get used to it → try openstreetmap and be able to use it instantly → not miss any import feature that google offers → see that the data is nearly complete → pherhaps find even more cool features (like the export tab) that gogole does NOT have → understand that OSM is free and built by people like themselves → understand that they can help, too > report a few bugs via Open Street Bugs (which should not involve navigating to another domain) → pherhaps someday try to make minor edits him/herself, via potlach, possibly after watching a 5 minute video tutorial on how to do that → become a full contributor (GPS unit, JOSM, etc) sometime later.
Well, that’s my opinion on what is still missing to make OSM an alternative for the masses. I’m curious if you have any other ideas on that.
with best regards,
Brian Schimmel