Question

Distinguish between Open Street Map and closed commercial maps.

Answer 1

• Open Street Map was to solve this problem by using a Wikipedia-like model and create a free, editable map of the world made entirely by the voluntary efforts of online masses. The ease of use and the need for open map data sources was so high that today OSM has over 2.2 million registered users who are handcrafting a detailed map of the entire world.
• This crowdsourcing approach has been acknowledged by Google which also turned to users in order to improve its maps. In 2008, the company introduced Google Map Maker, which used a similar approach and interface to the OSM in order to gather local data from people willing to contribute where map data was hard to purchase.
• The main difference between these two services is that every edit you make to OSM is owned by you and the community, while every change you make to Google Maps will be owned by Google.
• Commercial map data suppliers usually focus on updating map features that are most profitable to sell. Since the OSM community does not have to worry about selling maps, it allows the community to be creative and make maps focused on hikers, cyclists, physically challenged, sailors, and practically any interest group.
• The OSM community is what makes the project so special. Thousands of volunteers from all around the globe are updating the map as their world changes around them.