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Recently, Apple made news by disowning Google Maps in its hand-held devices, in deference to its own nascent (and buggy) mapping system. If trends continue, however, Google and Apple’s proprietary systems may both be left behind by OpenStreetMaps, an alternative crowd-sourced online world map, whose contributing membership has recently swelled to over 800,000.

 

OpenStreetMap (OSM) uses a volunteer cartography force from around the world to manually enter geographic data while developing an immensely detailed categorization and classification system of describing locations. While it is still relatively young, and only the 6th most-popular mapping service on the web, OSM has made huge strides in creating what has become the “go-to source of map data for successful tech brands,” including Foursquare, Apple (who has used OSM as part of its iPhoto map service), and Wikipedia (which uses OSM in their mobile apps).  The initiative first came online in 2006, but recently began to see a huge increase in popularity when Google began charging heavy commercial users for use of its map technology in January 2012.

 

With the growth in popularity, and crowd-sourced nature of the product, OpenStreetMap has encountered some challenges. One problem has been the lack of diversity in its volunteer force -- a vast majority of its volunteer force has been white, techno-savvy, middle-class males. Kate Chapman, founder of OSM’s U.S. chapter, suggests that lack of diversity has affected the quality of the detailed tagging system in place in OSM (for instance, lots of detailed descriptive criteria for of strip clubs but few for women’s health clinics). The natural biases of the cartographers have affected how they label the world – they approach it from their own viewpoints.

 

Additionally, the technological hurdles in place for one to actually become a contributor are currently high enough to dissuade most people from joining up. Users must read through a dense tutorial that details the classification standards and data entry processes, and must familiarize themselves with two difficult pieces of software. As such, efforts are underway to simplify the system so that it is more accessible and user-friendly.

 

An additional challenge for the organization has been deciding how it should license its map content, developed by unpaid volunteers, to for-profit companies. OpenStreetMap’s current license explicitly states that any uses of the map must adhere to the Open Database License (ODBL), which requires that any modified versions of the map, i.e. Foursquare’s version, would also be openly accessible and free to use. Expectedly, the businesses using OSM don’t see this arrangement as a viable solution for their own initiatives, and, following this year’s “State of the Map USA Conference” earlier this month, they are working with OSM to develop a satisfactory solution.

 

The unique nature of OpenStreetMap’s community-driven organization, however, may make the transition to supporting commercial entities a difficult one. Many of OSM’s volunteers are not keen on the idea of having for-profit companies use the data they collected to support proprietary applications. Furthermore, its current policy states that if the organization wants to change any rules in its licensing terms it must get the “affirmative, expressed compliance” of every one of its 800,000 community members via online forms (though one organization leader suggested that this policy could change).

 

As OpenStreetMap’s contributor base continues to increase with improved accessibility, and commercial uses develop through mutually-beneficial licenses, we all may be seeing OSM as the primary source of location information on the web before long.  Provided it continuously improves its resource identification and classification systems, its free license should enable hobbyists and innovators to introduce levels of detail that has the potential to create a far superior product to the proprietary mapping systems offered by Apple and Google.

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