OpenStreetMap chasing the map service king Google map

It is not exaggeration to say that it is the most powerful of Google's ownership that has grown to be a large company, starting service as a search engine in 1998 is Google Maps. There is no doubt that Google Maps is competent and convenient as a map search service, but the one that attracts attention recently among other map search services is "OpenStreetMap(Open Street Map) "and is a founderSteve CoastMrThe Next WebIn the interview, I talk about the advantages and disadvantages of the open street map, future prospects and so on.

OpenStreetMap
http://www.openstreetmap.org/

The rise of OpenStreetMap: A quest to conquer Google's mapping empire - The Next Web
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/02/28/openstreetmap/

Open Street Map is a map search service that allows users to freely use and create world maps using editing functions. The decisive difference between Open Street Map and Google Maps located in the Wikipedia version of the map service is in the revenue generated from the service. Whereas Google Maps generates huge revenues from usage fees and advertisement fees from third parties, Open Street Map is a non-profitable service that third parties can freely use.

The Open Street Map was established in 2004 by Mr. Coast who was enrolled at the University of London at that time. Mr. Coast graduated from the London University halfway, but he studied computer science and physics while studying abroad, and now provides location information serviceTeleNavI am working for.


Mr. Coast looked back at the beginning when he launched the Open Street Map "It is quite a while ago that I developed an open street map, initially there were three projects on the open street map, and the current open street map The design of it is inherited from one of them. " The open street map where ten years have passed since its establishmentOpenStreetMap FoundationIt is operated by an organization called OSMF, but there are no salaried employees and the operation is done by seven people.

MapBoxYaCraigslistThere are an increasing number of companies that have switched from Google Maps to Open Street Maps in recent years, such as using an open street map instead of Google Maps website.The Next WebSays that there are reasons for 'price' and 'quality' when companies start using open street maps instead of Google Maps.

ByEpSos .de

Google Maps' API fee was $ 4 per 1000 map loads (about 405 yen), but a large number of developers who said this price was too high changed the map API to the open street map. In response to that, Google reduced the Google Maps API fee to 50 cents (about 50 yen) per 1,000 map loads in 2012, but SNS'sFoursquareMany of the major platforms, including the one already already changed to the open street map.

Also, the number of registrants of services is increasing as well as those using open street maps. Looking at the graph of the number of service registrants of Open Street Map from 2005 to January 2014, we can see that the number of service registrants continues to increase year by year, reaching 1.5 million in January 2014 .


About collecting data from as many as 1.5 million users and reflecting it on the map, Mr. Coast said, "When the number of users was small, everyone with a GPS equipped device and a camera was running motorcycle around there It was a repetition of the task of raising a running record to a map when I came home, and now I can easily obtain aerial photographs, so the work has been considerably simplified. "

One of the popularity of open street maps is quality as high as Google Maps. For example, if you search for "Sochi" in Russia where the 22nd Olympic Winter Games were held, you can see that the open street map has more information than Google Maps.

Here is the result of searching for "Sochi" on the open street map.

Show large map

Looking for "Sochi" on Google Maps is like this.


At first glance at the above two maps, it seems that the open street map is superior, but Coast said the open street map has weak points. The weakness is "address data" and Mr. Coast "For the address data that is indispensable for excellent maps, the open street map is not perfect, especially in overseas address data, problems are noticeable As you can say, for example, even if you search Japanese 'zip code' on the open street map, the area where the zip code is registered will not be displayed.

Also, in Google Maps as a feature not found in the open street mapStreet view"there is. Coast said "Street view using high quality images is too time consuming and expensive," stating that it is not easy to introduce Street View and it is undecided whether it will be introduced in the future.

ByEsparta Palma

Compared to Google Maps, it is an open street map where excellent and inferior parts are mixed, but it is a fact that the number of registrants is increasing to climb the eel, and it is possible to achieve great growth in the future There is sex. Coast also said, "The open street map that we developed from scratch has grown considerably over a period of ten years.The advantage of the open street map is that the amount of data that can be used increases as more people use it As the data grows, the service will be fulfilling, attracting more people and growing greatly in the future ", emphasizing that the future of the open street map has a bright outlook open, We will continue to draw attention as to what direction we will move forward.