1 yr. ago • 95%

Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have launched their open-source mapping project

www.theverge.com Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have launched their open-source mapping project

Watch out, Apple and Google.

Good news for folks looking to degoogle their phones, this should help open-source Google Maps alternatives.

Straight from their FAQ on the relationship with OSM:

What is the relationship between Overture and OpenStreetMap?

Overture is a data-centric map project, not a community of individual map editors. Therefore, Overture is intended to be complementary to OSM. We combine OSM with other sources to produce new open map data sets. Overture data will be available for use by the OpenStreetMap community under compatible open data licenses. Overture members are encouraged to contribute to OSM directly.

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27 comments

I'm still not really getting how this differs from OpenStreetMap, can you explain it to me? Thanks.

36
- It'll differ by adhering to the Embrace, Extend, and Extinguish strategy if history is any indicator.
  
  44
  
  A bit off-topic but Microsoft and Meta are members of the PyTorch Foundation and so far their involvement has been very positive. Microsoft has its Azure cloud solutions and needs PyTorch to thrive to counter Google's Tensorflow and JAX which are pushing people towards Google Cloud TPUs. It's hard to EEE when many of them are involved in the same foundation.
  
  6
  
  I don't think 3E has traditionally worked out for Microsoft all things considered (IE got destroyed by Chrome), I know I'm in the minority for this, but I wouldn't be concerned right now.
  
  3
- I won't say it's 100% clear to me either. Here's what OpenStreetMap said about it last December:
  
  Everyone we talked to emphasised that Overture is not intending to replace or fork OpenStreetMap. They see the work as complementary. The individual companies expect to continue working directly with OpenStreetMap, and may even increase their involvement, including financial contributions. Map edits that are right for OpenStreetMap, should go to OpenStreetMap. This stated commitment to OpenStreetMap’s work and community also suggests that the companies and Linux Foundation are on board to support OpenStreetMap financially. Overture has come together with a small group, and the intention is to grow and work out many details. They welcome OpenStreetMap involvement in the form that makes most sense.
  
  The work obviously seems to be overlapping and my personal guess is that the companies involved in Overture likely have a different view on governance. The data is however made available under a permissive license and at the end of the day that's what matters IMO.
  
  14
  
  Yeah, maybe they just want to get the data down faster without jumping through a bureaucracy they are not familiar with to merge it.
  
  Cautiously interested for now.
  
  7
- You can have a look at this thread: https://lemmy.world/post/2194302 from !openstreetmap@lemmy.ml
  
  2
De-Google > use Meta and MS > wtf???

32
- As I interpreted these companies gave a free huge dataset which is great for OSM, and they encourage to work on OSM directly. So not an EEE situation per se.
  
  5
- LOL
  
  3
OpenStreetMaps though?

12
Jesus, anything to make the clutter of google maps go away is a blessing. I've about had it with google maps.

"In a quarter of a mile turn right." ::Quarter of a mile later -"turn right!" at the last possible second.

10
- It always decides to stop working correctly whenever you actually needed it to work.
  
  3
  
  Precisely, and then when I switch to Waze it does the same shit. No surprise as they're owned by Google.
  
  Typical google nonsense 4 different products for the same thing none of which do it well.
  
  4
- Holy fuck. I thought as a new driver I was the one who wasn't listening to the instructions properly, but it really is bad.
  
  Does it also sometime mess up turns ans force a longer route?
  
  2
  
  Yeah, it will send you down some fucking residential area with 50 stop signs to "save" 2 minutes but it ends up being more hassle than it's worth. I can't be the only one.
  
  1
Also, this is more Android adjacent, but we'll allow it since we're getting good discussions out of it.

9
- Thought so too as it is a data project, but one direct consequence would be better data quality for FOSS map apps on Android since most of them depend on OSM at the moment.
  
  2
Will 3rd party app developers be able to utilize the data? Could this be an opportunity to have a lot more choice when it comes to a Google Maps 'replacement' for navigation purposes?

8
Meta and Amazon involved? That's a no from me

5
- It depends on the license. If we are able to fork it in the long run we can just take all the good and remove all the bad.
  
  5
Overture

2
@AlmightySnoo These guys are desperate. It's funny to watch them scramble around and try to appear noble.

This is the kind of behavior you would expect from psychopaths.

-5

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