There are the usual, strange anomalies that OS Locator throws up. A correctly named road in OSM with two OS Locator anomalies, a well-known, substantial residential road which OS Locator has flagged as wrongly named in the past with a name of a tiny side road, now flagged up a different variant of that tiny road name, again wrongly. The names in the high quality OS map datasets are not wrong at all, so where do OS get these bonkers anomalies from in their Open Data?

ITO publish a list of completeness based on OS Locator as well as Robert’s Musical chairs. They both provide a useful view, particularly showing new developments or changes that need surveying. Many authorities in the ITO List show a high degree of completeness, yet they have very few anomalies (highlighted using not:name). This, IMHO, means OS Locator names are being used in OSM without checking them on the ground. This is perpetuating OS’s inexplicable errors into OSM and need to be avoided by surveying.

Thanks to Robert and ITO for their respective, complimentary approaches to display this undeniably useful open data, but lets not abuse this by just copying it unchecked.

To all diary writers:

Don’t be hard on newbies, they need our help and tolerance and we need their local knowledge and potential.

Something like openstreetview?

Not quite the same, but I maintain a layer of GB postcodes based on ONS open data. More details here http://onspd.raggedred.net

@AndiG88 As someone who has mapped a lot of bus tops, you are FUCKING WRONG!!!!!

There, how does that feel? Do you feel that my outburst has helped? No of course not.

In OSM there is no right way or wrong way, just the way that people like to use. Data consumers worth their salt understand this and consume multiple approaches. It is not too hard, so in the end it really doesn’t matter. This scheme has caused much more hassle than it is worth.

The way that describes a road describes the centre-line of the road. Beside the road there could be a verge, a footway, fence or hedge and then the adjoining property. Where would you put these if you have (wrongly in my view) joined the property beside the road to the centre-line of the road? Later editing of detailed infrastructure is a real pain if you have to split the road from landuse. You can add an area around the road as landuse=highway, similar to landuse=railway, to describe the highway land that is not the adjoining property.

Things would be better if the companies making maps based on OSM data ensured they forced their customers to comply with the attribution. I have raised the issue with diverse organisations including huge American-based newspapers and the UK government’s Home Office. The common denominator was the company using OSM data to make their maps. They choose not to put attribution on the map by default. This should change.

Postcodes are available from ONS. I maintain the overlay, more details here:

http://onspd.raggedred.net/

OSM is not in competition with Google maps. G maps is simply a place to show adverts - that’s how they make money. If you want to see alternatives to G maps, you need to see commercial renders using OSM data. There are many providers, some are listed here: osm.wiki/Commercial_OSM_Software_and_Services

When OS Opendata was released (2010) all of the vector data could have been imported, but the UK community resisted it.

Why does the absence of British National Grid a problem slow you down?

You can use amenity=community_centre. osm.wiki/Community_centre

You can add an address (addr:street=*, addr=housenumber etc) to any building or node.

Many areas are monitored by local mappers, I monitor my local area. Try making a few additions and you may be contacted by anyone who is interested.

Be bold. Just add detail. If you are adding stuff you have seen on the ground then it is going to be welcome. OSM is a wiki, so people expect their work to be extended and improved. If you really make a mistake, it can be corrected, so don’t worry.

Have fun.

People constantly compare OSM and Google maps but they are not aimed at the same audience. Google maps is a hanger for adverts. The fact that they help you find places that may have paid to advertise with Google just encourages more ads and more clicks. The OSM website is about gathering and improving geo data that can be displayed as a map amongst other things. This is why many people do not like the landing page as mostly map, it would IMO be better as a portal to editing and using OSM data with a full-page map just one click away.

Unlike Google maps et al. anyone can take the lovely OSM data and do wonderful things with it, and people do. We just don’t tell people about it because of the fixation with a map on the OSM landing page. The landing page tempts people into making this comparison and disappoints people all too often.

To expect ordinary folks to penetrate the jungle that is the wiki to find useful stuff is a triumph of hope over reason.

Your results are interesting. I mapped HU14, ensuring that all of the addresses were added, including postcodes. So I estimate that HU14 is 100% complete, regardless of how many actual addresses there are, but I don’t see a good way to measure this.

I maintain a postcode overlay; more info here http://onspd.raggedred.net/

In case you haven’t seen it yet, you can work out postcodes from the Office of National statistics Open Data that I maintain as a layer for Potlatch & JOSM. More details here: http://onspd.raggedred.net/

Will an answer from me do?

Richard is trying to help. He knows his stuff - he created the editor you used to add the stuff that hasn’t appeared.

I’m not really sure why you need a map, you must have a great view of the world from up there on your high horse.

Google maps is not in competition with OSM, we fill different needs. Google maps is a place for G. to hang adverts. That’s what G. do. G. maps are just another way to expose adverts to people in the area of the advertiser and to help get to the service. OSM is about map data, for any purpose. You can hang adverts on an OSM map, and people do, but you can so much more too.

@alexz In OSM coastline is a special case. It only gets updated occasionally and until then the island won’t render. It could take weeks before the coastline job runs next. More info here

OSM twitter feed says our contributors actually go out and survey (which many do).

At the same time OSM organises Operation Cowboy - an armchair mapping festival.

I’ll prefer surveys every time.