iD, JOSM, demo.f4map.com, osmbuildings.org - I’m calling out a few use cases for OSM today because I’d like to point out the difference in the quality of OSM data rendering.

Of course, OSM is more than just data: it’s a community! But it is also software. And that community must respond quickly to the demand for better quality maps (i.e. 3d, textured, or even animated). Every user uses OSM map data for different use cases.

iD is a great tool for mappers and is easily accessible through the web browser unlike JOSM, which also provides many other features (probably). Potlatch is a flash-based tool like iD that also allows dragging edges of nodes and viewing uploaded GPS traces. But neither tool will render the buildings or other topology.

This is where osmbuildings.org and especially demo.f4map.com become necessary tools to verify the 3D appearance of vector data when mapping. These tools possess the ability to modify our vector world from a perspective street view and bird’s eye view rather than solely from orthogonally projected satellite imagery.

Yet it is possible to adapt OSM to any structure on, in, or around earth in one continuum of data. It is possible to create orbital relations to other planets, each with its own spherical geographical coordinates to vector data. But the demand for OSM data awaits a community generous and flexible enough to provide the software that allows rendering and mapping it.