"Map first, create architecture only after it is clear it is needed."

Needed by whom?

I totally reject the applicability of the 'You arent gonna need it' link here. This is not a small project whose pace is dependent on one or two people's time. The factor limiting mapping speed is people going places. If you go someplace and pick up a useful piece of information, like number of train tracks, it should be entered.

"if our product was easier to use and had a friendlier and simpler face."

I don't think you'd find anyone here that disagrees with you. It's just nobody has done it and/or nobody can agree on how it should be done. The frontpage is a subject that gets bikeshedded[1] to death - that's why nothing happens. Telling us what colour you think the bikeshed should be doesn't get it any nearer to being built.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikeshedding

It's actually quite adventurous to use OSM on a satnav for general use. I hope you don't run into too many navigational problems.

"If I'm a technology luddite who lives in Silicon Valley or San Francisco and buy an OSM based navigation app, my experience when driving around locally will be almost stellar. But when I then hop on a plane to use the same app in, say, Philadelphia, my experience will be horrible."

That's great. But I'm afraid this situation will always be true because OSM will never cover everywhere fully. No map will. There will always be somewhere that isn't covered fully. There are plenty of places that google maps covers poorly or not at all. You cannot just go anywhere in the world and trust that google will have accurate coverage for where you are. That's not how it works.

"currently NOT ready for general routing use" is the same class of phrase as "(linux is) currently NOT ready for the desktop". It is a misrepresentation of what the problem actually is, and that's why it's annoying. It's a meaningless phrase that just floats around forever, giving a general bad impression of the project but never actually being resolvable.

"If you ever needed proof that OSM is currently NOT ready for general routing use, look no further."

Please don't extrapolate your US experience to the whole of OSM. My area of the UK routes bloody well, thankyou. Most of the south of England does too.

I've noticed this too. I sometimes watch the live edit feed @ http://datenkueche.com/osmlive/ and in the last few days the changes have been rendered by the time they show up there.

Projects mapping developing countries usually qualify for extra help from the openstreetmap foundation.

See http://foundation.openstreetmap.org/gpstogo/

"the route is often 2m deep in bracken and I have considered a scythe (but a night in the cell could be tedious)."

To reiterate what chillly has been saying, I'm pretty sure councils have a duty to maintain their rights of way. In this case, complaints should be made.

spam

"Google, you listening?"

Their take on it is "let's get people to do our work for us for free".

For something so poorly done, it's funny that contributors have seen fit and managed to submit over 30 million ways to openstreetmap.

Sex Tractor?

Wouldn't this be better as 'OpenCrapMap'?

Congrats.

You'll find a lot of routing errors in the US, as the topology for the imported TIGER data is pretty damn broken. There are quite a lot of us working on getting at least the interstates connected correctly. osm.wiki/TIGER_fixup/250_cities

The cloudmade router is quite slow at updating, so be prepared to be a bit frustrated there.

Not too long.
The main culprit is usually your browser having a stale cache of the old tile images. Try refreshing the slippymap with shift held down.

That's what I thought when I started collecting them. But I soon realized that it's just the next necessary step to get anywhere near the sort of detail some commercial organizations have.

You can't beat the China Machine.

Their focus on massive volume and absolute lowest price means that what you can buy now (probably from ebay) is pretty near the manufacture cost + the importing cost + a small amount of profit.

With the low volume and lack of experience in mass manufacturing we have I seriously doubt we could ever match this price.

Projects like OSM show that an amateur/volunteer model can in some sectors match/beat what the free market can offer. Manufacturing aint one of those areas.

For reference compare the price of an OpenMoko phone with a similar mainstream phone that you've shopped around for.

This is hardcore mapping.

This is exactly the same attitude I have to this project.

I get special pleasure about seeing efforts here in the UK. Every edit is a puncture in OS's tyre.

Keep going!

That's some beautiful mapping.