Re:Grab is messing up OpenStreetMap data in Southeast Asia
by jamp897 on Thursday December 20, 2018 @12:54PM
(#18727195)
The meta issue here is that they didn’t have a plan to then validate the changes afterwards. And Grab’s contractors being from India know that streets can be unpredictable and change since it’s assuredly the same for them too and not just a quirk in Thailand. It’s an astonishing disconnect from reality based on western standards of paying attention, but I think this is pretty normal in SE Asia and causes a lot of problems. Hopefully they’ll be able to shed these habits at some point.
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Re:Grab is messing up OpenStreetMap data in Southeast Asia
by geezerjay on Thursday December 20, 2018 @12:59PM
(#18727248)
> Hopefully they’ll be able to shed these habits at some point.
...or, you know, companies like Grab can host their own data and provide their own services.
Re:Grab is messing up OpenStreetMap data in Southeast Asia
by maxerickson on Thursday December 20, 2018 @08:09PM
(#18730715)
Having a single spot where broadly useful data can live is sort of the point of OSM.
Grab would already be using the OSM data in bulk to host their own services. That's sort of the model that the OSM community has pursued, the openstreetmap.org website and associated services are a tech demo with no service guarantee, so you wouldn't want to rely on them much for a business.
Re:Grab is messing up OpenStreetMap data in Southeast Asia
by mikepurvis on Thursday December 20, 2018 @03:09PM
(#18728643)
But then the data is tied up in their proprietary service. Like, I appreciate the attempt to contribute this kind of thing back, even if it was a bit ham-fisted.
Re:Grab is messing up OpenStreetMap data in Southeast Asia
by geezerjay on Thursday December 20, 2018 @03:18PM
(#18728713)
> But then the data is tied up in their proprietary service.
It doesn't need to be proprietary. They can follow the lead of OSM and publish their data so that others can use and edit it.