Use OpenStreetMap maps

[vladimir_fuka]

Of course, much much better. When you can see the network of the trails and know which way you went, it is much easier. To be clear I did not mean big mountains like the High Dachstein itself, but the smaller peaks in the range, those are hard to find on an aerial map.

[cthawley]

I don’t think this request is really about getting rid of satellite maps as an option, but having the OSM base maps available (and whether or not they would be the default). Even the OSM chairperson who commented above noted that they use the Google sat images.

I do think the OSM maps would be quite valuable to have. In densely populated areas, device-based geolocation often works quite well and there are lots of landmarks to use (eg, streets, addresses, buildings). Differences between OSM and Google base maps are fairly small, and any error associated resulting from those differences would be comparatively small.

In more natural areas, even parks within urban areas, OSM base maps are often superior to Google’s in my experience. They include trails that can’t be easily seen/followed via sat imagery, and other smaller landmarks that aren’t on Google Maps. This makes it much easier to both geolocate entirely after the fact (eg, if you were on a trail, but GPS didn’t work well under a dense canopy or you didn’t have a GPS device), or QC device-based geolocation (eg, the datapoint appears well off the trail when you upload to iNat, so you can correct it at the upload stage).

iNat also has an open source ethos, and other decisions (such as the recent font change to an open source font) prioritize open source resources. I think having OSM base maps available as a “sticky” option (in addition to Google base maps and sat images) would definitely add value to the user experience on iNat.

[ahospers]

@cthawley

, OSM base maps are often superior to Google’s in my experience. They include trails that can’t be easily seen/followed via sat imagery, and other smaller landmarks that aren’t on Google Maps. This makes it much easier to both geolocate entirely after the fact (eg, if you were on a trail, but GPS didn’t work well under a dense canopy or you didn’t have a GPS device), or Q

This is Canada ?? In europe i consider OpenStreetMap far much better but i rarely use height, altitude

[cthawley]

My experience is in Eastern US but also Europe.

[grischard]

@ahospers

(and i only use Satelites photos for crossing waters (Wijken, vaarten) with 5m long wooden planks to prevent walking back 1km…saving 2km walking.

Have you considered adding these small bridges to OpenStreetMap? :)

[ahospers]

It was private area and the bridges are from wood like
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dnet/33548901926/in/album-72157687668285796/

https://www.familiebofkont.nl/images/2008/20080730-wl-dafne-plank-over-sloot-600.jpg

well, i rare;y change something on Open Streetmap, but often it is already complete…

[hedaja]

highway=path
bridge=yes
width=0.2 (or something like that)
access=private
surface=wood

But we are drifting towards off-topic =)
I can recommend the OSM wiki/forum or telegram channels for specific questions

[joluca]

OpenTopoMap is very useful for locating places based on orography and to better interpret location data from observations, such as slope, slope orientation, river basins, altitude, etc.

[tiwane]

Alright, OpenStreetMap (OSM) tiles are now an option on the iNaturalist website. You should be able to select them as an option anywhere on the site that you see a map and, like the way things currently work, your tile choice will be “sticky” for your account and display on all maps until you choose a different set of tiles. For example, here’s the tile chooser on a taxon page map:

Important details:

• OSM does have a limit for tile loading and it may block us if our usage goes over their tile limit, so if for some reason it stops working, that may be why. If that does happen, we’ll evaluate the cost of storing and serving OSM tiles ourself. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t choose OSM on iNat, but do keep that in mind. We’re going to track usage as well as we can and see how things go.

• we are still using Google Maps’ code for map view and place search, we’re just adding the option to view one kind of OSM map in the maps viewer that comes from Google. So place search in places like Explore and the Uploader still use Google Maps for search - they’ll just display OSM maps. So this likely won’t help users in places like China, unfortunately, or people who want to de-Google their lives.

• it was looking good when we tested it on our test server, but there may be bugs, of course. If you find one, please make a report in Bug Reports.