Apple iPhoto maps use OpenStreetMap and public domain data

Apple released iPhoto for iOS today and included a new map. The new map tiles carry no attribution.

The map tiles can be viewed here, site made by Dair Grant.

Based on various Twitter conversations and my own comparisons it seems like Apple is using OpenStreetMap data to render the map tiles outside the US. The map tiles for the US seem to be based on different, probably public domain data sets.

In the example below you see a forest with lots of small ways. I’ve mapped those ways myself, some are so small I’m not sure they are even official ways and a very unlikely to be found in other map data sets. Apple’s map and the OpenStreetMap map align perfectly. Other areas I’ve checked include semi-public parks mapped in very high detail which is typical for OpenStreetMap data but not to be found in other map data sets.

You can compare Apple’s map and the standard OpenStreetMap.org map using this site by Iván Sánchez Ortega.

It looks like the OpenStreetMap data used by Apple is as old as 2010, which means changes made to OpenStreetMap after that date are not included.

Update: Here’s a thread on OSM-talk (public OpenStreetMap mailing list) with more comparisons and confirmations. The data that Apple is using seems to be from April 2010. The Next Web also has updates to their story.

Update II: iPhoto 11 for OS X has been using Apple maps in the slideshow features since 2010, @holgr confirms. This could explain why Apple is using OSM data from 2010.

  • March 08, 2012, 2:17am

          15 notes

Why you can’t say that OpenStreetMap looks worse than Google Maps

Here’s an attempt to explain why you can’t say that OpenStreetMap looks worse than Google Maps.

A typical map consists of a stack of roughly 5 components:

  • map data collectors/contributors (people or organizations that survey the world or collect map data from institutions which did that before)
  • map data (this is raw data, think text and numbers)
  • renderer (software that turns raw data into beautiful images, like a web browser turning HTML into a website)
  • rendering style (it’s like CSS and determines the colors of streets, which streets to actually show etc.)
  • tiles (the colorful pictures you actually see on the website)

Google Maps combines all of them. Google collects the map data, Google owns or licenses the map data, Google builds and operates the renderer, Google’s cartographers and designers define the rendering style and Google owns the map tiles that you see. (You can customize the rendering style to a certain degree, like change street colors, using the Google Maps API.)

OpenStreetMap only consist of the first two components: the OpenStreetMap community collects map data and map data is then made available under an open license.

The third component, the renderer, is NOT part of OpenStreetMap. Let’s use Foursquare, which recently switched to maps based on OpenStreetMap data, as an example here. They use a service called MapBox, which uses a software called TileMill which is based on Mapnik (a very popular open source renderer).

The fourth component, the rendering style is usually made by the person who operates the renderer. The rendering style for the maps that Foursquare is using is made by MapBox, it’s called MapBox Streets and MapBox allows it’s customers to further customize the style for their needs.

The fifth component, the final tiles are owned by whoever renders them, in our example by MapBox.

Now, if you want to compare maps and tell your readers which one looks better or is better cartographically, here’s how to do it.
The shortest version using the examples from above would be: “Google Maps looks better than MapBox Streets.”
If you want to be more precise, write: “The Google Maps standard map style looks better than the MapBox Streets style which is based on OpenStreetMap data.”

Please don’t ever say “Google Maps looks better than OpenStreetMap” because it’s wrong and people from the OpenStreetMap community will get very angry with you (and write blogposts about it).

Here are some quick podcast recommendations. I posted something similar in 2010 (wow, seems like a long time ago).

I love the concept of the NPR Planet Money podcast, the length and depth is very nice to quickly get an overview of a topic and you don’t have to have a deeper understanding of economics to listen.

Other podcasts I also recently discovered and enjoy right now are The Critical Path with Horace Dediu (Asymco), The Sounds in My Head, a great music podcast and the B&B podcast with Ben Brooks and Shawn Blanc (I like it for the parts when they don’t talk about the latest iOS update but more general about technology and life).

CRE 190 (German): Viele Tipps, Tricks und Hintergründe zu Rhetorik und Reden. Ein bisschen lang und langsam für meinen Geschmack, aber dennoch sehr lehrreich und hörenswert.

CRE 191 (German): Die ersten 45min kann man meiner Meinung nach getrost überspringen, danach allerdings erfährt man eine Menge über Internetverbindungen via Festnetz in Deutschland (ISDN, DSL). Am interessantesten und mit einigem Kopfschütteln verbunden sind dabei sicherlich die unausgeschöpften technischen Möglichkeiten (100mbit VDSL) und Methoden der Telekom.

28c3 Talks

Here is a list of talks I watched, enjoyed and can recommend to you. I would love to get recommendations for other great talks I might have missed (send me an @reply on Twitter for example).

  • Bitcoin - An Analysis: Very interesting analysis of Bitcoin, potential issues and an assessment of its future.
  • How governments have tried to block Tor: Tor is such an awesome project. The two speakers explain what tactics governments around the world use to try to block Tor (and generally censor the internet) and how Tor reacts. Great talk.
  • KinectFusion: Seeing this technology is still quite impressive, it was nice to learn how some things work behind the scenes of 3D reconstruction.
  • 7 years, 400+ podcasts, and a whole lot of Frequent Flyer Miles: Bicyclemark provides an overview about what he is doing with his podcast, related travelling and teaching new media around the world. He’s pretty good at telling stories.
German talks:
  • Der Staatstrojaner (Panel): Die Beteiligten erzählen die Geschichte des Staatstrojaners in 2011.
  • CCC Jahresrückblick: Ein Klassiker.
  • Can trains be hacked?: Der Vortrag gibt eine sehr gute Übersicht für Einsteiger über die Eisenbahnsicherungsanlagen (Weichen, Signalsteuerung…) in Deutschland von Beginn der Bahn bis heute. Die potentiellen Sicherheitslücken werden dabei automatisch sichtbar.
  • Antiforensik: IT-Forensik spielt eine immer wichtiger Rolle und damit natürlich auch Wege die verwendeten Methoden und Software anzugreifen oder zu manipulieren.
  • Datenvieh oder Daten-Fee: Jeder, der sich nur ein klein bisschen für Datenschutz, Privacy und Tracking im Netz interessiert, sollte sich das auf jeden Fall ansehen, um besser zu verstehen, welche Daten wie erfasst und vor allem genutzt werden.
  • Frag den Staat: Ein tolles Projekt zur Informationsfreiheit (Open Data!), leider etwas schnell und aufgeregt vorgetragen.

Other talks I’ve watched: NOC review, Fnord-Jahresrückblick, Security Nightmares

Talks can be found on YouTube or downloadable here. List of all talks.

khuyi: 8226: While reading the NYTimes paper during a flight this past Friday, I came across this ad from Patagonia, full page, and felt inspired to share it. The text reads: It’s Black Friday, the day in the year retail turns from red to black and starts to make real money. But Black Friday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We’re now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet. Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time – and leave a world inhabitable for our kids – we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else. Environmental bankruptcy, as with corporate bankruptcy, can happen very slowly, then all of a sudden. This is what we face unless we slow down, then reverse the damage. We’re running short on fresh water, topsoil, fisheries, wetlands – all our planet’s natural systems and resources that support business, and life, including our own. The environmental cost of everything we make is astonishing. Consider the R2® Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste. And this is a 60% recycled polyester jacket, knit and sewn to a high standard; it is exceptionally durable, so you won’t have to replace it as often. And when it comes to the end of its useful life we’ll take it back to recycle into a product of equal value. But, as is true of all the things we can make and you can buy, this jacket comes with an environmental cost higher than its price. There is much to be done and plenty for us all to do. Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything. Go to patagonia.com/CommonThreads or scan the QR code below. Take the Common Threads Initiative pledge, and join us in the fifth “R,” to reimagine a world where we take only what nature can replace.  i love patagonia

khuyi:

8226:

While reading the NYTimes paper during a flight this past Friday, I came across this ad from Patagonia, full page, and felt inspired to share it.

The text reads:

It’s Black Friday, the day in the year retail turns from red to black and starts to make real money. But Black Friday, and the culture of consumption it reflects, puts the economy of natural systems that support all life firmly in the red. We’re now using the resources of one-and-a-half planets on our one and only planet.

Because Patagonia wants to be in business for a good long time – and leave a world inhabitable for our kids – we want to do the opposite of every other business today. We ask you to buy less and to reflect before you spend a dime on this jacket or anything else.

Environmental bankruptcy, as with corporate bankruptcy, can happen very slowly, then all of a sudden. This is what we face unless we slow down, then reverse the damage. We’re running short on fresh water, topsoil, fisheries, wetlands – all our planet’s natural systems and resources that support business, and life, including our own.

The environmental cost of everything we make is astonishing. Consider the R2® Jacket shown, one of our best sellers. To make it required 135 liters of water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people. Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, 24 times the weight of the finished product. This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste.

And this is a 60% recycled polyester jacket, knit and sewn to a high standard; it is exceptionally durable, so you won’t have to replace it as often. And when it comes to the end of its useful life we’ll take it back to recycle into a product of equal value. But, as is true of all the things we can make and you can buy, this jacket comes with an environmental cost higher than its price.

There is much to be done and plenty for us all to do. Don’t buy what you don’t need. Think twice before you buy anything. Go to patagonia.com/CommonThreads or scan the QR code below. Take the Common Threads Initiative pledge, and join us in the fifth “R,” to reimagine a world where we take only what nature can replace. 

i love patagonia

A Fresh Look for OpenStreetMap.de

We’ve recently relaunched openstreetmap.de and I wrote a few words about the process in my old blog.

My friend Felix has been on a roadtrip through a few US states this summer and returned with some terrific photos. Go, take a look.