OpenStreetMap
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OSM homepage
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Type of site
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Collaborative mapping |
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| Available in | At least 151 site translations and unlimited map languages |
| Owner | OpenStreetMap Community. Project support by OpenStreetMap Foundation |
| Created by | Steve Coast |
| Slogan(s) | |
| Website | openstreetmap.org |
| Alexa rank |
 5,594 (Global, December 2016)
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| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Required for contributors |
| Users | 3,288,168 |
| Launched | 9 August 2004 |
| Current status | Active |
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Content license
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ODbL |
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. The creation and growth of OSM has been motivated by restrictions on use or availability of map information across much of the world, and the advent of inexpensive portable satellite navigation devices. OSM is considered a prominent example of volunteered geographic information.
Rather than the map itself, the data generated by the OpenStreetMap project are considered its primary output. The data are then available for use in both traditional applications, like its usage by Craigslist, OsmAnd, Geocaching, MapQuest Open, JMP statistical software, and Foursquare to replace Google Maps, and more unusual roles like replacing default data included with GPS receivers. OpenStreetMap data have been favourably compared with proprietary datasources, though data quality varies worldwide.
Steve Coast founded the project in 2004, initially focusing on mapping the United Kingdom. In the UK and elsewhere, government-run and tax-funded projects like the Ordnance Survey created massive datasets but failed to freely and widely distribute them. In April 2006, the OpenStreetMap Foundation was established to encourage the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data and provide geospatial data for anybody to use and share. In December 2006, Yahoo! confirmed that OpenStreetMap could use its aerial photography as a backdrop for map production.
In April 2007, Automotive Navigation Data (AND) donated a complete road data set for the Netherlands and trunk road data for India and China to the project and by July 2007, when the first OSM international The State of the Map conference was held, there were 9,000 registered users. Sponsors of the event included Google, Yahoo! and Multimap. In October 2007, OpenStreetMap completed the import of a US Census TIGER road dataset. In December 2007, Oxford University became the first major organisation to use OpenStreetMap data on their main website.
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