I’ve been enjoying the mapping side of Waze for the last couple of months, but having rediscovered http://www.openstreetmap.org/ I can see it will take years before the UK Waze map will be anything like as detailed and useful as OSM.
I’ve looked through these forums for reasons why Waze doesn’t use this prebuilt, free map, and to be honest I’m still not really clear on it. From what I can determine, the creators of Waze want to use the map that we create commercially. Not sure what the benefits of this are to the community that created the data for Waze!
There are some explanations about the licencing of OSM being too restrictive for a commercial application, but a quick browse through the Apple Appstore shows a dozen or so Apps that are non-free - so it must be possible to make money off the back of OpenStreetMap. See http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Iphone.
They want to sell the map and traffic data, as that is an alternative to charging us the end users.
I would suspect that people selling applications that use OSM data are probably not within the license agreement with OSM. But it is up to OSM to protect their license.
So if you have a business that could be sued out of existence, you should take the advice of lawyers, which I’m sure waze has, hence why no OSM.
I think if Waze didn’t want to sell the map data, but just the traffic data this would not cause any problems with the OSM licence. Clearly if the OSM map was used, Waze couldn’t sell it!
As there are already well established firms selling map data (Teleatlas springs to mind), it may be difficult for Waze to break into this area, at least in territories that already have established mapping providers.
Use the osm data as an alternative mapping solution. I think I’ll be glad to contribute with events on a map that already exists. In the same time you can build your own maps with the users that are willing to upload the tracks to your server. But until then you’ll have a fully functional product.
Use the existing free maps from osm, give credit to osm for the maps and boost the number of events reported worldwide.
The key benefit of waze above established map firms is that waze should be more up to date, since the users update the map every day.
Waze is not quite there yet, but it’s already working: I saw new roads and changed highways appear on my waze client only 2 days after the road was opened(For Dutch readers, eg the new A2-roundway Den Bosch)
Firms like Teleatlas can’t compete with that.
Editing things on a three-inch resistance-touch TomTom screen is a terrifying prospect. I’ve done it maybe three, four times.
The updates aren’t downloaded to TomTom devices until they’re plugged into the computer.
I consider myself a power user, in general. I’m on top of updates and the like. Even then, I only plug my TomTom into my computer once every few months. Consider that probably over 95% of TomTom users never plug their devices into their computers, and there’s your problem. Waze downloads map updates the next day. Do you see the difference?
Yes, a good point. I wonder if the TomTom app for the iphone includes map updates, as it now has a way of getting the updated details without the user getting bogged down.
What’s your view on Waze taking the OSM maps as a starting point?
I’m not sure if MapShare is even included in the iPhone app. Outside of that, TomTom is stuck with TeleAtlas’s release structure, which is every six months, if I’m not mistaken. And who knows if they’ll be free to users? “Easy and affordable” does not mean “free” by a long shot…
It would be lovely to start with OSM maps, but ultimately that is against the OSM terms of service. Waze’s eventual business plan is to sell the map and live data to third parties, and OSM prohibits charging for derivative services thereof.