alt Hacker NewsTwo things I would love to see in the FLOSS mapping ecosystem:
1. A POI/favorites app that maintains a local database with an API for other apps to access it. Apps could then store markers there instead of in their own private db, so that points added on one map app can be instantly available in other apps.
2. A shared traffic data service. Any OSM map app could contribute to the same data, helping reduce Google's advantage in live traffic data.
Obviously, both of these would need privacy protections and be subject to user choice. And there should also be some requirement that both reading and writing be supported, to ensure apps reading POI data don't lock in new data, and to prevent apps reading traffic data from freeloading.
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A huge usabilitiy step would be the operating systems (and apps) just supporting geo links.
Geo links are from a RFC and are plain simple: geo:52.512974,13.420131
Clicking this link should open your chosen local map app at this position.
But it does not, actively sabotaged by big map app players who want only links to their app.
for 2: https://opentrafficmap.org/
it works by collecting C-ITS (Cooperative Intelligent Transport System) data, which many vehicles now send out.
https://wiki.opentrafficmap.org/en:c-its:start
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_transportation_sys...
Waze got hugely popular by gaming their maps; people would install it just to get a high score. I wish the FLOSS mapping ecosystem would do similar.
#1 is a common request and possible future improvement, #2 is coming soon with TraffXML (taking in live traffic, not necessarily contributing it back)
> 1. A POI/favorites app that maintains a local database with an API for other apps to access it. Apps could then store markers there instead of in their own private db, so that points added on one map app can be instantly available in other apps.
Would an AT Protocol app or extension meet this need and requirements? By being stored in a PDS, the data can be permissioned, owned by the user, and easily migrated and/or shared.
https://atproto.com/blog/atproto-spaces-alpha
ATProto spaces: A new extension to ATProto that enables non-public data - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49379732 - August 2026
I would also like to see manageable amounts of update traffic. In the old days I had De Lorme street maps of the whole US. It was sold on a CD-ROM so the whole dataset was at most 700MB. It didn't have updates. I also have paper maps (Thomas Guide) of my local region in my car, from the 1990s, and they're still perfectly good in most places. Roads don't move around THAT often. But I have Organic Maps (predecessor of Comaps, maybe I should switch) for just some parts of California and that by itself is more than 1GB of updates EVERY MONTH.
Really seriously, if I go to someplace out of my area I might download that place's map of 500MB or whatever, but then I probably want to just leave it on my phone in case I go there again, no updates needed. I'd like an install for the entire US to be no bigger than say 100GB (my phone "only" has 256GB of storage), and maybe I want monthly updates for my local region of 200MB/month, then perhaps annual updates for everything else unless marked as being of special interest. Plus manual update on demand for wherever if I think I might travel there.